New Fathom IT - Blog #Cost

The Cost of a Cheap (Slow) Computer

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 22:33:56 -0800

The Cost of a Cheap (Slow) Computer

Is it worth it to buy a better computer? It's time that business owners start thinking about the costs per hour of their employees and the cost of slow computers in their workplace. Many business owners don't realize the financial impacts they're creating simply by buying cheap tools (computers) for their workers. Most of them wouldn't dream of sending a wood cutter with a dull chainsaw blade, but they equip their entire team with crappy computers they are stuck using every day!

For the below example, I'm going to assume we're buying workstations for a business for workers who use it for their main job function and they work 50 weeks per year. If that's not the case, you may still be able to learn something but you'll need to adapt the math to your situation. We're also assuming that computer will last 3-5 years, but the older they get the more likely they are to be slow and the slower they will become. Also, the cheaper computers will likely have a smaller lifespan.

What Does It Cost If It's Slow?

Having a slow computer has a two main cost centers: time and frustration. If you're using a computer that's constantly slow to open tabs or programs then not only do you lost valuable time from your day, but it's also a frustrating experience especially the busier you get.

Financial Cost

Let's say you decide to buy a cheaper computer and save $500 because you buy an I3 instead of an I5 and 8GB of RAM instead of 16GB and you get an HDD instead of a solid state drive (SSD). All of those upgrades could easily cost you a three minutes of slowness throughout the day. If this computer is for an employee that costs you $25/hour then you are wasting $1.25 per day ((3/60) x $25), that may not seem like a lot, but every year that will cost $312 and over the lifetime of the computer (5 years) you'll pay $1,562 for 3 minutes every day. That's the best case scenario.

Let's say in a few years the computer is running REALLY slow and takes 30 minutes out of every day because of the lag in opening programs or slow restart times. That will cost you $12.50 per day and $3,125 every year you run a slow computer like that.

Morale Cost

But there's more than just the financial cost. When you have employees working for you and you don't provide good tools to do their work that is a big hit to morale and will likely lead to higher turnover and less employee satisfaction. The cost of hiring and training a single employee is easily thousands and thousands of dollars. But let's say they don't quite and just spend their days complaining. Even that will have a negative impact on the business and every person that employee interacts with (I hope they're not doing customer service).

A Nerdy Table

Below is a table calculating the costs per minute of slowness in your employees day. Of course, this assumes that this is time that could have been used on productive work, but it really doesn't take long to have slow computers costing you a lot of money!

Slowness Minutes Per Day	Hourly Rate	Cost/Day	Cost/Year (50 Weeks of Work)	Cost/3 Years	Cost/5 Years
1	$25	$0.42	$104.17	$312.50	$520.83
2	$25	$0.83	$208.33	$625.00	$1,041.67
3	$25	$1.25	$312.50	$937.50	$1,562.50
4	$25	$1.67	$416.67	$1,250.00	$2,083.33
5	$25	$2.08	$520.83	$1,562.50	$2,604.17
10	$25	$4.17	$1,041.67	$3,125.00	$5,208.33
15	$25	$6.25	$1,562.50	$4,687.50	$7,812.50
20	$25	$8.33	$2,083.33	$6,250.00	$10,416.67
25	$25	$10.42	$2,604.17	$7,812.50	$13,020.83
30	$25	$12.50	$3,125.00	$9,375.00	$15,625.00

What Should I Buy?

So what should you buy? At the least, check out our Workstation Specification Standards and buy in the Standard User column, but if you have some heavy hitters who are very expensive per hour, consider bumping it up! If you have users that are doing billable work for you, then add that into your calculation as well. If you're using a program that requires lots of graphics capabilities, consider upgrading to a dedicated graphics card.

As a rule, stay away from the following:

- Pentium, Core Duo, I3, or Ryzen 3 processors. These are garbage for the most part. I wouldn't even want to check email with these.

- HDDs. They just aren't worth it... ever.

- Refurbished computers. Yes you can save some money up front, but you're likely to run into issues later. Especially don't buy these if you pay for your IT support because that will get costly really quick.

- Any computer that is under $500, it's almost always garbage.

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Manage Your Tech, Free Your Time

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 16:55:27 -0800

How Can I Free My Time?

Do you enjoy putting out fires in your business? I sure don't. It's the worst when my network goes down, my computer freezes, or that program simply doesn't do what it is supposed to do. What if there was a way to focus on what matters most and not live crisis to crisis?

You purchase internet, that special program that allows you to conduct business, and hopefully antivirus for your computers. Is that enough? Well, you don't purchase a car and just run it till it breaks down. You change the oil and perform preventative maintenance. Unfortunately, it doesn't stop at the computer purchase or initial network setup. You need to make sure you are doing the preventative maintenance to keep it working. This is where managed services come in to free up your time. They allow you to proactively manage your tech to keep it working in tip-top shape.

