RichardMorris

IT, long considered a money pit, does not have to be. Lost on management it seems is the fact that there is a value attached to the money spent. Dollars spent on a voice or data network go toward making the employees / company more productive, right?
I heard the President of a company say once "We have too many damn computers around here". I thought, well, which ones do you want to get rid of? I'll start unplugging them and make my job a lot easier. Perhaps we should go back to legal pads and pencils? Shortsighted. How about some realistic, proven ideas? I would like to see us share some ideas on how we have saved money for our companies. I'll start. Since maintenance agreements has already been touched on in another thread, I'll skip that one. Here are a few real easy ones.
1. Make sure you don't have too many trunks, especially T1's. Those things can be expensive on an annual basis. I was at one company were we were badly overtrunked. Most companies have no idea what they really need in Telecom. I cut us back to the appropriate level and saved the company $250,000 a year, forever. That easily justified my salary and got me a good raise.
2. POTs lines. Many company still use POTs (plain ole telephone) lines for modem connections or faxes. Use your PBX. You won't have the recurring local telco cost every month, and if you have a dedicated T1, the LD rates will be cheaper.
2. Cell phones. We have about 25 cell phones. I got us in a pooled minute plan and saved about %45 every month. Now I don’t have to worry about my boss who uses 2000 minutes a month. He can borrow from the person who only has a cell phone for emergencies and thus uses very few minutes.
4. Point out the value of the service you provide. The same boss who complained about the computer also would often go off about cell phones. I pointed out the fact that they are a tool just like the phone on your desk. Could you imagine taking that away from your employees? Would it be better to run down the hall every time you needed to communicate with another employee or pick up the phone? How about an office without phones? No way. Cell phones are not any different. They are for those of us who are on the go and need to be contacted to meet immediate needs or get information quickly. As in war and sports, speed in business is a powerful tool.

Document the savings you affect and show them to your boss. I email my boss and copy the president of the company. Believe me, they don’t mind. Change the idea that IT, at least where you’re concerned, is not the aforementioned money pit.