What are the benefits of predictable technology costs?

In a recent study of small business owners, one of the most challenging aspects that were identified is cost management. Often small and medium business owners are faced with managing too many juggling balls and so cost management does not get the attention it deserves until something goes wrong. There are the standard static expenses such as employee salaries, marketing, and advertising, product costs, facilities fees, and taxes; but there are also “budget busters” which are unexpected expenses that can add up.

Often, when technology breaks, it is a “budget buster” because:
a. the event was unexpected
b. hardware may need to be replaced
c. technician visits need to happen
d. specialists may need to be called in
e. there is potential downtime to the business

This can amount to thousands of dollars against a budget that wasn’t prepared for it.

Utilizing a Managed Service Provider (MSP) can provide your business with predictable
technology costs where you have a fixed amount that you are spending each month/quarter/ year and that can include things such as regular site visits, routine maintenance, & hardware replacement.

Regular Site Visits & Routine Maintenance

Through performing regular site visits and routine maintenance on critical systems, potential problems can be identified and addressed earlier before they impact business operations. Addressing problems early is, in most cases, a large cost-saving measure as waiting for systems to fail can cause a host of other issues such as system business downtime, linked systems, data replication/backups, data corruption, and part replacement. Site visits allow technicians to gauge the health of the technological environment and proactively recommend solutions to mitigate future issues.

Hardware Replacement

Equipment like computers, laptops, and phones can often be put under a hardware replacement policy that guarantees the replacement of equipment if it fails within a certain timeframe. For example, if an MSPs agreement guarantees hardware replacement on a desk phone within 3 years and the desk phone fails within that timeframe, the phone is replaced without extra cost to the business. This would have been an unexpected break that would typically cost the phone hardware replacement, the technician to program the phone, and the technician to come out and install the phone – all now covered under the agreement.

So by having a fixed cost, it allows a business to effectively budget their technology expenses and typically allows for equipment to be paid over a term rather than paying everything up front. With regular site visits, routine maintenance, and hardware replacement policies, “budget busters” are dramatically reduced allowing a business to focus their budget where it matters most to the business, and less on technology “what-if” scenarios.

To find out more about how Uniserve can help provide predictable (budget-able) technology costs for your business, please call us at 1-800-688-1946 or email us at business@uniserve.com.