The tech industry, like many industries, would love to sell everyone the latest and greatest products every single year. Every once in a while, I encounter a tech-user who would like to know:
The reality is, technology is expensive and the costs add up quick – and we don’t have a money tree. There are a lot of behind-the-scenes tech costs for running an organization that most people aren’t aware of, such as:
- Servers: To store information, databases, and maintain licensing.
- Licensing: Every piece of software requires a license to make it legal – and many licenses are annual. This may include your operating system, word processing software (Like Microsoft Office), antivirus, and any special software that your department (or others) may use. Even phones, servers, and other electronics may require their own licenses, per device.
- Switches and routers: These control the network and any network-powered phones.
- Firewall: This protects an organization from the outside world.
- Maintenance: This involves upgrading/repairing devices, machines and possibly contacting outside venders for help. (Which can quickly incur extra costs.)
- Backup systems: This involves extra storage and systems in place in case there is a power failure or other emergency.
- Training/wages: Ideally, a tech department should have a team of tech-heroes who are specialized in keeping the tech-systems running well so tech-users can do their jobs.
Of course, technology should be upgraded from time-to-time, especially as devices/software near end-of-life. (ie. It is no longer supported by the companies and therefore a security risk.) While marketers would love for everyone to purchase the latest and greatest technology, new computers (and some devices) should be able to run for 4 years or longer without any major issues.
If your organization happens to have a money-tree or a large tech budget, congrats! If not, be patient with your tech-heroes. We have a lot of hard decisions to make to keep an organization running well – so often we need to think of the ‘greater good’ when spending our budgets.