How to lower your company`s IT development costs

Featured article by Mary Ann Keeling

Doing business is one of the things that has changed the most with the advent of the modern digital age, along with human communication. Since the 1980s, our entrepreneurial processes have begun integrating computers and information and communications technology solutions in order to provide easier management of a number of business factors – financial analytics, inventory and storage listing, transport and logistics monitoring, ordering and providing post-sales services to the customers, just to name a few.

Determining the price

However, one thing in business hasn’t changed for millennia, and will likely not change in the foreseeable future – the desire of buyers to get the most value for their money and the desire of sellers to minimize their costs and maximize their profits. A common everyday occurrence which embodies these desires and puts them into practical application is the art of negotiating. Having well-developed negotiation skills and knowing what to leverage and when can generate substantial savings for a company in the long run, while also securing vital supply lines for continuous entrepreneurial efforts (also known as the “going concern”). Furthermore, carefully conducted and fair negotiations can actually help the two “opposing” sides form closer bonds and produce lasting arrangements, form partnerships and act in symbiosis – active negotiations allow for a much more intimate understanding of one’s needs and can produce fresh ways of handling future business challenges.

Consider your options

The significance of technology in business is growing ever stronger – it is impossible to imagine a company, however small it may be, without at least a basic IT solution in place. Whether it is one PC with simple accounting software, or a vast network with numerous work stations, servers and immense processing power, every prudent entrepreneur should strive to get the most bang for their buck.

Today’s IT market has a very vibrant quality to it, and its dynamic expansion in terms of both hardware and software can sometimes be a bit overwhelming for the average customer. This might lead to rash decisions and impulsive purchases, which can hurt the company financially, but also functionally – buying IT solutions whose performance and functions do not accurately reflect the needs of one’s business may lead to long term problems, inability to plan ahead and can often bottleneck a company’s further development. This can be particularly hurtful to smaller businesses, such as startups with limited funds.

In order to ensure quality IT equipment and software and make good use of often very limited funds, a company needs to allocate sufficient time and skill to planning. Always try to think what your essentials needs are now and what they might be in the near future. Need an enterprise resource planning program for your small 10-man manufacturing company? No need to go for cutting edge solutions aimed at billion dollar multinationals – there are affordable, premade solutions well within your budget. When buying larger quantities, you can negotiate cheaper maintenance or lower upgrade costs for future versions. Global prices of IT products can fluctuate depending on dozens of factors, but having reliable partners can help you mitigate these costs spikes and ensure uninterrupted business functionality.

Learn to negotiate

If you’re aiming for custom solutions, you can seek out a host of relatively cheaper, but still high quality freelancers and smaller, versatile development teams. There you can order the exact functionality to meet your specific needs, but make sure these contractors have a healthy number of good reviews before engaging them. You can also try to drive the price down if you plan on working with them again in the future, providing them with a steady supply of work in exchange for a discount.

The essentials of successful negotiations lie in accurately identifying shared interests and goals, and in building trust through fair dialogue. However, you should always be adamant about some things that you hold extremely relevant to your strategy and tailor your negotiating position around them. Most suppliers will likely be willing to grant you benefits in exchange for a stable, lasting relationship and repeat business, but will also try to sell you what you might not really need at the moment. Therefore, do not forget the paramount rules of negotiations and cost optimization – do your research and plan ahead.

Image credit: Pixabay

Mary Ann Keeling is a business consultant and an experienced social media networker from Brisbane, Australia. In her free time she likes to read about interesting social media experiments and listen to jazz.