Go Long! Get The Most Value From Your Office Technology for the Long-Term

Guest blog by Chris Clark, RJ Young Nashville Canon Sales Manager

Should initial purchase price be the most critical factor when purchasing equipment and services? Is the cheapest price really the lower-cost fix for the long-term?

Technology-driven products are known to drop in price as new, more innovative products are rapidly introduced to the market, driving buyers to expect low prices. However, what is not as widely known is that to compete at lower prices, many manufacturers reduce the quality of products. Therefore, products are not all created equally or as reliably as they have been in the past. It takes consistent education on products and services to understand the best solutions for various business environments.

From my experience in the business solutions industry, it seems that when technology decisions are based solely on price that one of the following scenarios is in place:

1. The customer has not yet identified exactly what they need, or are simply not aware of the array of solutions and technology available to meet their needs.
2. The business is not able to invest the time into exploring solutions that would require making a change to a newer system or solution.
3. The decision-maker concludes that the solution is worth the risk because it is “the cheapest solution.”

However, reasons 2 and 3 seem to contradict each other. From experience, when a client settles for the cheapest solution, they often spend more time and more money fixing this in the long-term plus experiencing disruption to daily business.

I challenge each buyer to thoroughly answer three questions when consulting with technology providers and evaluating potential solutions to solve your company’s goals or resolve issues:

1. Is this the best solution to accomplish this goal or solve this problem for the long-term or is it a “Band-Aid” to stop the bleeding?
2. Will I have to invest resources into repeating this process again, sooner rather than later based upon available options?
3. How can I get the greatest value and minimize disruption to the business?

With that said I ask, do you want the cheapest solution that fits most of your needs for the present? Or, would you rather spend the time and money to get the best solution that will offer a longer-term value to your business?