How to Cut Your Tech Costs in Four Essential Ways

PC World India — Whether your business has just two people or two hundred, the following tips can help you cut costs, save money, and focus on what’s really important in a down economy: your bottom line.

1. Use open-source and free software: When you’re trying to keep your business afloat, plunking down lots of cash for off-the-shelf software can really hurt. Thankfully, freeware and low-cost software can be a pleasant surprise in terms of robustness and functionality. While not as polished as Microsoft’s Office suite (but not as much of a memory or resource hog), OpenOffice.org  is a free, open-source alternative with a full suite of applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases that are compatible with Microsoft Office formats. Google Docs (docs.google. com) is another viable and free alternative to Office. It’s Webbased,  meaning you have no software to download or install.

Though it isn’t nearly as full-featured as either Office or OpenOffice, the basic functionality and streamlined interface of Google Docs may be all you’ll ever need. Creating PDF files may be crucial for business, but spending $450 on Adobe’s Acrobat Professional is not. CutePDF  is a free program that simply exports files to PDF. Just download and install it; from the target file, choose File•Print, and select CutePDF from the printer menu. (If you’re using OpenOffice or Google Docs, you won’t even need to install CutePDF— both let you export to PDF directly.)

2. Telecommute: Working at home lets you save on gas costs, yet you can remain just as productive when telecommuting thanks to tools that permit you to connect and collaborate almost as if you were in the office. Wikis make it simple to post text or documents so that a group can make comments or changes. Some wikis are free and public while others are more enterprise-focused, with more-robust security features. PBwiki  offers three flavors: Business, Academic, and Personal.

It includes WYSIWYG editing tools, storage space, SSL encryption, automatic notifications via e-mail or RSS, and controls on access. If you cringe at the thought of setting up a VPN (virtual private network), services such as LogMeIn Hamachi  may just be your ticket to headache-free remote VPN access. LogMeIn Hamachi promises easy setup using peer-to-peer technology to let off-site employees access files. The service works within your firewall and costs just $5 (approx Rs. 450) a month for one user license. For more tips and case studies, check out PC World’s Telecommuting Resource Guide .

3. Hold online meetings: Why fly out to see a client when you can save time and money by holding the meeting in cyberspace? Using free videoconferencing software such as Skype  you need only a Webcam, a PC, and an Internet connection— saving money not only on travel costs, but on long-distance as well If you would like to upgrade to a more comprehensive Web conferencing service, Cisco’s WebEx  supports up to four Webcams and lets you share documents and run presentations from your desktop. GoToMeeting  is another service that offers VoIP, supports meetings with up to 15 attendees, and lets you give presentations, collaborate, or provide training from your desktop, saving money on travel costs and meeting space.

4. Make Strategic Purchases: If your employees are complaining about slow computers, buying entirely new machines may not be the best way to fix their problems. Very often, an old (Pentium-3/4 class) computer is more than capable of typical office tasks—if it had enough RAM. Most office PCs sold in the last few years had either 256 or 512 MB of RAM. This just doesn’t cut it any more, but the good news is that upgrading RAM is cheap and easy. Instead of buying a new computer, just bump up RAM to 2 GB (approx Rs. 1,600 for DDR2, Rs.2,600 for DDR1) and you’ll see immediate speed improvements.

Another way to speed up old machines is to format their hard drives and install a fresh copy of Windows. Over a period of time, Windows tends to accumulate a lot of crud, and becomes slower and slower. Geeks tend to do a fresh install every couple of months, but that’s not necessary for a business. A half-yearly process is more than enough, and it is quite easy to set up image-based installation methods that can get a machine up and running in less than ten minutes. If you do have to buy new hardware, look to buy computers that have slightly slower processors, but lots of RAM. Buying used hardware is another way to keep costs down. You can get some surprising bargains on eBay . Most components have long warranties, so you can even exchange them if something goes wrong. Buy smart, and you can save a lot of money.