Posts Tagged “total cost of ownership”

There is a perception in the marketplace that technology seems to get cheaper and better every year. In fact marketing initiatives of many purveyors of technology are very good at creating buzz about what is the latest and greatest and what is the “must have” technology items.

For a lot of small business owners that I work with, it seems that the price-point for technology is usually the selling point. However, I am always quick to point out to my business partners that there is a lot more to the message than the marketing. No matter how attractive pricing becomes, it is very important to focus on the total cost of ownership or TCO.

There are many factors to consider when trying to determine the total cost of ownership of a piece of technology. For example, let’s say we are looking for a desktop workstation for our business — there are a wide variety of additional potential costs that should be taken into account.

Finance Charges – During a typical 3 – 4 year product life cycle of a desktop workstation, many small businesses will find it advantageous to lease for the term of the entire product life cycle. You don’t pay for the entire product up front, but over the course of your lease, you will pay additional finance costs that are built into the lease — that increases your TCO.

Migration or Setup - If your new workstation is a replacement for an existing workstation, there will need to be a migration of your data and environment to the new system. If the workstation is a new system, there will need to be a setup of your required software, environment so that everything works with your systems. Read the rest of this entry »