Saving IT costs during slow times

With the somewhat slow economy we are facing these days, many businesses are understandably looking for ways to cut costs and increase efficiency. One area to look at is your company's IT infrastructure. In my experience working with different companies, I have often found several areas where you can cut some of your IT costs.

A few items to consider:

• Are you currently using one or more older computers just to run a single program? Often times, these can be combined on another system or as a virtual machine and lead to energy savings.
• Are you paying a lot to subscription-based online services each month? I have seen several companies spending way too much on things like online backup, when far less costly options exist.
• Are you delaying purchasing new equipment? New equipment pricing is very good right now. Just like everyone else, manufacturers want to make sales and are willing to offer special pricing. Now may be a very good time to make that purchase.
• If buying new systems- often times manufacturers will try to sell extended warranties, backup CDs, etc. as ways of increasing their margins on systems. In some cases, these can be beneficial, but many times can also be unnecessary added expenses.
• If you have an older system, can you breathe some new life into it? Simple things such as running a spyware remover, disk defragmenter, or upgrading system memory (RAM) can help add some extra life to an older system. This way, you don't have to rush out to buy a new system unless you really want to.

These are just a few suggestions on how to cut some of your IT costs. As always, contact me with questions or more specific recommendations.

Now is the time to market

In my contact with business owners, it seems as if some people are reluctant to invest much into online marketing right now due to a slow economy. However, this is backward thinking and misses out on a great opportunity. Let me explain.

The slow economy causes many of us in small business to cut expenses wherever we can until sales expand. Internet marketing can be incredibly effective at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing methods. So, one way your company can continue to market in a downtime is by investing more effort into cost-effective online methods and less into more expensive methods.

Another reason to push forward right now is that very few others will be. During slower times, a lot of companies do cut back on marketing. So, this creates an excellent opportunity for those who do expand efforts right now. You suddenly have more exposure and in some cases, for less cost, just because there aren't as many companies pushing hard right now. This can be especially important when using methods such as pay-per-click advertising, which depends largely on who else is marketing.

The companies that use this economic slowdown as an opportunity to move ahead will likely come out better than those who cut back. By focusing on online marketing, you can not only open up this opportunity, but also do it without a large, risky expense.