Technology's Total Cost of Ownership.

• Position: Brief Article

Governments and schools alike can benefit by examining the total cost of ownership (TCO) for technology. The concept behind TCO is that the original purchase price and cost of implementing a technology solution is not the final cost of owning that technology. TCO seeks to combine the "hard costs" of operating a network--including the costs of employee training, maintaining a help desk and support staff, and repair expenses--with the "soft costs" of the technology such as loss of productivity when the systems are down. For budgeting purposes, officials should consider the following questions: has enough money been budgeted for training?; has enough money been budgeted...