The Economy's Effect on IT
18 November, 2008
You must have been hiking in the Andes (one of my dreams) for the last few months not to have witnessed the media pumping us full of information about how bad the world economy is and how the Australian Dollar, in relation to the US dollar has dropped significantly.
By now you may have noticed that in the last few weeks, the price of computer equipment and software has generally gone up by 10-25%. This is a direct result of the Australian Dollar dropping about 30-40% of its value to the US Dollar.
Most of the large manufacturers; HP, IBM, Toshiba etc have raised prices, but only by about 10-15 percentage points, to prevent the market and their customers feeling the huge shock that would be inflicted if they raised their prices the full amount. They are also working on the assumption the Aussie Dollar shouldn't be sitting in the low 60 cents and will go back up, and in turn it has - at the time of writing this article the dollar is now back around the 68-70c mark.
To date, most of Microsoft's licensing has not changed price, only their OEM software (the type that comes when you buy a new computer) has gone up, as this is priced internationally against the USD every day.
Microsoft Australia has gone one better too; between now and the end of December, they have taken 15% off their Windows and Office Software purchased under the "Open" Licence agreement.
Our recommendation is to work with us and review the equipment you currently have and work up a list of suggestions that you can implement over the coming 6-12 months. This will let you adjust your budgets to accommodate for what essentials might be needed and quite possibly extend the useful life of the server and equipment you have now.
By having a plan, if one of the larger vendors runs a special then we/you could potentially take good advantage of it. It also minimises the impact of untimely surprises along the way.
And, while things may seem uncertain, remember - one of the best ways to combat the gloom is to maintain a positive attitude and to keep your goals in focus.
By Ryan Spillane, Managing Director
The Importance of Budgeting
19 September, 2008
The concept of Cash Flow is king in small business; the best way to control cash flow is by having a budget. When you have been in business for several years you can start to use historic or previous year's figures to budget.
Each year you can expect that your rent, utilities, leasing costs and other static overheads won't vary all that much - or at least that they'll do so in a linear fashion when compared to the growth of the company. However, your IT is another thing. IT spend for a small to medium sized business is usually very erratic, in that there will be a big spend when a server needs to be installed, then very little for the next 12 months.
New Client machines (desktops/laptops) are purchased either in response to growth; to facilitate the induction of a new staff member, or to replace older machines that have failed. When the company has a bumper month and the business splurges, IT is purchased as it is often and somewhat mistakenly seen more as a luxury than a conduit for profitable business.
By creating a budget and planning for the future, a small business can minimise this boom-bust philosophy towards purchasing IT and implement infrastructure that is well thought out, creating a positive impact on the productivity of the company.
That is where we come in. Organise a 60-90 min meeting with us… during this time we will discuss your projections and help you establish some budget figures for the next 6, 12 and 18 months - taking into consideration any server upgrades or replacements needed and validating the worth of upgrading or replacing desktops. We can help you put in place a timeline for when such upgrades should occur.
By doing this each year (or more often) it allows the business owner and accountant to think about the costs that might be coming up and factor them into the company's goals and objectives, rather than finding something fails and that they are not sure if they are in a position to replace it.
We will be calling a number of clients over the coming months to see if they would like to take up the Planning & Budgeting meeting, if you would like to have this valuable discussion sooner then please call the office and we will organise a time to come and see you.
Microsoft Australia Partner Conference
5 September, 2008
Last month saw the Annual Microsoft Partner conference take place in North Queensland. This is something we as Microsoft Partners go to each year to get more of an idea how the past year has been for Microsoft and where they will be making marketing pushes over the coming 12 months.
It is also a good time to learn about emerging technologies in beta (testing phase) that will be released so we can begin getting up to speed and start talking to clients about benefits they might see for their own companies.
Microsoft have confirmed they are strongly committed to Small to Medium Business (0-250 computer range), while they are releasing the new version of Small Business Server, there is also a new product being released called Essential Business Server that is designed for the 50-250 computer companies and brings some of the great features such as Remote Web Workplace etc to companies bigger than what Small Business Server could support.
The conference venue was fantastic and the peer network is always great - this year was no exception. It was good to catch up with people from other states that you don't get to see often during the year.
On another great note we would like to congratulate Stuart Applegate and his staff at BCA (Brisbane) for winning the Small Business Specialist award, Stuart is a good friend and his team often do work for our clients with Brisbane offices. Again, hats off to you!!!!!
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