You might be thinking, my hardware and software is due for an upgrade but…..
While there are many reasons not to change enterprise IT systems, possibly the biggest one is inertia. If it in’t broken, why fix it?
 
Whenever and IT upgrade is mentioned, many organisations will start by looking at the cost of upgrading and assess how this fits within their budget. However, there is one (often forgotten) cost that many organisations neglect to consider: the cost of not upgrading.

It may seem a strange concept at first, but once you start considering it, it’s really easy to grasp how legacy hardware and software might be costing your business serious money. The hidden cost of maintaining systems beyond their natural end-of-life is making a large dent in your business’ finances. In this blog post, we aim to provide a few pointers which will help you evaluate this cost, and hopefully make it easier to decide if it’s time for an IT upgrade in your organisation.
 

Support and maintenance costs

Complex systems are costly to maintain and will often require more admin time and help desk resources. For comparison, maintaining older systems can be as challenging. In contrast, many newer software and hardware solutions are significantly cheaper to maintain as many complexities have been eliminated and there is wide availability of support from manufacturers, as well as plethora of a well-trained IT engineers who will know these new systems inside-out.
 
Ask yourself: how much does is your organisation spending each year to support and maintain older systems? The study reveals that businesses are spending an average of US$427 on repair costs for PCs 4 years old or older. This is 1.3 times the repair cost for PCs less than 4 years old. Similarly, the cost of upgrading an older PC is 1.6 times the cost of upgrading a PC that is less than 4 years old. This does not include the cost of lost productivity when employees are without their computers. (source: Intel)
 
Low performance

Old systems will perform slower and may require fixes more often than up-to-date systems. On top of the maintenance and support costs mentioned above, this also means hours of lost productivity and often times frustration on the employee whose system is underperforming. A Techaisle study found that workers lose on average 42 work hours (more than a week!) per year because of old PCs.
 
Newer systems on the other hand will usually enhance productivity and efficiency. Your users will benefit of a faster system, improved user interfaces and workflows.
 
Ask yourself: what is the anticipated productivity and efficiency gain from upgrading your hardware and software? Estimate the annual cost of not purchasing these.
 
Security breaches

Techaisle conducted a recent study which found that PCs older than 4 years suffered 53 percent more security breaches then newer systems. It’s not the hardware itself that directly makes old systems more susceptible to cyber attacks. Rather, the cause is that these systems are not performant enough to support newer and more secure software. Or even more often, that companies don’t see the value in investing in updated software.
 
With cyberattacks increasing at a staggering rate, it really should be a top priority for all organisations to keep their systems up to date.
 
If you fail to examine the cost of upgrading hardware and software within your organisation, you may essentially be leaving a lot of money on the table. As a minimum, we recommend that you audit at least systems that are older than 5 years and then every 3 years. Doing so will save your organisation money which can be put to better use in other areas of the business.
 
If you want to know more, our IT expert advisors are able to help. Get in touch with us calling 2636 6177 or reach us here.