The moment you mention the expense of purchasing an enclosure for your dedicated equipment, your accountant will be asking questions about why you intend to make the purchase and what will be the long term value of such an expense. Fortunately, having previously completed your homework, you will be able to explain all of the long term benefits of the purchase, plus the added bonus of being able to explain how the expense is far outweighed by the long term value of the acquisition.
You will be able to show several clear reasons why your purchase is a most sensible financial option for your equipment:
• Safety – remove theft
• Security – reduce damage
• Maintenance – lower maintenance costs
• Lower insurance claims – less claims
• Long term preservation of the unit – lower replacement expenses
Purchasing the enclosure will add longer life to your equipment. It is less likely to be stolen or damaged; access to private data will be restricted; your maintenance costs will be much lower over the long term; your insurance costs and claims will be reduced and the unit will last longer because you will have preserved it better than leaving it exposed to people, weather and crime.
Why is safety important?
You know that you need to protect your employees, but you also need to protect customers who may be using an electrical item.
It is essential that your employees go home after a day’s work ready to join you again for the next working day. Not only is that basic common sense, but it reduces the number of incidents and their related costs, especially insurance and legal fees if an employee makes a claim against your business for a health and safety at work failure.
However, the prospect of making front-page news because a customer had an accident in conjunction with your electrical appliance can cost the business more than just the bottom-line profit.
If an electrical item becomes faulty, you won’t want an unqualified person turning your machine around and using a screwdriver to find the source of the problem. A frayed or hanging livewire should never be allowed to mix with a good willing home DIYer. An enclosure will stop this fall from grace.
There are many hidden costs that follow an accident. People can be diverted from their usual working role to become involved with the people or the machinery that requires assistance.
On the positive side, morale is boosted amongst employees who work in a safe environment. If they don’t have accidents to discuss or distract them, more time is available for real work. Fewer problems in the safety area of business leads to fewer staff absences, lower levels of employee turnover and a better overall quality of work.
Good security reduces damage reports
In a world where we talk about identity theft linked to the rapid increase of spam e-mail and blog comments the security of, for example, a waterproof touch screen, is paramount.
While an enclosure will only slow down the characters you see breaking into security touch screens in the latest James Bond film, the average low-level criminal would rather avoid a high quality touch screen enclosure and choose the rather weak effort that houses a flimsy plastic finish.
There is no positive benefit for a company that introduces the latest touch screen software facility at security points on their premises if a 16-year-old geek can easily gain access to the unit and hack a password or entry code.
If a business invests its money on such software improvements, but fails to seek out the best range of available enclosures, the initial investment may prove worthless.
Obviously, security must be effective. Enclosing any machinery that houses sensitive data must be dealt with on a case-by-case situation and purchase. Yes, it makes sense to look at industry standards, but is more important to look at the bespoke service that completes your company security arrangements.
You have to ensure that you select the right solution to the right problem. You will need to clearly define the possible problems surrounding your equipment and processes so you can ensure you find the right solution that addresses the issues most important to you and your business. If you fail to plan, you might find the right solution, but to the wrong problem.
Don’t go too far overbroad – you must make sure that your security of an electrical appliance does not make the unit unusable.
Reducing your maintenance costs
Digital signage is one good example of a unit that requires an enclosure to keep it safe from the elements of weather as well as for safety and security purposes. The good news about digital signage is that it requires far less maintenance that old style static signs. The older methods involved far more manual maintenance.
Advertisers require the maximum up time for their payments of publicity space. If the digital signage shows an impressive record, because it is enclosed properly, the maintenance time is reduced, leading to more satisfied customers.
Owners of electrical equipment can reduce the need to react to problems and use predicative maintenance to solve problems before they occur. Periodic inspections of these types of equipment will ensure that consistent maintenance of known problems solves the issues early. Combined with preventative maintenance, the need for corrective maintenance is vastly reduced. Enclosures reduce the opportunities that outside agencies – dust, water and other substances – can enter the secure environment, causing damage and the need for expensive maintenance or replacement.
During recent times of recession, both the customer, perhaps the advertiser or the owner of computer printers and the supplier of the digital locations needs to spend less on general maintenance and keep the machines working as close to 100% of the time as possible.
Less and reduced insurance claims
Businesses spend too much of their general budget on insurance costs, but if a business is to continue after minor or major catastrophes, it needs to ensure that insurance is available to pay out for claims when the situation arises.
Insurance costs tend to rise year on year because claims rise annually in tandem with the value of the insurance losses, but with all business insurances on the rise, any facility a business can use to bring down these huge expenses can give a business the cash flow necessary to survive.
This must be balanced with the ability to reduce insurance claims by enclosing units that are open to damage, security or safety breaches. The lower the claims against a company, the lower the insurance costs will be in future years. This is especially important if a business decides to look elsewhere for its insurance requirements.
Companies must weigh the scales of the need to enclose their precious electrical units against the possible insurance fees charged when units are exposed to potential problems.
Long term preservation of the unit – lower replacement expenses
Too many businesses operate with a glance over their shoulder at net profits now, rather than considering the benefits of long term investments. They fail to see that by either buying the cheapest option now, or not buying protection for their equipment at all, they are looking at larger costs over the longer term.
You will know that your vehicle needs regular servicing if it is to be good value out on the road. If you ignore servicing issues, you will be faced with a vehicle that might fail at any time, which means that your goods or services will not be delivered on time. This will bring down your bottom line. You will also be faced with higher on the spot maintenance costs at the time of the crisis. If you understand the value of keeping your vehicle protected, then you will also understand how the long term value of your equipment in a quality enclosure will save you money over the longer period.
Your accountant will be best advised to calculate all of the possibilities of costs involved with not using an enclosure, using a poor enclosure and balance the long term expectations of using a quality enclosure with reduced ongoing costs.
The major advantage of quality enclosures
After considering all of these facts presented to you, the major decision is really about the amount of downtime you consider acceptable for your equipment.
If your equipment is not working, money is being lost.
When your employees cannot access a computer or printer because it has fallen foul to the environment or malicious attack or when your digital advertising fails to attract business which reduces cash flow and income, you know that the best enclosure that provides long term value for money is the best choice for your business.
You cannot chance a keyboard or mouse failing as your employees or customers won’t be able to access the equipment you are trying to protect. Isn’t it better to purchase well over the long term and not to look for cheaper short term solutions?
Involve your accountants early in the process when you consider buying an enclosure for your equipment. They will enjoy being involved and being able to bring you endless spreadsheets showing you why long term value always wins against short term failures.
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