History has shown that winners always emerge out of a recession and they almost always beat their competition because they continued to focus on innovation in the downturn.

Savings made on non-essential expenditures can be re-invested in the development of new products and services or to reach new markets.

Savvy owners will discover many opportunities to exploit existing processes that have the potential to deliver high returns.


How can SMBs control the costs of its IT infrastructure?

There is no doubt that IT is essential to the daily operation of businesses of all sizes. Yet, it is often viewed by owners as a money pit and not a driver of profit within an organisation.

SMBs which emerge from a recession with a competitive advantage realise that IT helps businesses to control costs, maintain production schedules and deliver essential services and applications.

Tough times require tough measures and in a depressed economy SMBs have to do more with less. In this environment, IT provides the perfect opportunity for owners to regain control of their costs and makes a compelling case for strategic spending that can help weather the economic storm.

A recession is the ideal time for businesses to consider alternatives to buying expensive hardware and operating equipment or paying pricey license fees for software. There are a number of alternative IT solutions which firms can deploy to reign in costs on hardware and software, effectively doing more with less.

Virtualization, for example, allows an owner to cut expenditure on hardware and associated costs such as power and cooling. A business which deploys a virtualisation solution is still able to meet its current and future demands, despite a reduction in physical hardware.

The advantage of the technology caters to the needs of owners who want to increase the efficiencies and cost effectiveness of their IT operations.

Software is another cost cutting target for firms looking to refine their business processes in a slowing economy.

Instead of paying expensive perpetual license fees SMBs should look for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings. SaaS providers own the licenses and have acquired the hardware infrastructure needed to run the applications. They are able to spread out the costs over a larger user base, with businesses paying on a per-use basis.

Why is IT support important?

All SMBs are exposed to the possibility of experiencing issues with their IT systems. The level of risk that businesses are prepared to accept determines the winners and the losers during a recession.

No SMB can afford to have IT issues persist for any length of time, as IT problems have the ability to cripple your business. Imagine not being able to take orders through your website, or send and receive emails for any length of time.

To compound this problem, in an effort to save money many SMBs forgo any kind of retained IT support, meaning they are paying a premium when they need to call in a specialist to resolve whatever issues they are experiencing.

The author is president and corporate VP for Dell’s Small and Medium Business organization in the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region