It might be cheap now, but what’s the total cost of ownership?

I heard this “Buy the best, cry once” phrase about 20 years ago and it always stuck with me.  It means that when you make a purchase, you should always consider the total cost of ownership and not just the initial price. Budgets are always tight, and we all look for low-cost solutions, but the cheapest products can end up costing the most in the long run. Here’s how.

1. You get what you pay for.  Just about every small business purchases equipment from a large technical store.  They walk in and explain that they need a computer for their small business.  Because budgets are tight, they purchase the cheapest thing they can find and as a result it works slowly, inefficiently, or hardly at all. Fixes and maintenance can cost more than the machine itself.

2.  The lost-cost software is modeled for home use and wastes your employees’ time. The problem with the “home editions” of software is that they are invariably filled with “bloat ware”, or “starter programs” that will distract you for doing your business and slow you down.  Add to this the multiple pop-up alerts. Waiting for your machine to start up, and waiting for your machine to finally get you to your Outlook, or Word document.  One might figure, eh, it’s just a few minutes.  Oh really?  Add that up, and multiply that across the board for a year.  How much is your time worth?  You’ll be surprised how expensive that cheap machine actually is.

3.  Upgrading later costs time and money.  Adding a server to your network when your business expands becomes very complicated with “low end” machines.   In a traditional “Microsoft network” world, Microsoft requires “professional” editions in order for their workstations to be networked properly.  Performing the “upgrade” is far more expensive when you add in your time, or an engineer, as well as the upgrade software.  It’s actually less expensive if you purchased this right up front.  Think future growth when you purchase.

Making technology purchases is difficult.

Researching products, considering the options, and determining if they are right for you takes time. That’s time you would probably rather spend with your customers, growing your business. You can’t trust salespeople in large tech stores because they mostly work on commission and they would sell you the Brooklyn Bridge if they could.

We can help.  Since we do not sell any hardware of software, we can be extremely objective about what our customers need.  Matching the right technology to your business need is our specialty.

Contact us here: http://www.rendezviewinc.com/contact-us

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-jdg, RendezView