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!!!!!
XP Retires, Officially
13 July, 2008
June 30 came and went with all the fan-fair that the End of Financial Year will usually bring.
This EOFY however saw an additional conclusion - the official retirement date for Windows XP.
This means that manufacturers like HP will no longer pre-load Windows XP on computers.
How will this impact you, our customers?
Once Australian distributors' stock of XP Pro Machines is exhausted, there will be no replenishment of this stock. Thankfully in the short term there is no need for panic.
Manufacturers, including HP will be shipping certain Vista Business models in their range with XP Pro recovery media and therefore XP Professional will be available on certain machines via downgrade rights.
Microsoft has stated the ability to provide the Windows XP recovery media ends on the 31 January 2009. After this PC manufacturers cannot send out Windows XP media.
With this in mind it is time to start making solid plans for the future. If you have been considering trialling a Vista Business PC on your network, now would be a great time to start laying the foundations for 2009. If implemented with enough foresight, the prospect of transitioning to the Vista Platform becomes a manageable one.
It is advisable to start testing Vista Business on the network. As far as compatibility concerns go, there is no test as conclusive as actually trialling a Vista machine with all of the programs, drivers and applications required to run your business.
Just keep in mind Vista Home Premium cannot be installed onto a network, so it is important to purchase the right version.
For more advice on implementing Vista Business test machines, or to discuss this issue further please contact us.
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