How does network help businesses save money?

Answer 1

Simple: increased user productivity. Instead of every employee having to walk to the person in charge of certain data, get the files from them on removable media, and then walk back to his own desk, the network allows files to be shared without any real effort. Changes to a file are also automatically available to everyone on the network, reducing the chance of different people having different versions of the information in question. Plus, a network allows the IT staff and management to more easily monitor what the users are doing on their computers, reducing wasted time (spent playing games, browsing the internet, etc.).

Answer 2

Online resource sharing benefits:

• Sharing network devices such as printers, plotters etc can reduce the need for employe
  es to have individual peripherals. In some cases this may be a cost benefit.
• The expenditure associated with managing consumables and maintenance to individual end-user devices may in some situations reduced by using networked peripherals.
• Information sharing and collaboration on business documents can be done across the room, between floors and between geographically separated project workers. Alternatives such as couriers, fax are usually not as quick and reduce productivity.

Productivity:

It is possible to engineer and manage access and maintenance to networked resources and peripherals to ensure high availability and thusly to improve workplace productivity (robust against failures/non-availability of a single critical device).

Information Security and the Cost of Not Knowing/Doing:
Proper management of information security is only practically achievable in a network environment. Being able to effect proper security controls inline with corporate policy has measureable cost benefits, especially when the resultant cost of a possible security breach is considered.

Business Continuity:
Data management and business continuity in terms of data backup and restoration capability hinges on implementing network-based storage systems. As the number of persons manipulating critical business information on end-user PCs grow, the practicality of end-user management of their data (in terms of backup and restore) may become unwieldy and prone to error and require training and/or technical comfort.

Reduce Capital Expenditure of End-User Systems:
End-user PCs can be lower in certain specification capacities if certain services are provided on the network. Eg network storage reduce the need for large capacity hard drives and multiplicity of removable storage (for backup and information sharing) drives.

Everything over IP:
This is an IP (Internet Protocol) world. All communication services are capable of running over IP. A business with a data network architecture, also has the basis for a security and safety systems network and a VoIP telephony network all running on the same cable plant. Dedicated cabling for telephones, security systems is almost completely archaic and IP based devices more intelligent and useful. Networking for data purposes may give saving benefits later when VoIP systems are added to the network (which may give saving benefits over PBX and key systems over the long term)

TCO vs ROI
The above being said, "reduced" is an interesting term. The are both capital expenditures and lifetime costs associated with implementing networks and network services. Assessing if there is a reduction may have to be a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) versus estimated Return on Investment (ROI) analysis.

Answer 3

If you have a network installed, you can save money on the cost of hardware. Instead of having multiple printers and faxes for each computer, the network will allow the computers to print and fax to the same printer and fax machine.

Answer 4

By sharing resources, such as a printer. But mainly, a network will cost MORE money - it is used for roughly the same reasons that computers are used in the first place: to get access to more options, get things done better.