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There's a lot of technology being thrown at the small business
person - LINUX, DSL, hosted applications, mobile computing,
Windows 2000 and more -- most of which are confusing or
downright incomprehensible. A technology expert advises on the
importance of putting your business technology know-how on
concrete, and not on sand.
by Ramon Ray
Contributing Author
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I was thinking that
there's a lot of technology being thrown at the small business
person - LINUX, DSL, hosted applications, mobile computing,
Windows 2000 and more.
Would I be wrong to assume that MANY small businesses are darn
confused about most of it?
My guess is that many small businesses are still struggling with
the simple aspects of technology like - Word macros, computers
freezing for no apparent reason and other things. I know that
these things
are frustrating you.
Particularly if you look at your competition and you see the slick TV ads, hear the
funny radio ads and read the air brushed magazine ads, with the
"empowered" small biz executive slashing his
competitions, rescuing his clients, increasing her profits, and
just being an all around wonderful and loving Queen to her
employees!
You drool with lust and wonder - what's wrong with me.
PUT YOUR BUSINESS ON CONCRETE (core technology
fundamentals). Don't rush out for the latest and greatest - or
you're business will be a sand castle -- e.g., one that looks great on paper,
but a few drops of water will make it go away!
Let me give you a ray of hope and some guidance:
1. Ignore all the slick hype
2. Concentrate on ensuring your business has the best
implementation of the following (as applicable to your business)
-
email (not AOL, but real, myname@mycompany.com
email)
-
a great WEB site with information about
your company
-
if you sell products you want a site to
sell your products online, and the site should be integrated with your back office functions
-
high speed Internet access (if it's only
you, then a 56k modem is fine, if 20 people then get DSL)
-
well integrated and working business
applications (word processing, finance/accounting,
spreadsheet, presentation, and database)
-
ensure your business functions are
maximizing their use of technology (you may want to hire a
consultant to help with this)
-
a decent telephone system (voice mail,
and some basic features like hold, conferencing, message
forwarding and etc)
-
the number of 1 or 2 great technology
consultants
-
make sure your hardware and software is
up to date
a) check your software vendor's WEB site to
make sure you have a recent version of the software. No more
than a year or 2 old. Check out the features of their latest
software and compare it to the version you have - you may decide
to get the latest version
b) your hardware - every small business
should have a nice laser printer, no more than a few years old,
a nice HP Laser Jet III at the least I would think, your PC's
should have AT LEAST 32MB of RAM, but I would say 64 and at
least a 3GB hard. Less may be ok for you depending on what you
are doing. If a 133MHZ Pentium is working for you, then fine.
But try to get at least a 300MHZ or so Pentium, 500MHZ may be
overkill. Of course scanners, mice, and other peripherals are
another ball game.
There's a lot more I could say, but take a nice Root Beer and
Snicker Bar and take this advice for now.
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About the Author:
Ramon Ray,
Small business technology analyst and consultant
http://www.smallbiztechnology.com,
The OASIS of small business technology
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