Used Computer Technology Products - Helping IT Professionals Manage Better

Used computer technology products have taken on greater importance in recent months as IT professionals seek to tighten their budgets while maintaining the service levels their organizations need.

A recent report by Gartner Research underscores the challenges faced by IT managers.

IT Budgets Require Innovation

Gartner is a leading global IT research firm. Their annual studies of the computer industry, and the market for used computer technology products, have made Gartner the source for IT professionals looking for advice about managing their hardware infrastructure better.

When Gartner speaks, people listen. In late 2008, they released their projections for IT budgets in 2009. Their projections are a strong indicator of how healthy the IT industry will be. As reported in a blog post on ZDNet, Gartner is forecasting:

o IT budget growth of 2.3% to 0%, a drop from their original estimate of 3.3% growth.

o In the worst case, IT budgets could drop by 2.5%.

The senior VP of research at Gartner, Peter Sondergaard, believes that IT professionals are well-suited to handle any turbulence from the shaky economic situation. Why? They've been through it before (2001) and, while IT can be cut back, it has become essential to the operation of a business and cannot be cut too much, lest services start to suffer.

Songdergaard recommends that IT managers get creative and "focus on disruptive technologies" that can cut costs, including:

o multicore and hybrid systems

o virtualization and fabric computing

o social networking

o cloud computing

While his advice is sound, there are other, simpler things an IT manager can do to rationalize costs.

Used Computer Technology - Cut Costs and Maintain Standards

While newer technologies, like those described above, can help reduce costs, they are not the only solution. Two concepts that have existed for a long time can also help manage costs: appropriate technology and platform maintenance. Both of these concepts are possible with used computer technology products. Let's look at each one briefly.

o Appropriate technology means using only the machine you need for the job. Should an admin assistant have a top-of-the-line desktop when his or her job consists mainly of word processing and emailing? Should a financial professional have a computer designed for high-end graphics work when his or her main function is number crunching? Of course not. Appropriate technology means analyzing the real needs of your users to ensure that they have hardware that is appropriate to the tasks they perform. That may mean an older computer. But old does not mean obsolete. An older model may be perfect for a lower-demand user, and with the support of parts and accessories from the secondary computer market, that machine can last for many years to come.

o Platform maintenance means keeping your existing infrastructure for longer. The technology life cycle is about six to nine months. There is no way most companies can keep up with this pace, especially in trying economic times. With used computer technology products, you can maintain and troubleshoot your existing systems, delaying costly upgrades and saving your company money.

New Computer Technology - When is Enough, Enough?

New computer technology comes out continuously. As a computer consultant you probably want to keep up with all the new computer technology that comes along. You're most likely in love with technology - always looking for a new intrusion protection product to play with or another border-gateway protocol. What you have to realize is that your small business clients aren't experimenting with new computer technology and so you shouldn't be wasting your time investigating it.

New Computer Technology Distractions

New computer technology is a distraction you can't afford. It's easy to get caught-up with keeping-up, but, no one is paying you for your raw technical knowledge. They aren't paying you for knowing the latest new computer technology, they are paying you for knowing the technology they are using.

If you've been in corporate IT for a long time you're way ahead of the average small business anyway. The average small business is going to be at least six to twelve sometimes even 18 months behind the new computer technology you see in the average enterprise IT shop.

In the early stages of your business, you have to put learning new computer technology on the back burner. Adjust your priorities and put 90 percent of your R&D on the back burner for the next three to six months. Concentrate on finding paying clients. If those paying clients start demanding skills with new computer technology, that's when you invest your time and energy.

The Bottom Line on New Computer Technology

You're in the business you're in because you love new computer technology. Unfortunately, in the business building stage you can't afford to spend your time learning, you have to spend your time doing - and getting paid for doing it. New computer technology isn't being used in the majority of clients' applications anyway. Put your passion for new computer technology on hold for a while and be passionate about finding steady, paying customers

Foster Your Individual Computer Technology Needs

You can become an efficient personal computer user just like a professional. Taking help from an expert solution is always not a good solution. It's time for you to take the first initiative. For managing your individual computer requirements you need to have more practical knowledge on the computer technology. However, you can always take advises on computer related issues from experts and can groom yourself with the latest modern technology. For the latest development in the world of technology, you can look for the online technology sources. Online computer forum is just one among them. With this sort of forums you can have useful interaction with tech savvy people. Tech help from these computer technology experts can help the normal PC users like you.

The tech help experts suggest the PC users to keep their computer clean. This is the foremost thing that the computer technology experts say. And keeping your PC clean is quite easy and hassle free. You can take away a side panel of your PC and can use a compressed air can to clean the CPU. You need to pay special attention to heat sink, the video card, power supply and the front case fan. For increasing your PC reliability and performance you should do this on a regular basis. This useful tip from a Microsoft Certified tech help experts is not a hard thing to follow. This simple yet useful step will keep your PC safe from any unexpected hardware hurdles. Tech help experts suggest that you should at least repeat this activity once in every three months.

In today's context you should strive to groom your computer technology skills. You can keep yourself updated in the world of technology in association with the members of quality technical forums online. You should try to make full use of the online resources in your attempt to educate yourself. These forums are more suited for getting solutions for any practical computer related issues. You can use the platform to explore the computer technology knowhow. You can ask any question on these computer forums and there will be hundreds of willing users to answer your question.

These forums offer you with computer solutions. But they offer you with other useful refreshers too. You can get to know the latest trends on the world of computer technology. From the online forum, you can get to know about the online technology tools and can learn how to use them in your day to day activities. Using such tools enhances your computer performance.

You may experience some sorts of annoying PC issues that can't be sorted out with the help from computer forum. You can seek computer help from other sources too. You can search for online computer experts and can take tech help from these sources.

If you are skeptical about all the online sources of computer technology especially the technical forums you are completely wrong. Online resources are something that is really helping out everyone in this technologically advanced era.