Computers are one of the most expensive assets we’ll ever invest in as a business. With so much incredible technology available to us, it makes sense to research and purchase expensive items in order to help us operate our businesses.
Whether it’s smartphones to keep in touch with your employees or high-spec computers to make them more productive, there are many different things you can spend your cash on.
However, computing is an easy place to spend too much. For example, you might be tempted to purchase an industry standard machine such as a Mac computer, but you won’t be getting much use out of it if you don’t perform productivity tasks such as video editing.
However, on the contrary, buying cheap all-in-one computers for your employees to use is equally as a bad because not only are they poor value for money, they don’t save you much space and typically come with many problems.
If you want to cut the costs of computing in your office workplace, then here are four essential tips you can follow.
Do your research
Computers are a complicated subject due to the number of different parts and components that are inside. Most business owners don’t know the difference between an i5 and an i7, and they don’t understand what 16GB of RAM offers them over 8GB.
As a result, you’ll either need a tech-savvy employee to help you, or you take the job into your own hands and learn enough about computers to understand what these terms mean. Once you learn what is actually needed in your office, you’ll be able to save a substantial amount of money on computer purchases.
Get rid of old equipment
Not only do computers take up a lot of storage space when not in use, their value slowly degrades over time. It’s important to sell old hardware as soon as possible so that you can get a good price out of reselling them. Alternatively, you might need to contact a business such as DRM electronics recycling in order to get rid of old equipment that is broken or can no longer be sold.
It’s understandable to assume you can reuse components in old computers, but generally, if you use cloud services and don’t upgrade frequently, most of your old components will be incompatible with your new computers.
Allow staff to bring in their own peripherals
Be it headphones, keyboards, mice or even monitors, if your staff use their computers a lot then you might be tempted to allow them to bring in their own peripherals. For instance, basic office keyboards can be tiresome to type on especially if your employees have a fast typing speed.
Mechanical keyboards are preferred for office workers that type quickly, but they’re expensive and will eat into your budget. To remedy this, allow your staff to bring in their peripherals from home. Not only will they have better hardware to use, it will save you money and they’ll work more efficiently with the tools they use at home.
Look after your hardware
The best way to prevent damage and failures is to look after your equipment. Make sure you teach your employees the basics of computer security and make sure they’re not slamming the keyboards too hard or mistreating the hardware. The fewer repairs you need to perform, the more money you’ll save on computing.