Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Can your small business get both affordable professional-class IT service and peace of mind?
Can your small business get both affordable professional-class IT service and peace of mind? The secret lies in having a technology services provider handle your technical solutions.
To stay competitive, small businesses must make the most of current technology. But it’s expensive, time consuming, and inefficient to maintain a full-time IT department like larger companies. A true Professional Technology Services Provider offers on-demand talent, depth of experience, deep resources and huge economies of scale. Here are the top 10 benefits you’ll see.
Benefit #1: Stay Focused On Core Business Functions
People are happiest doing what they do best. And they get frustrated by tasks that distract them from it. Researching solutions, implementing new technology and fixing IT-related problems are extremely inefficient for non-IT professionals. Free up internal staff for revenue-generating functions and the business of business.
Benefit #2: Tap Economies Of Scale And Purchasing Power
Due to a single focus on IT, technology services providers achieve greater efficiencies and economies of scale. They consolidate purchasing power and have access to deep and broad knowledge bases. Using developed best practices, tasks are completed more efficiently than small businesses can do on their own. The means real cost savings– both in time and money.
Benefit #3: Reduce Cost and Control Operating Expenses
The business value of technology services providers results in very hard dollar savings. In almost all cases, small businesses will spend 25% to 50% less than the cost of even one mid-level IT professional. Then take recruiting, training, vacation, sick days, turnover and other management issues out of the equation to see even more savings. Costs are budgeted, predictable and controlled.
Benefit #4: Access Highly Specialized Talent
Small businesses cannot cost effectively achieve the scale and flexibility to properly support their technology environments. Even a very experienced and dedicated IT employee has limits to skills and avenues for help. Professional technology services providers offer access to teams of IT specialists that deliver the cross-sectional IT knowledge needed to provide both on-going and critical support for small business networks.
Benefit #5: Get Services On-Demand
Many small businesses face the challenges of growth and the burden of scaling back. Both cases present a genuine HR problem when relying on in-house IT resources. Small businesses need the agility of just-in-time resources for emergencies and the flexibility to adjust technology support levels. With a professional technology services provider, sudden changes won’t affect the livelihood or morale of employees.
Benefit #6: Help Employees Innovate and Stay Productive
Communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing allows employees to innovate. These capabilities are delivered through a multitude of technologies including file servers, central databases, broadband connectivity, mobile platforms, email communications, and many others. However, true productivity and business benefit can only be realized when this complex technology is properly planned, implemented and maintained. The best practices and comprehensive experiences around planning, implementing and maintaining such systems allow technology services providers to successfully deliver these productivity improvements.
Benefit #7: Reduce Downtime
Even a few minutes of systems downtime carry enormous business costs. Maximizing uptime must be a high priority. Small businesses can longer afford issues with internet connectivity, email communications, corrupt data or systems failure-the cost of reacting to these events is just too high. Professional technology services providers offer planned, measured approaches to pro-active systems maintenance, security, backup and disaster recovery.Benefit #8: Get A Technology Edge Over Competitors
Don’t just level the playing field: take advantage of new technologies for a competitive advantage. Technology services providers keep up with the latest solutions through ongoing training and real-world experience. They know how to implement the latest hardware, software, and network applications available. Just as important: they know which technologies are not worth the investment.
Benefit #9: Attract and Retain Employees
Employees want to work in an environment where their computers are up and running. Employees want to be competitive with their rivals and they want the technology tools that really help them deliver. Potential new talent will weigh your company’s technology prowess. Utilizing a professional technology services provider allows small businesses to meet these expectations and increases the ability to attract and retain employees.
Benefit #10: Access Otherwise Unavailable Vendor Support
Access to manufacturers is crucial in effectively supporting complex technology. When available, technology manufacturers traditionally provide basic or unreliable direct end-user support. With a well-established professional technology services provider, small businesses enjoy the benefits of priority access to Microsoft, Cisco and thousands of other technology vendors.
To stay competitive, small businesses must make the most of current technology. But it’s expensive, time consuming, and inefficient to maintain a full-time IT department like larger companies. A true Professional Technology Services Provider offers on-demand talent, depth of experience, deep resources and huge economies of scale. Here are the top 10 benefits you’ll see.
Benefit #1: Stay Focused On Core Business Functions
People are happiest doing what they do best. And they get frustrated by tasks that distract them from it. Researching solutions, implementing new technology and fixing IT-related problems are extremely inefficient for non-IT professionals. Free up internal staff for revenue-generating functions and the business of business.
Benefit #2: Tap Economies Of Scale And Purchasing Power
Due to a single focus on IT, technology services providers achieve greater efficiencies and economies of scale. They consolidate purchasing power and have access to deep and broad knowledge bases. Using developed best practices, tasks are completed more efficiently than small businesses can do on their own. The means real cost savings– both in time and money.
