As IT consultants, whatever you do, don't let your clients skimp on PC purchases for power users who run high-end software.

While many of your small business clients' employees depend mainly on software with modest hardware requirements, such as basic word processing, spreadsheet, e-mail and Web browsing software, there are certainly exceptions. Make sure you know who your clients' power users are.

Power Users Need Cutting Edge Technology

If you have clients that depend on an advanced software application, such as graphic design, computer assisted design (CAD) or financial modeling, as IT consultants, you may want to advise your clients to implicitly "eat" that sky-high first year's depreciation on the purchase of the latest and greatest PC hardware.

With processor and memory-intensive software applications, the employee productivity your clients will gain with leading-edge PC hardware likely will offset any major depreciation cost concerns.

Keep In Mind The Users' Salary

Consider the salary required to attract and retain highly technical professionals who run advanced software applications. (As IT consultants, this high-salary-requirement-reality should come as no surprise.)

For example, if a clients of yours has a veteran graphic design artist or engineer on payroll at a $60,000 base salary, an extra $1,000 a year on PC-related expenses for this technical wizard easily could drive a productivity gain that makes the incremental expense seem trivial.

Get To Know Your Users

The moral of story: get to know your clients' power users and their specific software applications needs. Just as important, clients' power users are a kind of influencer that you need to be very aware of. Your clients' power users are often very powerful 'votes' when it comes to making decisions about hiring (and firing) IT consultants.

IT Consultants Should Consider "Hand Me Downs"

In many small businesses, the premium performance PC purchased for the power user gets replaced every year or two, and is passed down to an end user with less demanding software requirements. This is one way to extend the life of an expensive, high-end PC, while minimizing the out-of-pocket and related support expenses of bringing new PC hardware into your company.

Make sure your computer support, asset management and proactive maintenance plans all take this hand-me-down phenomenon into account.

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