DJ MillerStarting your own business is a risky venture. Technology is everything in this day and age, and getting the right equipment for your office is expensive. Here are some easy ways to save on electronics for your startup.
Bring Your Own Device
Image via Flickr by DennisCallahan
Incorporating a BYOD policy is a wise idea. With a BYOD policy, employees will use their own phones as work phones. This will save you a ton of money because you won’t have to buy phones, activate them, and sign them up for data plans. With the BlackBerry 10 OS, people can separate their phone profiles into personal and professional sides, so you won’t get confused with apps and information on either side. You can also use mobile management software so you can keep all of your employees in sync.
Another area where you’ll save money by having a BYOD policy is with office phones. If you’ve got a BYOD policy, you have employees with cell phones — there’s simply no need for an office phone. By not having an office phone, you’ll save hundreds, if not thousands.
Buy Used
Most retailers offer used or refurbished electronics at deep discounts. Take advantage of these deals. They’re under warranty and guaranteed to be as good as new. Check discount stores and online sites such as Craigslist for used furniture. On Craigslist, you’ll often run across people that are just parting with their furniture because they’re moving, so you’ll be able to strike up a good deal.
Search for Deals
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If you have to have an item and can’t find it used, you’re going to have to search for deals. Sites such as RetailMeNot, Groupon, and CouponShack host deals from around the web, so before you buy anything from any website, check with these sites first. You may end up with free shipping for a percentage off!
Another way to look for deals is with Google Alerts. With Google Alerts, you can have Google send you an alert whenever a product drops in price. This is perfect if you’re waiting for an item to go a few dollars lower before dropping the money on it.
Move to the Cloud
Cloud computing isn’t really anything new, but its popularity is soaring. By moving your servers to the cloud, you’ll save your company thousands of dollars annually. The up-time with a service such as Amazon is likely going to be much better than your current provider, and you can use Amazon for storing data and backing up files. This is ideal for employees that want to work out of the office as they can simply log in, download the files, contribute, and upload it again for the next person to work on. With cloud storage, there’s no need for a centralized office!
If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll quickly sink a ton of money into your startup and it’ll fail before it even gets a chance to start.
Have you tried some of these tips? What other tips did you use?
DJ Miller, a graduate student at the University of Tampa. He’s an avid gadget geek and spends most of his time reading or writing. He is a huge fantasy sports fan and even runs his own blog for fantasy help.
