Year after year, business costs rise. Whether it be healthcare, staffing costs, product costs, technology costs or what not, there is a constant struggle in maintaining expenses. Enterprise companies may not feel the pinch of these rising expenses, but small to mid-size companies definitely must. The best strategy to embrace is to plan ahead. Getting your business in a position where you can be proactive with your IT strategy instead of being reactive is one way to save money. To be proactive, you need to anticipate the improvements your network will face.
A well-designed network is the key to controlling your IT costs. Here are some advantages to ensuring your network is up-to-date and running as effective as possible.
- Connect Voice and Data. In the IT world, the term is convergence. It is bringing video, voice, and data together in the same system through an IP network. This reduces both capital and operating expenses since you are only supporting one network versus two. This decreases maintenance and troubleshooting time as well. This process will lower your IT support costs and free up time for your IT staff or Consultant to work on other initiatives. When you make calls over the network instead of a switched telephone network, you save in long distance calls.
- Create Work Efficiency. A network can make your business processes more efficient and therefore reduce overall costs. It connects departments together, allowing information to easily be accessed, ultimately allowing for less people to do more work. The idea is to give your employees the tools to become more efficient instead of having to spend the money hiring more people. Ultimately saving in employee expenses.
- Monitor Costs. An intelligent network sets up applications and systems that link employees and business activities. One of the biggest trends talked about recently is dashboards and the ability to customize them to provide you with the information you will need most readily. This gives both employees and customers the ability to see inventory on hand and better project ordering needs. When managers and employees are both equipped with the appropriate information, better decisions are made, saving the company money.
- Employee Retention. When employees work in an IT environment that is efficient and strong with communication needs, it makes for an enjoyable work environment. A strong network can also allow employees remote access and having the ability to work from anywhere creates a strong life/work balance. When employees are happy, they don’t tend to leave their employment, causing employers to save time and money in recruitment efforts.
These are just some of the advantages having a strong and up-to-date network can have for your organization. All of these advantages not only give you a business edge, but ultimately save you money. In order to achieve the network that aligns with your business goals and objectives, you need to appropriately plan. If you are unsure on how to devise such a plan or set up the appropriate network, 2W Tech offers a free network assessment and can come into your organization and work with you to set up a plan to help you achieve this.
Read More:
IT Network Assessment – Is Your Network Up To Speed?
Using Technology to Increase Business Productivity