Why Cutting Corners on IT Costs More in the Long Run
I had two client experiences over the summer that reminded me why being penny wise and pound foolish in IT almost never works out. On the surface, “saving a little money” seems smart — but when things go wrong, the hidden costs quickly pile up.
Let me tell you the stories.
Story #1: The Laptop That Wouldn’t Start
One morning, a client called me in a panic. Their laptop wouldn’t power on. After about 10 minutes of diagnostics, I found the culprit: the NVMe drive had completely failed.
Now, years earlier, when this laptop was purchased, I urged the client to spend an extra $400 — nearly 40% of the laptop’s cost — on a five-year, next-day onsite support plan. At the time, it probably felt like an unnecessary add-on.
But this time, that decision paid off in spades.
The very next day, a Lenovo technician arrived at their office and replaced the drive at no cost. The laptop was back in service immediately.
If that support plan hadn’t been in place? The repair would have cost more than simply buying a brand-new laptop once you factor in parts, labor, and consulting time. That $400 “extra” was actually one of the smartest investments they ever made.
Story #2: The Bargain Phone That Wasn’t a Bargain
Another client asked me to set up a new VoIP phone. A brand-new unit would have cost $50. But to save money, they bought a “renewed” phone online for half the price — $25.
At first glance, it looked perfect. The phone was in great condition physically. But when I powered it up, things went sideways fast.
It turned out the phone had been pre-configured by its previous owner, and the refurbishing company hadn’t properly reset it. Every time I tried a factory reset, the phone would reboot… and then restore its old configuration as if nothing had changed.
The result? Hours of troubleshooting. Eventually, I figured out that the only way forward was to disconnect the phone from the Internet, perform a reset, then manually configure the provisioning server before reconnecting it to a network. Only then did the phone finally behave.
By the time it was all said and done, the client had spent enough in consulting fees to buy sixteen brand-new phones. That $25 “savings” ended up being very, very expensive.
The Lesson
Both of these stories drive home the same point: IT isn’t just an expense — it’s an investment.
Cutting corners may feel good in the moment, but the hidden costs of “cheap” options — downtime, lost productivity, hours of troubleshooting, and emergency consulting — almost always outweigh the savings.
When it comes to technology, the smart money is on quality equipment, proper support, and services that keep things running smoothly. Do it right from the start, and you’ll avoid turning small problems into very expensive ones.