Here are a few of the things that managed services can do for you:

Keep your computers up-to-date, such as the following:

Operating system (OS)
Antivirus and device security
Software and drivers
Firmware and BIOS

Keep your network up-to-date
Monitor network performance and internet connectivity
Manage assets and their warranties
Provide remote access for rapid support and recovery when things inevitably do go wrong
Guarantee support response times so you are back up and running as quickly as possible in the event something does go wrong

As an alternative to managed services, you could try hiring an IT person at an on-demand or break-fix capacity. However, you might not find it worthwhile if you're constantly stuck in crisis mode or you have employees being paid to just sit there? Your time is valuable. It only takes one catastrophe - that could have been avoided by a little preventative maintenance - to payback the cost of years of managed services. In the same way you don't run your car into the ground, you don't want to run your tech into the ground. If nothing else, your tech gets you from point A to B.

You could also try the DIY approach to IT. If your business is very small and you're fairly tech savvy, then you might be able to handle your tech needs. However, if you're running a business larger than one or two people, the indirect costs associated with downtime and inefficiencies can quickly make it not worth the effort. More of your time means more opportunities to grow your business and more of doing what matters most to you.

"Tech is like a car that needs preventative maintenance."

Why Managed Services?

Do you hire a mechanic to change the oil, belts, seals, filters, etc. in your car? If so, you probably do it because its not worth your time to learn or purchase the tools to keep your car running. It's the same with IT. The tech in your business is like a car that will break down if you don't perform preventative maintenance. You could spend your valuable time learning how to do it yourself or hire the pros to help.

Additionally, the world is full of dirt, gravel, and other debris that are waiting for their chance to get into your car and wreck havoc. The world is also full of bots and cyber criminals that are trying to get into your tech. Without the proper proactive actions and protections you are a sitting target. Don't worry. Managed services greatly help to improve your cyber security posture. They ensure your systems are up-to-date and protected with antivirus and other critical safeguards.

Free Your Time

Start managing the tech of your business with managed services and it'll pay off in spades.

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Where Did Managed Services Come From?

Historically, companies hired in-house IT technicians or outsourced for break-fix IT support. Most of this support was reactive - when something broke, a technician came to fix it. As companies began to depend more and more on uninterrupted and reliable technology, proactive IT support became the standard. If you are still relying on reactive IT support, you are falling behind. If you want your business to grow and thrive in these modern times, it's time to consider moving from reactive break-fix support to proactive managed services.

What Can I Do?

Take the next step. Move away from the crisis-life to a rich and fulfilling one where you can focus on what matters most. Start managing the tech of your business with managed services.

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When to Outsource Your IT

Mon, 27 Apr 2020 16:29:36 -0700

What's better for your business: Managed IT Services or hiring a Network Administrator? This article explores the costs vs. benefits of hiring an in-house Network Administrator or outsourcing the work. At some point it may make sense for your company to augment your IT with partial or total in-house support. This article helps provide a reference for when it makes sense to go in-house or outsource.

When to Outsource, When to Hire In-House

In-House IT

Pros

Lots of control as an employee of the company
Constantly available to whatever your expectations
Singularly focused on the company
Usually after-hours work is assumed and included

Cons

Hard to evaluate the quality of work
Often get's tunnel vision in single environment
Have to deal with personality quirks in the office
Usually has "loose" systems
Lots of additional costs as employee of the company (PTO, Taxes)
Usually low-quality life-work balance for employee
Extremely difficult to replace or fire
Usually lots of things not written down
No redundancy if the employee is sick or on vacation.

Outsourced IT Service (Like New Fathom)

Pros

Lots of brain power/ expertise from a single source
Diverse IT experience to implement best-practices
Easy to scale with business
Easy to fire (if needed)
Dedicated to staying current with IT trends and tools
Strong systems in place to support the company
Redundancy of support (Doesn't rest on one person)
Costs scale as business grows

Cons

Not very adaptable to organization
Extra costs for after-hours work
Serves other customers not just your company
Requires an in-house liaison to help with strategic planning

Costs of Hiring In-House IT

To hire the breadth and depth of experience New Fathom brings to the table, would at least require a network administrator level of expertise. These people also come with a cost and they aren't cheap.

$7,000 per month

According to Salary.com a Network Administrator's base annual salary is approximately $60,000. However, the cost to the company will be at least 1.4 times this amount. This equates to roughly $84,000 per year cost to the company (or $7,000 per month).

Reference | Reference | Reference

Costs of Hiring Managed Service Provider (Like Us!)

Give New Fathom a call to find out how Managed IT Service might help your business and what it would cost.

Managed IT services scale with the business so that costs vary depending upon what the business needs.

Summary

If you are currently using Managed IT Services and the support portion of those costs exceed $7,000, then it might be time to hire an in-house Network Administrator to either augment, partially replace or completely replace the outsourced IT support services. To find out if it makes sense to hire in-house or outsource, feel free to give us at New Fathom a call today. Just click the "Get Started" button at the bottom of this page.

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