Make Technology Work for

You
Technology Leveraging
Cooperative

Technology Leveraging
1
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Technology (IT) supports your
business and it includes:
• Computers
• Copiers, printers, faxes, scanners
• Phones
• Network equipment and services
• Web sites, social media
• Applications
• Technical support and maintenance
• Operating supplies
Technology Leveraging
2
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
4 Steps to IT Mastery

Technology Leveraging
3
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Establish
Business Goals

Technology Leveraging
4
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 i
Gro
wth n i cat
m u
Com
on
Efficiency OPERATING MARKETING Outreach
PLAN GOALS PLAN GOALS
Colla
c t i vity bora
du tion
Pro

TECHNOLOGY
Back office Social
PLAN
media

Technology Leveraging
5
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 What are YOUR Business
Goals?
• Improve productivity
• Reduce IT staff cost
• Reduce training time/cost
• Reduce cost of supplies
• Increase access to data from
anywhere
• Improve communication and
collaboration
• Grow the business
• Increase outreach
Technology Leveraging
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
6
 Review IT
Current Picture

Technology Leveraging
7
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Current Picture. Do you
know:
1 What you are using?
2 What you have but don’t
use?
3 What you need but don’t
have?
4 What needs
replacing/updating?
Technology Leveraging
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
8
 Inventory what you have
• Hardware, software,
devices
• Age
• Purchase cost or lease
amount
• Location and user
• Limits (# users/stations)
Technology Leveraging
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
9
 Do you have any of these:
• Computers
(laptop,desktop,appliance,server)
• Telephones (cellular, PBX, desktop)
• Dial up, DSL phone lines
• Network (routers, switches, T1s)
• Backup (system, software, tapes)
• Virus protection
• Database Applications (finance, ERP,
custom)
• End User Applications (office suite,
Technology Leveraging
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
10
 Find the hidden costs
• Check your phone bills: are you
paying for old dial up lines? Multiple
DSL lines?
• Check your supply bills: are you
paying more than one vendor for the
same goods/services?
• Check your vendor bills: are you
paying for services you don’t need?

Technology Leveraging
11
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Do you know what you
spend?
The latest prices on the
Dell or HP Web site
represent roughly 20 to
30 percent of the total,
long-term cost of that
computer.
Technology Leveraging
12
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
Purchase price may be a
fraction of TOTAL COST

Technology Leveraging
13
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 What are you paying for:
• System maintenance and support
fees
• License fees, upgrades
• Supplies (ink, paper, tapes)
• Phones (cellular bill, land phones,
internet)
• Technical expertise (staff, vendors)
• Downtime, duplicated effort, lost
data Technology Leveraging
14
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
Easy to spend too much or too
little

Too Too
littl muc
e h
Technology Leveraging
15
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Do you spend too much?
• Buy ink for your printers?
• Pay retail on your computers?
• Use more software than you need?
• Pay a ransom to fix mission-critical
apps?
• Pay for duplication of effort, manual
process?

Technology Leveraging
16
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Do you spend too little?
• Let equipment get too old (failure,
downtime)
• Let bandwidth become limited
(inefficiency)
• Implement without a plan
(unexpected costs)
• Omit training and support (user
errors, delay)
• Lack of replacement parts
Technology Leveraging
17
(downtime, costs)
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
Spending too little: A Story

A small retailer
purchased a new
system to tie sales
into inventory.

Technology Leveraging
18
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
Spending too little: A Story

They “saved” by doing

it all with existing
staff

Technology Leveraging
19
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
Spending too little: A Story

Six months after cut-

over, they continue to
struggle with
problems without
achieving the
anticipated
Technology Leveraging
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
20
 Total Cost of Ownership
• Purchase Price
• Maintenance, License and Use Fees
• Installation and Configuration Costs
• Break/Fix, Help Desk, Admin, Tech
Support
• Replacement parts
• Supplies (paper, ink, tapes)
• Employee training
Technology Leveraging
21
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
How old is your equipment?

Technology ages
more quickly than you
think

Technology Leveraging
22
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
In People Years?

Technology Leveraging
23
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
Equipment too old? You spend
more when you react to a
problem
Downtime

Limited
choices

Premiums

Technology Leveraging
24
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Re-acting: A Story

A small bank had a

support contract coming
due that they wanted to
shop around, and an old
system that needed
replacing.
Technology Leveraging
25
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Re-acting: A Story

They waited for a

“good time” to do it.

Technology Leveraging
26
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
Re-acting: A Story

It crashed

Technology Leveraging
27
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
Re-acting: A Story

They Paid

Technology Leveraging
28
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Emergencies Cost More
• Downtime
• No time to evaluate options
• Premium to vendors for quick
response

Technology Leveraging
29
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Growth Planning
• Adding seats
• Infrastructure limits
• Bandwidth and capacity

Technology Leveraging
30
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
Infrastructure Limits: A
story
A small clinic has a five-
year old phone system
that can handle up to 10
extensions. They are
using all 10, and hiring
two new employees.
Technology Leveraging
31
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Infrastructure Limits: A
story
Cost of new employees:
2 additional PCs
2 additional sets of
licenses
$500/year office supplies
New phone system
Technology Leveraging
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
32
Research IT
Options

Technology Leveraging
33
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
Change is the only Constant
• Limited life span
• Changing business needs
• New options all the time
• Ever-changing cost
assessments

Technology Leveraging
34
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 What’s Changing Out
There?
• Cheaper, faster connections
• Cheaper storage
• Social media
• Free or inexpensive hosted apps
• Complexity of user software
• Operating systems (eg, Vista)
• VOIP (internet phones); cellular
networks
• Collaboration tools and collaboration
efforts
• World-wide economy troubles
Technology Leveraging
35
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Identify Costs You can
Reduce
• Unused
equip/apps/services
• Negotiate new phone bills
• Investigate leasing,
hosting
• Consider switching to free
apps Technology Leveraging
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
36
 Analyze Options
• Leasing vs Buying
• Hosted vs Served
• Served vs Desktop Loaded
• Freeware vs Microsoft
• Digital vs Analog
• Contract vs Staff

Technology Leveraging
37
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
Create IT Plan
and Budget

Technology Leveraging
38
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
Monthly Budget

Technology Leveraging
39
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Upcoming Events:
• Telephones: March 27, Chamber
• New Tools: April 23, Troy nonprofit
seminar
• Project costs: April 24, Chamber
• Social media: May 29, Chamber

Technology Leveraging
40
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org
 Technology Leveraging
Cooperative
• Save on office supplies
• Save on technology
• Help assessing/planning your IT
budget

Technology Leveraging
41
Cooperative; www.tlccoop.org