Spend Right

 

STOP! Here are a dozen things you must consider before you spend another nickel on technology (Hint if you don’t have time to read this list, you need it more than you think)

 

1. Cheap ALWAYS equals expensive. Value is another story.

 

2. Remember that “thing” the head office installed that just never worked right, yea, don’t go there again. References!

 

3. Version 1.1 is not a battle you want to fight, let the “early adopters” pay a vendor to finalize beta testing, “the cool factor" is so over rated. Being the first on the block will cost you in price, and extensive time to fight the bugs, and install the fixes which will always be forthcoming. Public corporations release software in time frames that align more with quarterly reports than engineering’s realistic dev. cycles..The board of directors. not the development team decide when a product is brought to market.

 

4. Viruses are no longer able to discriminate by OS, not sure if this was 13th district appellate court decision, but if you can install legit software in it, then it’s not immune.

 

5. Security should be at the top of this list, it is down here because most people would have ignored the most important issue they face in today’s Internet based business world. Take it seriously, hindsight will do you no good.

 

6. Back it up. Everything. Now.

 

7. If you think you may run into issues installing “it” yourself, figure out how much your time is worth, and hire an expert. Cheap is always Expensive.

 

8. A $50 per hour tech is usually way more expensive than a $170/hr guy. Cheap is always expensive.

 

9. Factor in renewal license fees into everything you license (buy) Read the T&C’s and remember long term commitments may save on the monthly invoice but they imprison you from taking advantage of newer faster better technology. Somehow I think the pattern will likely continue.

 

10. License your software properly, you do not want to even know what it may cost you if you choose to do otherwise.

 

11. If you are so used to looking at a pinwheel or an hour glass that it does not bug you anymore. It is time. ....Seriously.

 

12. Every gadget, computer, server, service, upgrade, PDA, cloud service, hybrid solution or even that seemingly expensive toll road ultimately exists for one reason; to save you time. Time is everything, yet we choose to waste it while we kid ourselves with bargain solutions, or tolerate slow connections, or sit in traffic instead of springing for the four bucks that will get you home to your family 45 min faster. Stop it! You are smarter than that.