When you’re in business time is money and one thing that can waste a lot of time and a lot of money is having poor cable management. While a rat’s nest of cables may not cost you a lot of money throughout the year, it will waste a technician’s time and, as a result, cost you a lot of money when you need to have maintenance done or equipment replaced.
What Causes Clustered Cables?
Having poorly managed, clustered cables can be caused by different reasons but the main reason is that whoever installed them in the first place was in a rush and didn’t take the necessary time to organize things. Having a tech come out and install networks or computer systems can be expensive, especially if they are being paid by the hour. When this is the case, customers usually want things done as quickly as possible. As a result, the time needed to organize cables and make the entire setup as clean as possible isn’t taken.
Another reason that cables become a mess is if you have new technology installed. If you have a system, network, etc… already in place and you have a technician replace things then there’s the possibility that the new equipment will clutter things up. Again, this comes down to time. If the technician is on the clock and working to get the job done as fast as possible then taking the time to make the cables neat and organized won’t be an option.
How Do Poorly Managed Cables Cost Me Money?
Poorly managed cables can cost you money, even though that isn’t the one of the first things you would think of when trying to save money. However, the reality of the situation is that poorly managed cables can cost you money whenever you need a technician to come in and replace something or perform maintenance. If you are using a different technician than the one that installed everything then obviously the new technician won’t know what cables go where.
If the technician has to take the time to follow all the cables from end to end to figure out where they go then he is going to be wasting a lot of time. This is exacerbated if the technician has to replace those cables. Anyone who has ever untangled Christmas lights knows just how annoying and time-consuming untangling things can be. The more clustered your cables are the more time your technician will have to take to get in there and fix things, thus causing you more money spent labor costs.
Here’s an example from one of our technicians, Bryan Scherman
“I was on site doing work for a local police department recently. When I got on site I noticed that the cables and wires connecting everything was in total disarray. Since I wasn’t the technician who put the system together, I had no idea which cable connected to what in this jumbled mess. In order to do my job I had to sift through all the cables and trace the ones I needed so that I could replace the switch. What should have been a 1.5 hour job turned into a 5 hour job. Since the average hourly rate for a technician is $125, the cost for this job ended up being over $600 when it should have only cost less than $200. The poor cable management from the technician who installed the system, while maybe saving the department money in the beginning, actually cost them money in the long run.”
How Can I Have Better Cable Management?
There are a plethora of different things you can use to better manage your cables. One of the best things to use is cable trays or racks. Cable trays and racks are great for running large quantities of power or data cables overhead or under the floor. These racks are designed to route and provide support for your cables. The trays keep your cables from hanging freely from above or laying strewn about on the floor. Types of trays include basket-style trays, solid PVC cable routing systems, and snake trays.
Racks and trays are a good start but if you have very large quantities of cables being run then you will need a way to keep them all together. Velcro cable ties are a popular method of keeping cables together and are very easy to install. If you are already using trays or racks then all you need to do is simply wrap up groups of cables together with the velcro straps. This keeps them tightly compacted and allows technicians to quickly follow cables from end to end without getting confused.
The oldest and most cost effective way to keep your cables together is, of course, zip ties. Good old fashioned zip ties are the easiest way to keep cables securely together. You can get packs of 100 zip ties for less than $2 so if you need to keep a lot of cables together then you would be hard pressed to find a better bargain.
Tying It All Together (See What I Did There?)
When it comes to your network, cable management is essential. Having a neatly organized and clean cable setup not only looks great but it can also save you money in the future. Take the example above from Bryan. Simply having proper cable management could have saved the department hundreds of dollars. In addition to saving time and money, proper cable management also helps any new technicians you may hire for your business or enlist the services of when things need to be replaced or fixed.
With some simple cable trays and racks, velcro straps, and even zip ties you can properly manage all of your computer and network cables with ease. Plus, these organized cables will no longer be a burden on your budget or your technicians.
If you need help cleaning up your cable mess, or you need PC repairs, PC tune-ups, network repair, free monthly checkups, IT consulting, or even equipment sales then ComputerSeviceNow is here for you! Call one of our technicians today at 877-422-1907, emailing us at sales@computerservicenow.com, or visiting our website here and telling us exactly what you need!
Sharing this story on social media? Use these hashtags! #CableManagement #SaveTime #SaveMoney #IT
