I just bought an old 1972 Merc 230. It’s a beautiful old car. The colour’s not right, and then engine sounds rough, however I love it and it’s a project that should keep me amused for the next 6-12 months at which point I will likely take it for a few laps of the block and then sell it to the highest bidder.

One thing that I realized though, is that this car is not something that I would rely on as a daily-driver. Yes, it has all the romance of the 70’s, however the ride is soft, the aircon doesn’t work and carpet is almost non-existent. The exterior noise is so loud the radio is useless and I couldn’t imagine driving down south, or even to work, more than once in a blue moon to clean out the carby’s.

For the daily stuff I like my Pajero. It’s comfortable, and the ride is quiet. The radio, aricon and electric windows all work. The power steering is effortless and I have four wheel drive at my fingertips. It’s fuel injected, so it starts first time every time and I can go on holiday for a month, come back and its starts again after not being turned over for that amount of time.

This got me thinking about business infrastructure.

Are your business systems a reliable daily driver, or are you running on some Vintage gear?

A great analogy for this story is a company car. You upgrade them every few years, they are maintained well, they get you around and you don’t really get too attached to them. This should be the same for your servers and computers. They should be leased every 3-4 years and upgraded with the latest technology you can afford so that your business benefits from it.

Reliability should cover everything in your business, and just think, like the car not starting in the morning, what happens if your PC will not start?

There are always affordable bundles available for people looking to upgrade their infrastructure, and there is always finance available to ensure that you can have it now, fixing your monthly IT spend and ensuring that you can smoothly upgrade again in a few years time. So here are some things to consider:

1. What do I need?

Talk to a professional, like Evolve IT, when considering an upgrade to your IT infrastructure. We can advise on what you need, the benefits of the new systems and what best way to use them and deploy them for you.

2. Brand matters

At Evolve IT we specialize in HP. Why? Because they make very reliable gear, and their warranty/ after sales service is impeccable; the best in the business.

3. Extend the Warranty

Extend the warranty to cover the term of your lease on the computers. This way, not matter what happens you are going to be covered as long as your payments exist.

4. Finance if you can

Why spend all your capital up front if you can lock in a good finance option and pay a small monthly on your purchase? Finance limits capital expenditure and maximized cash flow for the more important things like marketing and stock. This also enables you to upgrade at the end of the agreement and refinance with similar payments, ensuring that your IT is always cutting edge, without breaking the bank.

5. Join the RAC / RACV

Like a car, your computers will require call-out professionals to assist when things do go awry. The RAC (WA) or RACV (Victoria) are the choice for the company cars. As for your computers Evolve IT can help you, for a small monthly fee, to ensure that your systems are working well, are maintained correctly and are fixed quickly if anything does go wrong. Think of it like insurance, with RAC and mechanics all rolled into a simple monthly payment.

If you consider these simple things when you upgrade your company gear then you are going to limit the expense, maximize cash flow, ensure the highest quality of gear and guarantee that your after-purchase care is at a level that car lovers would expect from Rolls Royce.

If you have any questions, or want to arrange a time to meet, please let me know here.

Have a great week!

Mark Ehlers