Technology Standards "A Must Have" for the Start-Up or the Established Business

As this is my first articla on Biznik I decided to start simple and work up to more complicated topics as the blog progresses and my readers make specific requests. So let’s get started. One of the first things we get asked regularly from business owners of all sized companies is “How do I control my business technology costs?”  Our first question back is usually, “What kind of technologies are you using and how are you supporting those technologies?”  About 99% of the time the answer is a variety of technologies used in a multitude of ways depending on the preferences of the individual users within their company.  With all the choices in the market today this is not unusual and is typically the norm.  However, each of the many different “devices” ie: laptops, phones, PDA’s, etcetera all require some special knowledge or configuration to access the company network and resources.  As an example, imagine a delivery company tasked with supporting and maintaining a fleet of vehicles consisting of trucks, cars, SUV’s from Ford, GM, BMW, Audi, Toyota and so on.  The human talent pool and specialty tools necessary to keep these vehicles running, training all the drivers to use any vehicle and keeping all the spare parts on hand would be enormous and far too expensive.  Standardizing on a specific set of vehicles saves time, money and is efficient in ways I’m sure you can already visualize.  That is exactly why you see the same exact delivery trucks rolling down the road from any delivery company USA.  The same concept applies to technology usage in your company.  Standardize and make it the rule not the exception. You need to answer the questions:  What type of phone service shall we use? Do we need VOIP?  Do we need our own servers?  Should those servers be Linux, Microsoft or Novell? What type of Computers do we use?  Should be use Mac’s, Laptops, Netbooks, PC’s or a combination? Other questions are going to include: Shall we use in-house support or contracted support?  What are the costs and benefits for each option?  Still more questions will include: Do we buy Off-The-Shelf Applications or do we have them custom built for our needs?  What will our website look like and how do we get it designed, built, hosted and maintained? In all these cases you will need to consider setting standards and what specific standards are necessary for you to get the most bang for your buck. As you can see, the first step in saving money for your company is for everyone to be on the same page, using the same equipment and being supported by a trained staff of competent professionals skilled in the tools you have chosen in order for you to save money and be successful. With this in mind….Go Forth and Do Good Things.      2009-06-10T21:40:09Z

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technology-standards-a-must-have-for-the-start-up-or-the-established-business

2009-06-14T08:33:27Z

2009-06-14T15:34:06Z

Regardless of the size or age of your company, setting standards for how your company implements, uses and supports technology will SAVE YOU MONEY.

Technology Standards "A Must Have" for the Start-Up or the Established Business

2009-06-14T15:34:19Z