There’s no getting around it, networking costs for business can be eye-watering large. In fact, it’s usually the chunkiest line on the list of overheads any business has to deal with.
So, where do you begin in bringing those costs down? Can you rely on providers to keep your spending in check? Or do you need a specialist advisor to help you trim the fat from around the edges?
The good news is, there are some excellent tried and tested methods that don’t rely on the goodwill of providers or paying an expensive IT consultant to help. We’ll walk you through 4 steps you can begin taking today to reduce the cost of your business network.
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Are you getting the best connection deal?
Probably the first place to begin your cost-cutting investigation is around your internet connection.
If you’re hesitant to do so, this is usually good news – as internet connections have traditionally been an area of businesses that people avoid interfering with.
Why?
Well, there’s often an attitude of “If it’s not broken, don’t try to fix it” – but this plays right into the hands of internet service providers. They know you’ll worry about interruptions to service, so they’ll tend to avoid offering improvements on your current deal.
This isn’t to say you won’t get token gestures to keep you happy. You’ll often be offered a little more bandwidth and a small price reduction if you ask – but these can usually be significantly improved upon if you’re willing to shop around.
The biggest savings are likely to be for businesses that haven’t upgraded or swapped providers within the last 4-5 years. So, if this sounds like you, then you might be able to chop down some of those big numbers on your operational expenditure report.
Combine connection providers
While we’re talking about connection costs, it’s well worth exploring who provides your connections at different business sites. If you find that you’ve got one provider across two or more locations, you’ve probably just uncovered another potential saving.
If you call and speak to an ISP, you’ll find that they’re often keen to bring all your sites onboard. From your point of view, it looks like a hassle-free way of doing things – and they can often offer a small discount that looks appealing at the time.
The thing is, these small benefits just don’t add up to the magnitude of the financial savings you can make if you’re willing to mix and match providers across your sites. This isn’t going to be a quick process, but it may actually be something a managed IT service provider could build into the package they create for you (more on that next).
Of course, cost saving is just one benefit that’s associated with mixing up your internet connection providers. As well as money savings, you’ll be able to choose a connection type that suits your requirements at that specific location – so you can build a hybrid network that combines virtually any carrier and any technology they can offer.
Look at hybrid infrastructures
If you’re bringing different connection types into your business, it’s a good time to think about maximizing those connections with a hybrid network.
Again, this would be one of those cost-saving approaches that makes business decision makers nervous – simply because it can represent a lot of upheaval for your systems. That said, if you’re willing to do it, you’re looking at some enormous long-term savings you’d struggle to match anywhere else.
Quite simply, in recent years, more sophisticated networking technology has become far more affordable – and this means that the versatility of a hybrid network is now something that’s within the reach of many smaller businesses. If different network connection possibilities sound like something that could unlock some potential for growth, it’s worth exploring hybrid models in more depth.
Explore outsourcing
So far, we’ve covered 3 options for reducing costs that each stand-alone – but, if you’d like to take advantage of those and another huge money-saving opportunity in one move, talking to a managed service provider is a great step.
Not only will a managed IT network provider help you address the other strategies on this list, they will also massively reduce the amount of money you spend on keeping your IT lights on each month.
If you’re not already aware, the business model is fairly simple. When you outsource your IT, you’re essentially buying into an external team. This depth and quality of talent on a managed service provider’s team usually far exceeds anything that a small business would be able to afford to keep in-house – and the only minor downside is that you don’t actually have the staff sitting in your own office.
The kind of service agreement you’ll draw up with a managed IT provider will mean you’re entitled to set amount of support each month. What this is will depend on your requirements – but almost always represents a huge saving compared to the staffing and recruitment costs you’d need to find to get an equivalent service under your own roof.
Part of the saving comes from the sheer amount of effort that’s required to manage an in-house team. Of course, this isn’t to say that an IT is any more or less effort than any other type of team – but it is an area of the business that is absolutely key to your daily ability to perform – while also being a part of the business that many people don’t have a detailed knowledge of.
When you outsource IT, you also outsource the management of staff – as well as the scheduling that’s required to keep your systems staffed round the clock (if necessary). When it comes to covering absences, sickness, holidays, and resignations, this kind of outsources becomes even more valuable – since you know there’s going to be no reason you’re faced with downtime.
Naturally, you won’t want to simply pull the plug on your existing IT team – but if you’re just exploring putting a team together, or you’re looking at ways of expanding a team, using a service provider can be a great way to go.
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