gDoc

The impending end of the tax year tends to focus the mind on matters financial. For businesses, controlling costs is vital; with this in mind, we put together some ideas and advice on the subject.

Global Graphics urges businesses planning for the new financial year to consider all options for savings in a tough economic climate including examining software costs.

Companies are in a flurry this month to be ready for the new financial year and if actions by the government to make cuts in order to save £11bn across government departments is anything to go by, it looks like 2010 is going to be a tough year all round.

Global Graphics is urging businesses to wake up to the idea that free doesn’t mean poor quality and now a great time to ‘spring clean’ and discover areas in which to make savings. A recent study commissioned by Global Graphics showed that 76 per cent of large organisations already use or are planning to issue free software across the enterprise in 2010. The study also demonstrated that free software is not only a practical set of desktop products but also something more fundamental to boosting enterprise productivity.

Our CEO, Gary Fry, offers some points to think about:

• IT Budgets are still under pressure – A recent report by the National Computing Centre revealed that 28% of those surveyed admitted they have had to undertake significant cost-cutting in their IT operations and a further 32% have had to make moderate cuts. 33% are putting on hold software refreshes
• The pros and cons of free software – Despite organisations feeling positive about free opportunities and the prospect of savings across the board, Global Graphics research found that the two main concerns for CIOs when considering free software were product quality and support. Something can be free but it needs to be reliable and offer free product upgrades and the option of free forum-led and/or paid-for support
• Re-negotiate with current suppliers. Now is the time to shop around for the best utilities, insurance providers and every other business cost including enterprise software.
• I’ll scratch your back if… Find opportunities for ‘contra’ arrangements with suppliers and partner organisations, either offering like-for-like services or reduced rates
• Think about features, usability, integration and ROI – Free products vary vastly in quality and service. In the PDF market the competitors fall into two main categories: those from commercial organisations such as Global Graphics who are offering free PDF creation and the option to upgrade to a paid-for product, and freeware which is generally limited in functionality and often less easy to install and use with poor support. There is a third category, PDF creation built–in (or that can be freely downloaded) to an existing document creation product
• Value for money – organisations are under increasing pressure to do more with less. Make sure you consider what ‘free’ really means and the broader functionalities available. Ensure that the amount of software licenses enabled fits exactly with office functions and staffing levels.

Global Graphics gDoc Creator product is the only enterprise quality PDF creation and viewing software tool that is available for free. Over 200,000 customers are now creating and viewing their documents for free with Global Graphics software. If you want a more functionality then gDoc Fusion is the paid-for big brother to Creator but is still very competitively priced.