Anyone, but especially owners of small and medium
businesses, should do two things before they buy IT equipment: make
sure they really, really need it, and then work out thetotal
cost of owningit - the very high cost of
running some systems can come as a shock.
This is the advice of author David Nickson in his new book,
IT
Procurement Handbook for SMEs, which the British Computer
Society has just published.
Nickson told Computer Weekly that the book was aimed at people
who are neither IT experts nor procurement specialists.
"You could say it's all about how not to buy stuff you don't
need," he said.
Nickson said the SME sector spent an estimated £12bn on IT last
year.
IT was the heart of most small businesses, mainly because of the
internet and e-mail, he said. "Big companies can recover when
things go wrong, but it can be fatal for SMEs."
Many small businesses are one-man bands, and few employ more
than 10 people. "There are very marked differences with respect to
IT in what these micro-companies can do and the next size up,"
Nickson said, "but there are much fewer differences between the
medium and large companies, other than bargaining power."
To keep costs low, Nickson advised small businesses, especially
start-ups, to consider online services such as
Google Docs and
Microsoft
Office Live, or Sun's free
Open Office software.
"The only problems then are network access - which in an
emergency can be dealt with through internet cafes and mobile
phones - and security, which encryption will address," he said.
Those who needed to buy anything more should look very carefully
at their precise needs, Nickson said.
"For example, every small business needs a printer. But these
vary from photo-quality inkjets to low-cost lasers. The choice
depends on what kind of image you need to create with your
communications."
After printer equipment has been matched up to need, total cost
of ownership is the most important factor. Nickson said some
printer companies applied the
"Gillette principle": if you give away the razor, you can make
a lot of money sellling blades.
"The capital cost of the printer unit may be a very small
fraction of the cost of ink cartridges over the life of the unit,"
he said. "Depending on your expected print volumes and printer
lifespan, you might come to very different decisions between an
inkjet that doesn't cost much to buy and a mid-range colour
laser."
The IT
Procurement Handbook for SMEs by David Nickson is published by
the British Computer Society. ISBN 976-1-902505-98-5. Price £25 for
BCS members £29.95 for non-members.
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