When upgrading your equipment can actually hurt your business

When looking at upgrading your IT equipment, it's tempting to shop around and make your decision purely based on price
 

But making a decision based on only that dimension ignores all the reasons behind making the upgrade in the first place. A flip phone is significantly cheaper than an iPhone but if you ever need it to do more than call or text you're out of luck.
 

Most computers you'll find on retail shelves are built for home use, think mom checking up on her kids on Facebook. It's not that the computers themselves are bad, they just aren't built for what your business needs.
 

It's personal use vs professional grade. You may save money short term, but you'll end up losing money down the line when your computers don't perform the way you need them to. Low processing and frequent crashes take up time that you and your employees could be spending on growing your business.
 

Computers do not come in one size fits all. If you go shopping based exclusively on price you're going to lose money in other ways such as loss of efficiency and future maintenance costs, just to name a few. As an IT company, we have different concerns when talking about purchasing new equipment:
 

How are you using your computers?
 

An IT company is going to be able to give you insight into how to purchase with your long-term business strategy in mind.

We can look at the total cost of ownership including installation costs, future maintenance and any build specifications you'll need based on your software usage.
 

At NW Technology our bottom line is not centered on selling equipment, and our tech's don't work on commission. When we suggest a product it's because based on what you've told us about your business, we really do think it's the best option for your company today and tomorrow.
 

What's going out of style?
 

Our relationships with vendors gives us an insider look into what's new, what's on its way out, and how those changes should effect your buying decisions.
 

For example, if Microsoft has a new Windows update coming out in a few months that is going to be incompatible with a specific computer model, we're not going to suggest you buy that computer.
 

The average life cycle of a computer is only around 5 years, so you want to make sure you really are getting the most bang for your buck.
 

How time sensitive is it?
 

We get that upgrading equipment can be expensive, so we'll break it down and tell you what's an emergency purchase, and what you can hold off on and budget for down the line.
 

We want to be your business partner, which means giving you realistic and honest advice you can trust. That being said, if we tell you an upgrade is needed now, we'll work to get you the best price on only the things you need.
 

There are dozens of articles out there that'll give you all the reasons why upgrading equipment regularly is one of the biggest favors you can do for your business, and they're right.
 

If you're a tow-truck company you don't want a truck that stalls on every other block and if you work in an office you definitely need computers that work efficiently and consistently.
 

But what's not always mentioned is that it's important to purchase the right computer the first time. That is why we suggest talking to a trusted IT partner like NW Technology before you buy.