Happy New Year! The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to evaluate your internal computer systems and services. Here’s a business resolution that makes good sense: make it a tradition to review what you have by the end of January. Here are three key questions to help you with your assessment.

Question #1 Time to Upgrade or Buy?

Do you have old laptops or desktops that are forcing users and IT staff to spend more time fixing them then using them? If so, it may be time to purchase new equipment this year.

As a general rule, upgrading an existing PC doesn’t make sense because of the expense and time it takes to purchase, load and install the new software or hardware. For about 1/3 more your three year old machine could be a new, more efficient PC.

The latest desktops and laptops have more powerful processors, more memory and are already loaded with updated software. In addition, many new computers come with a three year warranty from the manufacturer which guards them against potential hardware failures.

Our advice: don’t spend money upgrading a three year (or more) old machine, upgrading will not guard against out of warranty failures!

Question #2 Time to Auto Renew or Not?

At the start of a New Year it’s a good idea to look at some of the services you are currently using to see if something newer, better and cheaper is available.

Ask yourself, is your existing phone service contract almost up? If you don’t know, check and make sure you’ve told your provider NOT to auto renew. If you let the contract auto renew, you’ll be stuck with the same rates and service for another 2-3 years.

Now is a great time to 1) Get new pricing from your existing phone provider and see if they have the same service for less, and 2) Check with competitors and see what they now offer.

Question #3: Still Paying for a T1?

Are you still paying for T1 Internet access because cable or FIOS was not available when you moved into your new office? If so, now is a great time to call the various providers (Verizon, Comcast) to see what they have to offer.

Same rule applies about auto renew. If you are in a contract with a provider, notify them in writing that you do NOT want to auto renew. You’ll most likely be put on a month to month contract (when your contract expires) at your current rate. This will give you some time to make the decision that works best for your business.

Give Your Backup System Some Relief — Purge Your Old Emails!

This is also a great time of year to go through your email and permanently delete old “sent” and “deleted” (emails that reside in your trash). This will do two important things:

1) If you have an in-house email server, permanently deleting old emails will allow that system to run more efficiently, backups will take less time, and you may just be able to avoid a costly upgrade in hardware or software.

2) Most email also resides on your local workstation in “offline” mode. Deleting old emails will save space on your local workstation and make your email application run more efficiently.

Deleting emails from your “trash” or “deleted items” folder is a great place to start. In all likelihood, those emails will never be accessed again. After all, you don’t file paperwork in the trash can!