Money saving IT tips any company can do

Pare down hardware, software, power and other costs: money-saving IT tips (including some time-savers that can translate into cost savings) that any company can do:

Power, cooling and space:

• Upgrading Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) to newer energy-efficient units can cut energy use and save money.
• To save power, have the staff turn off their monitors, task lights, etc. on nights and weekends, while leaving the CPU running.
• Use blanking panels in server racks and "air locking" grommets in raised-floor panels to minimize cold air loss.
• House servers in a "cooling closet" or other area where they can be "spot cooled" instead of using general office air conditioning.

IT system/network administration/management:

• Have your IT vendor pre-configure and asset tag products prior to delivery at you office.
• Have your IT vendor configure or "ghost" your software onto hardware products prior to delivery.
• Make use of hardware and software asset management tracking, often available free from your IT vendor.
• Use free tools like Microsoft's Software Update Services (SUS) patch management to keep systems up to date.
• Create system images of your configurations, i.e. using Symantec Ghost, to restore systems instead of rebuilding/reinstalling software.
• Use LogMeIn software to access or control a PC or Mac from a distance.
• Consider outsourcing IT network administration for installation, support, maintenance and repair.

Security:

• Use a Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliance instead of purchasing individual security solutions like firewalls, antivirus software, e-mail filters, etc.

Servers:

• Consolidate servers by using blades and virtualization to replace old, inefficient units, thereby saving money on power, cooling and space.
• Bring in applications that can run on your current server along with other applications to avoid having to buy another server and save on power and cooling.

Software:

• Take advantage of money-saving software volume licensing programs often available for as few as five desktop PCs.
• Implement time-saving software license tracking and management, often available at no charge from your software vendor.
• When possible, switch from software licensing covering "total-users" to "number-of-active-users" in order to save on fees.
• Consider open-source software as your server and even desktop operating system as a way to possibly cut costs.
  

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