Benefit #3: Reduce Cost and Control Operating Expenses
The business value of technology services providers results in very hard dollar savings. In almost all cases, small businesses will spend 25% to 50% less than the cost of even one mid-level IT professional. Then take recruiting, training, vacation, sick days, turnover and other management issues out of the equation to see even more savings. Costs are budgeted, predictable and controlled.
Benefit #4: Access Highly Specialized Talent
Small businesses cannot cost effectively achieve the scale and flexibility to properly support their technology environments. Even a very experienced and dedicated IT employee has limits to skills and avenues for help. Professional technology services providers offer access to teams of IT specialists that deliver the cross-sectional IT knowledge needed to provide both on-going and critical support for small business networks.
Benefit #5: Get Services On-Demand
Many small businesses face the challenges of growth and the burden of scaling back. Both cases present a genuine HR problem when relying on in-house IT resources. Small businesses need the agility of just-in-time resources for emergencies and the flexibility to adjust technology support levels. With a professional technology services provider, sudden changes won’t affect the livelihood or morale of employees.
Benefit #6: Help Employees Innovate and Stay Productive
Communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing allows employees to innovate. These capabilities are delivered through a multitude of technologies including file servers, central databases, broadband connectivity, mobile platforms, email communications, and many others. However, true productivity and business benefit can only be realized when this complex technology is properly planned, implemented and maintained. The best practices and comprehensive experiences around planning, implementing and maintaining such systems allow technology services providers to successfully deliver these productivity improvements.
Benefit #7: Reduce Downtime
Even a few minutes of systems downtime carry enormous business costs. Maximizing uptime must be a high priority. Small businesses can longer afford issues with internet connectivity, email communications, corrupt data or systems failure-the cost of reacting to these events is just too high. Professional technology services providers offer planned, measured approaches to pro-active systems maintenance, security, backup and disaster recovery.Benefit #8: Get A Technology Edge Over Competitors
Don’t just level the playing field: take advantage of new technologies for a competitive advantage. Technology services providers keep up with the latest solutions through ongoing training and real-world experience. They know how to implement the latest hardware, software, and network applications available. Just as important: they know which technologies are not worth the investment.
Benefit #9: Attract and Retain Employees
Employees want to work in an environment where their computers are up and running. Employees want to be competitive with their rivals and they want the technology tools that really help them deliver. Potential new talent will weigh your company’s technology prowess. Utilizing a professional technology services provider allows small businesses to meet these expectations and increases the ability to attract and retain employees.
Benefit #10: Access Otherwise Unavailable Vendor Support
Access to manufacturers is crucial in effectively supporting complex technology. When available, technology manufacturers traditionally provide basic or unreliable direct end-user support. With a well-established professional technology services provider, small businesses enjoy the benefits of priority access to Microsoft, Cisco and thousands of other technology vendors.
Save Business Expenses with Netbooks
By Zack Stern
Why Do You Need New Systems?
Can you use netbooks for business? The answer depends on your specific needs, but there's a good chance you can with current hardware. And more powerful, upcoming hardware is even more likely to work. Don't rely on netbooks beyond their light-use design. If you're replacing aging desktop PCs, netbooks will likely run at similar speeds without any perceived upgrade over the old hardware. A smaller case is nice but probably nets a result of wasted money.
Why Do You Need New Systems?
Can you use netbooks for business? The answer depends on your specific needs, but there's a good chance you can with current hardware. And more powerful, upcoming hardware is even more likely to work. Don't rely on netbooks beyond their light-use design. If you're replacing aging desktop PCs, netbooks will likely run at similar speeds without any perceived upgrade over the old hardware. A smaller case is nice but probably nets a result of wasted money.
How can I implement new technology into my business?
 | How can I implement new technology into my business? I own a courier service business. Currently, I don't really employ much technology. What sort of cutting-edge software might benefit my business? I would like to use technology to boost my marketing/branding efforts too.Asked by asad khan Posted: Thursday, April 09, 2009 | Found in Internet/E-Commerce |
 More answers by Steve Adams | Answer by Steve Adams There are a number of technologies that can help you with various aspects of the business. If you don't have one already, you should look into a good accounting package designed specifically for small businesses (rather than personal accounting software). They're fairly easy to use and will help you keep track of your cash flow and make things easier when tax time rolls around.You'll also want some sort of customer relationship management (CRM) system. Being able to capture information about customers -- especially their preferences and quirks -- really helps with building repeat business. It can also help you see who your best customers are so you can market to them more effectively. You can either purchase software to run it yourself, or you can use a "hosted" model where you login on the Internet to use it but the supplier takes care of all the technical management. |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)