Whether you're a business or an individual, technology can not only be incredibly useful but also highly rewarding and fun to use. For businesses, technology works as a 'force multiplier' meaning that it can increase the output of your staff without their having to work any harder and this makes it a great investment.
However that doesn’t change the fact that technology is also very expensive and that in some cases this can end up eating into your profits if you're a business, or preventing you from enjoying the latest gadgets if you're just buying tech for fun.
The good news though is that there are a number of ways to purchase and to run your technology more cheaply. Here we will look at some of them.
Trading Up
You might think that keeping at the very cutting edge all the time with smartphones and computers would be the most expensive way to buy technology. In reality though, staying up-to-date can be cheaper than lagging behind the curve as long as you update regularly.
Buy the latest smartphone or tablet for instance, keep it in perfect condition, and then as soon as the next upgrade comes out trade yours in for the newest model. This way you can make sure that you constantly have the very latest device, and you'll only be paying a small surplus every year roughly to keep it that way.
Renting
Another option is to rent, and for businesses this can actually be a smart move. If you set up a deal with another company for a particularly expensive piece of equipment or several, then you can pay a monthly fee to use it in your office and have the device replaced at no extra cost to keep it up-to-date and in good working order at all times.
Buying Overseas
If you happen to be going on holiday, or conducting business abroad, then buying your products while you're in another country can be a great way to get them more cheaply. Gadgets in particular are often much less expensive in the countries where they're manufactured, so a trip to Japan could prove to be a great opportunity to stock up on the latest devices.
Buying in Bulk
Like keeping a car, having technology can involve some running costs. One of these running costs is the cost of the materials and parts needed to get any use out of your equipment. For instance if you have printers then you area going to need lots of paper and ink.
Meanwhile if you might find that you need a supply of CDs to burn from your PC or even SD cards which tend to have a relatively short shelf life when used regularly. The way to keep these costs down then is to think ahead and to buy in bulk.
Making bulk orders of things like printer ink can keep the cost own on delivery as well as gain you access to incentive discounts. And the added bonus is that you'll never run out of ink...
For larger businesses you can also make bulk orders of the gadgets themselves. If you have 100 members of staff all of whom you want to supply with a tablet for instance, then you should find that you can get discounts by chatting to the manufacturers or a wholesaler and explaining your predicament.
Deals
Getting gadgets and deals on offer or as part of a deal is of course a great way to get individual items more cheaply, but you need to think carefully about whether the deal is really going to benefit you.
For instance many people will get their handset on their mobile phone contract and get a seemingly good deal for it in exchange for tying themselves into a lengthy and expensive contract.
What you will tend to find though, is that the inflated cost of that contract combined with the initial down payment almost always comes to more than the price of the device on its own. On the other hand though, if you can find a sale in an electronics store, or if there is a promotional deal on a particular item, then taking advantage of these is one of the most sure fire ways to get your products more cheaply - often it's just a matter of trekking around town.
Shirley TempletonAbout the Guest Author:
This guest post is authored by Shirley Templeton. She is a self-proclaimed technophile who knows more about gadgets than makeup and fashion. She likes writing tech related articles. She says that the canon cartridges are the best.