Saving Money or Taking Risks?

By Lasa Information Systems Team

If you are trying to save money by cutting your ICT costs down you may be putting your organisation at risk. Here are a few alternatives to risk taking that could save a few pennies on the way.

Saving Money or Taking Risks? 

Cutting ICT costs in our every day operations is not the way to run a secure and stable system. We are all facing tough times while funders are streamlining their grants schemes, but is it a good idea to put our information, the core of our work, at risk? Here we identify some areas where organisations may be taking risks to save money and suggest some lower risk alternatives.

For a more in depth look at assessing risk see the knowledgebase article ICT Risk Assessment.

Some Risk Pitfalls

• Replacing a technical support contract with ad-hoc pay-as-you-go arrangement;
• Not renewing anti-virus software subscription when necessary;
• Avoiding replacing hardware when it keeps 'falling over';
• Using unlicensed software

Contract or Pay-as-You-Go

If you are considering terminating your contract with an ICT support provider, think again. This will only work if you have a stable established system in place. If your technology is prone to regular problems an ad-hoc service will always work out more expensive. Support providers are also feeling the pinch, try negotiating your contract instead of ending it altogether. Think about reducing your hours or adjusting the price, you will still be guaranteed a standard service at least. 

Upgrade and Replace

If you are connected to the internet without up to date Anti virus software you are not only taking huge risks but you should be up for gross misconduct!

If you are getting your annual Anti-virus subscription renewal reminder popping up on your desktop don't ignore it....With the damage a virus infection can cause your organisation it’s money well spent. If you are running an organisation with stand alone computers there may be little cost associated with staying protected. The answer here is to make sure you have the right solution for your organisation. It may be possible to rationalise the software you are running, perhaps centralise the anti-virus operation if you are running individual versions. If you need more help thinking this through have a look at the knowledgebase article Choosing an Antivirus Solution for Your Organisation, and then put an essential plan in place.

Inventory Inventory Inventory

Now is the time to take stock of the equipment you have in the office. 

If you’re getting or already have new equipment, plan and budget for it to be installed; added to the network and replace older equipment, consider upgrading which can be a cheaper option. There are open source options like the Ubuntu operating system that can run on older machines and may be suitable if you aren’t running mission critical software that relies Windows such as an Access database.

Take stock even if you don't have any spare equipment knocking about. Make an inventory and identify the equipment that needs replacing. Even if you don't have the spare cash now you will have a plan to work to when you do. It may not seem like a risk, but any staff time wasted on malfunctioning hardware and software is costing money to the organisation overall.

Particularly if you have a lot of machines, free inventory tools e.g. Spiceworks take the pain out of inventorying your equipment. Otherwise here’s a Sample ICT Inventory.

Unlicensed Software

It is illegal to use unlicensed software however tempting…

If you are using unlicensed or pirated software you don't need to. Many charity organisations can get software at heavily discounted prices from specialist Charity Software Suppliers. Not every organisation qualifies, so double check before developing your strategy around this. Remember though, that overall the fines you could incur will definitely outweigh price for licenses.

There are free alternatives for some commonly used software, for example:

• Open Office - a free, open source office suite
• Mozilla – an open source alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer
• CutePDF - is the free version of commercial PDF creation software

For other examples see the knowledgebase articles Free and Low Cost Tools for your Organisation and Utilities and Useful Free Software. For open source alternatives to commercial software try Osalt.com.

For a more thorough look at software licensing see Making Sense of Software Licensing.

Training

Cutting your training budget? So are most of the sector - but we don't need to be left behind. Expensive training days out aren't the only way of keeping staff skills up to date. Have a look at webinars or tutorials and consider peer-to peer-learning or mentoring. The knowledgebase article How to Select Appropriate IT Training can help with finding the best training for you.
Remember though, a Training Needs Analysis is the first step, this will identify gaps but also in house-skills that could be cascaded to colleagues. The knowledgebase article Training Needs Analysis will help with assessing staff and identifying need.

Innovative use of technology is the way forward, we don't need to be taking risks to save money we just need to think about our options outside of our normal operation.