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To Cut Costs: Review Hardware, Software and Consider Hiring Talented Interns

Jeffrey Lipson

The financial headlines are discouraging: “January worst month ever, February is not looking better” … “Job growth, worst since 1945” … “Retail sales, six straight declines.”

The list goes on and on.

Despite the difficult environment in which we find ourselves, the rent still needs to be paid, the lights need to stay on and we must find a way to keep our businesses running.

Each of us will be looking at ways to reduce our expenses to meet these challenges. Every dollar counts.

There are a few areas I often see companies spending far too much, simply because no one has taken a hard look at them.

• Telecom. I recently did a review for a customer, and they had six or so POTS lines (plain old telephone service) for their fax machines. Someone had originally ordered these lines with premier services (voicemail, caller id, etc…) that were not needed for faxes. This oversight was costing them about $250 per month. While not a lot of money, I’d certainly be happy to get $3,000/year back for a few minutes work!

I also suggest calling the team from EvolveIP; their hosted and managed solutions have the possibility of significantly reducing what you’re currently spending and might just make your company greener in the process.

• Staffing. I love hiring interns. They’re bright, hardworking and often have great ideas. One of the best members of my team right now is a student, working for me part-time while finishing school. He has helped us change many of our paradigms with his new perspectives, from creating a Wiki site using Google Apps to revamping our help desk. I could conquer the world if I had 10 more like him. And best of all, he works cheap!

If you haven’t called the Drexel School of Computer and Information Technology, you should.

• Hardware and software. One of my customers was complaining that her PC was running too slow and she needed a new one (it was only 2 years old). It turns out, she had some spyware running and was a little low on RAM (memory). A quick purge of the malicious software and $50 of additional memory and her PC was like a new (saving her boss $1000).

Another customer needed to purchase additional software licenses for a back-office application. I suggested that for non-client facing PCs, he install Open Office, a freeware product. This choice saved them several thousand dollars with no loss of productivity.

These are just a few ways to cut costs. With a little effort, good leadership (we've got a great new State Treasurer in Pennsylvania) and a little luck, we will make it through these hard times.

Jeffrey Lipson is CEO of Saber Source Group. Contact him at jlipson@sabersource.com.