Ensure Maximum Technology Speed

I have been completely baffled when I see employees in a company click an icon or a button, then sit there and wait. And wait. And wait. Amazing. Does this person’s supervisor or manager not see company funds just flying out the window? Organizations will routinely save $200 on the purchase of a cheap computer, and then spend the next three years paying their employees to sit and wait for screens to load or reports to print. They figure they’re fine because they don’t see a big negative number on their profit and loss statement that says “Paying Employees To Wait For Slow Computers”.

Have you ever heard an employee or co-worker say “My computer at home is faster than the one I use here at work”? I hear it in organizations all the time. This should be a warning sign if return on technology investment or employee happiness is important to you.

You have a very simple objective: You want your technology to operate as fast as possible without sacrificing stability. Computer speed is crucial to technology ROI, for obvious reasons. Speed becomes increasingly important if your employees run software that is inherently slow (like Lotus Notes) or resource-hungry (like AutoCAD). Do not think for one minute that you will get a higher ROI by purchasing the most inexpensive computers you can. Any money saved will be lost within the first month of payroll.

In order of frequency, the top three reasons for computer slowness are:

1. Too many programs automatically loading when the computer is turned on.

2. Insufficient computing power.

3. Insufficient RAM.

The first one is very common. Whenever you turn on your computer for the day, Windows loads programs into your RAM that then sit and take up space in your memory. Often, you don’t even know these programs are there. The more programs running, the slower your computer will be. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these programs are ones that you will never need! This is especially true if you run a brand-name computer such as a Compaq, Dell, or IBM. These companies love to load up their Windows installations with tons of useless software that take up precious Windows resources.

There are ways you can view and manage the programs that are sneaking into a your computer’s memory and slowing things down. Have your IT people help you with this, but be ruthless in your organization regarding startup programs. They’re bad news.

Numbers two and three, insufficient computing power (which refers to the computer’s processor, motherboard, and hard drive) and insufficient RAM (which refers to the computer’s memory) are both caused by the same thing. Your organization does not purchase computers with sufficient power and/or it waits too long before replacing old computers. Again, that means someone is stepping over twenty-dollar bills to grab pennies. If return on investment is important to you, always purchase technology based on specs, not price. When purchasing computers, on a scale from one to ten you want to purchase sevens. Eights, nines and tens are too expensive and not worth the extra cost. Purchasing sixes and below might make it appear like you are saving money, but if your employees are waiting around for these computers to do their job, your ROI is taking a massive beating. By the way, if you’re looking for the cheapest computers you can find for your company, you’re purchasing ones and twos. Does that sound like a smart long-term decision?

Employee payroll is the largest cost of the corporate world that is not billed directly to the customer. Where do most of those expensive employees spend their time? That’s right. Working on their computers. Be proactive in ensuring that your computers run as fast as possible, and your ROI will skyrocket.

Caleb Jones www.calebjones.com >Click to Email Caleb< 888.646.TECH Please download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader if you don't have it installed on your computer. The Adobe Acrobat Reader will allow you to view, and print all of our documents, across all major computing platforms.