April 16, 2009, 8:33 PM — 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.
Networking and communications:
- Consider web-managed switches (smart switches) offering many features of managed switches at close to unmanaged switch prices.
- Avoid the cost of dropping cables by equipping your office with a wireless (802.11 Wi-Fi) network.
- Add to office productivity by saving staff the time and hassle of having to delete unwanted e-mail by using anti-spam filtering software.
Telephony:
- Switch your phone service to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and save nearly 40% on local calls and as much as 90% on international calling.
- Save about 40 percent in cabling costs for new buildings by using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) for telephone service.
- Use the same staffer for network, data and telephone setup and maintenance by switching to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone services.
- When appropriate, use Skype for collaboration (conference calling), especially for international calls.
- Use audio, video and multimedia conferencing and collaboration software and web services as an alternative to expensive travel.
Storage:
- Instead of file servers, use lower-powered, lower cost and easier-to-administer Networked Attached Storage (NAS) appliances.
- If you have a lot of files, consider de-duplication software to reduce space demands and eliminate the need to purchase extra storage.
Printers:
- Use multifunction printers (MFPs) combining copy, print, scan and fax functions to eliminate having to purchasing individual devices.
- Consider a color printer for small print runs to save the time and cost of using an outside print shop.
- Multifunction printer (MFPs), single machines offering copy, print, scan and fax functionality, can help save money on print consumables (paper, toner, etc.).
- Multifunction printers (MFPs), providing multiple functionality, take up a small footprint thereby saving office space and possibly cost.
- Networked multifunction printers (MFPs), strategically located to a workgroup, can help save money by eliminating the need to purchase extra printers.
- Use printer management software to limit the use of more costly color printing to designated individuals, time of day, etc.
- Save on paper by promoting 2-up (two page images per side) and duplex (both sides of the paper) printing as well as the reuse of sheets.
- Save on paper by having the staff print only the pages of documents and web sites that they need.
- Consider non-brand printer consumables; recycle used cartridges; and look for rebates and other price reductions.
- Small energy efficient print servers can reduce power use and take up less space, compared to older, larger print servers.
