Blog: Start-up firms cite equipment as key expense

Start-up firms cite equipment as key expense

Purchasing the necessary equipment, hardware and software when starting up a business is among the key concerns for would-be entrepreneurs, according to a new O2 survey.

A poll of 500 SME owners found that small companies founded in the last three years cost an average of just £17,095 to start up, when all costs were taken into account.

However, many companies struggled to purchase and deploy the necessary systems required to establish and maintain operations, with 48 per cent resorting to hiring equipment in order to reduce expenditure.

The key reason given for renting equipment was the potential reduction in start-up and maintenance costs, but there are other ways in which newly formed SMEs can control costs while also establishing the operations needed to foster and maintain success.

With cashflow tight, small companies may find that a pay as you go approach to software can provide many advantages at a low-cost, predictable rate, with virtually anywhere access to the latest Office applications, in addition to cloud-based IT services such as enterprise-grade email and conferencing.

Posted by Steve Williams

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