#BellBiz Twitter Chat: When Do I Upgrade my Hardware?

Knowing when to buy is often as important as knowing what to buy. If timing is everything in your business, this also holds true when it comes to knowing how long you should keep your computers, mobile devices and related technology.

Replace your computers, mobile devices and related technology too early you’ll be stuck with higher acquisition, transition and training costs. Wait too long and you could be paying through the nose to maintain older equipment.

So what’s the best solution? And how do you begin to wrestle with the challenges of hardware replacement?

During our next #BellBiz Twitter chat, we’ll begin to tackle this very complex and universal issue. Mark Tuesday, November 13th at 1:00 p.m. Eastern on your calendar, when we’ll work together to get answers to the following questions:

1.    How do you know when it’s time to get rid of a certain piece of technology?

2.    Is there risk associated with stretching our technology’s timelines out a bit?

3.    How do you manage your equipment life cycles? Do you have some kind of plan in place?

4.    Do your hardware replacement/timing decisions differ whether it’s a conventional computer or a laptop? Why/why not?

5.    What about mobile devices like smartphones and tablets? Do they need their own strategy, as well?

6.    Capital investment can be a major obstacle to the average SME. Have you considered alternative financing strategies?

7.    Where do you typically get your equipment from? What does hardware purchasing look like in your business?

8.    How do you support equipment once it’s past warranty? Should you?

9.    What do you do with your hardware once it’s past end-of-life?

10.  If you support BYOD (bring your own device), does this change your approach to hardware life cycles?

As hardware life cycles continue to tighten, the pressure is only going to grow for SMEs to constantly stay at or near the leading edge. But you don’t have to go broke in the process – and you don’t have to wait until your equipment is falling apart in order to save a few bucks.

We look forward to seeing you during our live Twitter chat on Tuesday, November 13th at 1 p.m. Eastern. Just follow the #BellBiz hashtag.