Any Network Admins., MIS, or CTOs in the house?

[GTaudiophile]

If you're a network administrator, Manager of Information Systems, and/or the Chief Technical Officer of your company, please PM me. I have two questions I'd like to ask for my B2B Marketing course.

Thanks.

 

[Garion]

There's lots here, past, present and future.. Ask your questions in your thread and you'll get lots of answers and some interesting discussion thrown in for free!

- G

 

[GTaudiophile]

Ok, fair enough.

I just want to know, who has the authority in your company to purchase new IT hardware, from equipment as expensive as servers to minor things like RAM for current machines? When making such decisions, how important is it that the equipment be new or refurbished? If you buy new or refurbished equipment, what are the advantages and disadvantages of doing so?

I appreciate what insite you all can provide.

 

[Travail]

<< I just want to know, who has the authority in your company to purchase new IT hardware, from equipment as expensive as servers to minor things like RAM for current machines? >>



I've worked at several companies, and I've been close to the networking group. (It pays to be nice to the people who "own" the system )

From what I've seen, in medium-sized companies (100-500 people) the ability to purchase non-asset (*1) hardware is pretty decentralized. While the lowest-level techs might not be able to make purchases, pretty much anyone above that level can. Assets or very large purchases still require manager/CIO sign-off.
Larger companies are highly organized, and have a much more rigidly defined purchase structure.

*1: I've been told that computers are considered "assets" of the company, and may be considered a capital expense. Upgrades for the computers -- including new motherboards and CPUs -- are not.



<< When making such decisions, how important is it that the equipment be new or refurbished? If you buy new or refurbished equipment, what are the advantages and disadvantages of doing so? >>



The Total Cost of Ownership is usually a primary consideration (*2). For desktop equipment supported by in-house staff, the savings from refurbs isn't worth the risk.
On the other hand, refurbished big-ticket items (in the $50,000-100,000+ range) that come with support contracts can work out. The risk is to the company with the support contract, so it's in their best interests to make sure everything works perfectly the first time.

*2: I worked for one company that looked only at the bottom line in terms of PC purchases. In (very) short, their network staff was constantly plagued by users with computer problems.

 

[randal]

I'm the sysadmin at a small isp in Colorado, and when it comes down to buying things, it usually involves me saying "we need/want this" and then the money guys in the AP/AR department says "no, we're broke" or "yea, but we're going to be broke". Generally, "larger" purchases, or anything over $2000 take some planning and consultation, as well as input from the president.

Kinda sucks being a small ISP, simply because the cash flow isn't very large -- but it does keep us nice and frugal in the "making the best of whatever we have" department.

$.02
randal

 

[N11]

I just want to know, who has the authority in your company to purchase new IT hardware, from equipment as expensive as servers to minor things like RAM for current machines?

There isn't an obvious line where I am, typically when the purchase warrants over a 500-1000 dollar expenditure the CFO is briefed for approval.

When making such decisions, how important is it that the equipment be new or refurbished?

The only refurbished equipment ever considered for purchase are printers given how extensible and long lasting they typically can be.

If you buy new or refurbished equipment, what are the advantages and disadvantages of doing so?

There are significant disadvantages including reliability in a critical environment to limited if any warranty. The warranties and reliability offered by the Dells, Compaqs, and IBMs on new equipment are always worth the additional costs. This is my interpretation of the industry.

 

[bignick]

where i work (16000 employees) each the head IT office has a "standards" list. some items on the "standards" list, are also labeled as "exempt". basically any piece of standard software, or hardware (memory, harddrives, switches,monitors,etc.) that costs less than $1000 is on the exempt list. if it's not on the exempt list (i.e new computers that cost over $999) then it requires that the purchase be approved by the requesting group's systems' staff, business manager, and director(s), then approved by one of the head IT offfice managers (there's only three with authority for purchasing).

as far as refurbished equipment, only equipment with a service contract and that is at least 30% less than new would be even considered.

for a few months we had to get approval on all IT related material. that included blank cdr's and laser toner. it was a serious pain in the a$$.

 

[Garion]

In most large organizations, each level of management has a pre-set spending limit. For example, a supervisor can approve $3,000, a manger $10,000, a Director $100,000, a VP $250,000, etc. Depending on the size of your purchase, you have to go higher up the chain to justify it. Most engineers don't have signing authority to actually buy anything.

As for refurb equipment.. Generally, it's not looked upon as a good source of hardware, unless the budget is really tight or there are mitigating circumstances. Refurb equipment has one major advantage - Availability. If you CAN buy it refurb, it's in stock and can get shipped quickly. It's not like distributors who try to minimize their inventory and end up waiting for the manufacturer to build something.

I've only used refurb gear extensively in one case - At my previous job, we had a company-wide Sun maintenance contract. It covered everything Sun no matter how it was purchased. Sun doesn't change their servers that often, so we could buy current model servers that were refurbs and fully covered under our service contract. We saved about 30% and got the same service as a new box.

In general, however, I always recommend that people NOT buy refurb gear, unless it's the last possibility, for budget or availability. You don't know what that server has gone through - Was it used by a grandma to browse church.com every sunday or was it used as a massive database engine that was hammered all day long?

Looks like you've got some interesting answers, hope we've helped!

- G

 

[GTaudiophile]

Thanks for your answers!