It’s no secret that the global supply chain is a major mess. The impact of the pandemic, the war in the Ukraine and more have led to long lead times, impacting the supply of everything from building supplies to automotive parts and IT infrastructure.
The domino effect of shortages and significant business shifts are still lingering, with no fast resolution in sight. If your business has been impacted, you’re definitely not alone.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over a third of all businesses experienced supply chain disruptions in February 2022.
The days of getting away with addressing capacity and growth issues as and when they crept up is a thing of the past. When vendors boasted and competed on fast supply, delivering hardware to your door within a matter of days.
Surely those good ol’ days will return, but for now, the reality is to mitigate the impact of disruptions, we need to get clear on our IT needs and plan ahead.
But how can we plan for the future without a crystal ball to clearly see our needs?
Here are 4 highly practical ways to tame the supply chain beast.
1. New starters with no laptop?
Picture this: Your new hire turns up, super keen to start in their role on day one. But there’s a problem. “Ummm, where’s my laptop?”
This is happening all too often, creating a negative onboarding experience and loss of productivity for new hires.
The great resignation has increased employee turnover, and depending on what you need, your first laptop choice might take weeks (rather than days) to arrive.
Top Tip: Can your business predict new headcount expectations in the next 3 months+ and order ahead accordingly? The silver lining is a bulk order may help you secure more competitive pricing and ensure you have what you need when you need it.
The Truis Edge:
- If you have standard models, we can let you know our current supply projections.
- We’re happy to work with you on your forecast and give you the best options for your specific requirements.
- If bringing forward purchasing presents budget pain, we can offer financing options to alleviate that headache.
2. Is the infrastructure up to the task?
Running a health check on your current infrastructure to understand existing capacity, performance, and growth potential, will give you the cold, hard facts you need to start planning for the next 6-12 months.
With this visibility, you can prioritise sourcing the replacement items you’ll need when you need them. Not months too late.
Top Tip: Consider a server, storage and networking health check to ensure there is headroom for future capacity to meet the business growth projections without an upgrade.
The Truis Edge: It goes without saying we’re happy to lend a hand with a complimentary health check. We know there are only so many hours in the day, and bandwidth is often tight, so hand it over to us and get smart about your tech requirements.
3. Checking the used by date?
You know that feeling when you open the fridge only to realise the milk is past its use-by date?
The same is true for infrastructure.
Despite all best efforts to “sweat the asset”, we know that most infrastructure usually only lasts for 3 – 5 years.
We often see businesses approach us regarding infrastructure refreshes with only a few weeks before renewal time on maintenance or finance (or both!).
As mentioned already, in the past, we could expect shiny new infrastructure to turn up within days or a couple of weeks at most; now, we’re working with far longer lead times.
Depending on the technology requirements, it can be anywhere between 3 and 9 months for goods.
Truis advises clients to plan at least six months in advance for any refresh and to speak to your local Truis sales representative about what stock is required so we can help provide expectations on lead times.
Top Tip: Pull a report of all maintenance or finance renewals due within the next 12 months. Start stacking up your business case to sweat vs refresh your assets. Which is the most cost-effective and makes the most sense for your business? Tools such as_____ can be used as a quick and free guide to give you a head start.
The Truis Edge: If you don’t have the CAPEX available to purchase ahead of time, we can assist with financing options or discuss whether an OPEX-based Managed Services solution might be right for your business. https://truis.com.au/solutions-services/managed-services-support/.
4. Getting Stuff Done
By this point, you might be thinking, who exactly is going to do all of this when we’re short staffed and our bandwidth is already stretched?
Good point.
Planning is not just about the physical ordering of equipment but also the nitty-gritty of the migration, installation and disposal of assets.
Top Tips: Consider a project management system to plan your team’s upcoming workload and identify any extra hands you might need early. Do you have regular casual workers or contractors you can book? With skills shortages causing delays, getting in early is vital, for your needs are covered.
The Truis Edge: Did someone say extra hands? Yep, we’re happy to lend a hand via our Truis Services if you find yourself needing an on-demand expert IT team. Consider us your co-pilots!
Here’s how Truis help you navigate supply challenges.
Access to our little black book
Our vendor and distributor network is continually expanding, meaning we bring our clients the latest IT solutions and products. Through our strong partnerships with a range of distributors, we can leverage these close connections and relationships to review stock availability, do the leg work for our customers and hunt down where they can get what they need faster.
Alternatives to get the job done
The Truis team has a wealth of technical expertise backed by certifications from the world’s leading vendors. Our team has the technical expertise to recommend product alternatives that will still deliver the desired outcomes for our customers. Where the use case is still relevant, we can work with customers through the options, tailoring suitable alternatives to technology solutions that will still get the job done, alleviating the costs associated with supply delays.
What was old is new again
Truis has the capacity to see what stock is available on the market and can offer a refurbishment option on appropriate items to help customers reduce wait times. All refurbished products provided by Truis are covered with support by third-party maintenance providers. Truis Refurbished Stock | Truis Store.
See? The supply chain issues we’re facing don’t have to mean doom and gloom. Let’s work together to navigate these rocky times together.
We’d love to provide you with support to navigate supply chain concerns – get in touch. https://truis.com.au/contact/
