Computerization for Growth
An Investment, Not An Expense

Whether you are just starting a new business, experiencing an expansion or even trying to do more with less, technology, more specifically computers, can help you achieve specific business benefits.

Identify Business Goals

When considering investing in computer technology, it is critical to outline your specific goals first. Some potential business goals could be very basic: increase efficiency or improve effectiveness. Whenever possible, try to be very specific; for example, do you want to create proposals within a specific time frame (2-4 hours) or perhaps you want to track inventory or consolidate customer communications. Automation can improve employee performance and save labor costs far in excess of the costs.

While you are identifying the goals, take the time to also identify the expected results in quantifiable terms. Using the generation of new customer proposals as an example, if it currently takes your sales team 4-8 hours to generate a new proposals without computer technology but it will take only 2-4 hours with computer technology, the results are easily measurable – the time savings for your sales team. You may achieve additional benefits that are less easily quantified but equally important—by making it easier for your sales team to generate new proposals, their job satisfaction may increase but more importantly, by turning around a new proposal quickly, their ability to turn the prospect into a client may also increase, making it a win-win situation for everyone.

Consider All Aspects

When evaluating what to computerize, consider all aspects of your business. Some basic areas to consider include:
• Communications, e.g. internal and external, electronic and hard copy
• Accounting
• Sales and marketing
• Human resources
• Other specific business functions

When selecting computer technology, identify who will be the user or users and where are they located. If the primary user is someone with little or no computer experience, it may be wise to invest in training to really reap the benefits of your technology investment. In some cases, the user may be very computer savvy and may benefit from a more powerful or sophisticated computer or application. If you are going to have multiple people using computer technology, it would be wise to consider implementing a well-designed network with resource sharing.

A simple but common mistake that many new and small business owners make is in selecting the operating system for their computers. Most businesses use Microsoft’s Windows operating system on their computers—when purchasing new PC or laptops, I recommend Microsoft Windows XP Professional because it will grow with you and your business; Microsoft Windows XP Home will not.

Location, Location, Location

Finally, when selecting your computer technology, consider where the computer will be used. Possibilities include: an office, home, remote office, or on-the-road. Based on the answers, you may wish to consider a standard desktop computer, a laptop, or perhaps a handheld device e.g. Pocket PC or Palm.

One of the nice benefits of today’s technology is that you are no longer confined to your office or the physical network within it. Using the Internet, wireless and a technology called VPN, you can easily and securely access your business information from almost anywhere, making it easy to setup small satellite offices closer to your customers or suppliers or to have sales or service representatives in the field.

IT Budget Planning

Most businesses keep PCs/laptops for at lest 2-3 years. As a result, I recommend purchasing the best you can afford now to ensure satisfactory performance for the computer’s life span. In all cases, you want to be sure to purchase computer hardware that meets your business software’s minimum requirements. To protect your investment, include money for upgrades and maintenance of your computer technology in your annual budget. See “3 Rules of Thumb for Smart Technology Investments” for more on this topic.

Top 3 Computer Uses

So, what are some specific ways you can use a computer in your business? The most common and top 3 recommended uses include:

Word processing

For typing basic letters to internal documentation, a word processing application is one of the basic uses of computer technology. Microsoft Word is the de-facto business standard for word processing software. Corel’s Word Perfect is still popular in legal industry.

Tip: Use the Help included with the software to learn what features exist within your word processor and how to use them.

The Merge functions within the software are largely ignored and yet are extremely effective for large distributions either electronic or printed e.g. letter to a list of prospective customers or mailing labels or even for something as simple as a single document with envelope.

Templates are also extremely effective for saving time and easy ways to create a standard, professional look for your business. You can use templates to create letterhead, envelopes, fax cover sheets, standard intro letter, thank you letter, and more. Microsoft has a wealth of templates freely available on their website that you can customize to make your business really shine.

Email

Using electronic mail or email, you can communicate at anytime of day, cost effectively. Some prerequisites for using email:

• Get your own domain name, e.g. @mycompany.com. Why? It’s more professional and it shows you are serious. It’s cheap and despite common misconceptions, you don’t need a website to have a domain name for use with email. And probably most importantly, you can take it with you, e.g. what if you decide to drop AOL or Optonline? If you have printed business cards, letterhead or other materials with email addresses provided by these vendors, you are faced with either maintaining the service even if you don’t want it or reprinting all your materials with your new email address.
• Get Internet access—A myriad of choices exist for businesses today. The choices include dial-up, DSL to home or office, cable Internet, or T1 service. Take the time to understand the pros and cons of each time of Internet access method and select the method that best suits your business’ needs and budget.

Contact Manager

Contact management software allows you consolidate all contact information into a single location. It can include not only clients but also suppliers, potential partners, and more.
• Types of information to collect: Name, company, mailing address, shipping address, phone, fax, cell, email, phone logs, correspondence, appointments, industry, their interest/relationship to you, the source of the contact, and so on. It’s more than just an electronic Filofax and can be used to increase the effectiveness of your client relationships and communications.
• Microsoft’s Outlook, Best Software’s Act!, and FrontWave’s Goldmine are all excellent contact managers and each integrates nicely with word processing software and handheld devices.

Other Typical Computer Uses

While some businesses may use their computer only as described above, the possibilities are limitless. Some other common potential computer uses include:

Spreadsheets

Spreadsheet software is very effective for number crunching or data analysis such as developing price lists or proposals, analyzing data such as Profit/Loss reports and much more. Microsoft Excel is the most common.

Presentations/Graphics

Presentation and graphics software is commonly used for developing materials to use with prospects, clients or partners. Microsoft PowerPoint for presentations and Microsoft Publisher for flyers/brochures are easy-to-use and relatively sophisticated.

Tip: To save money, you can purchase Microsoft’s Office suites which include a variety of combinations of the software described above. Check what software is included in your Office suite bundle to ensure that you’re getting all the functionality you want.

PDF files

PDF files are created using Adobe Acrobat. A PDF is a common file format that doesn't require recipient to have the same software you do. Instead, the person simply needs a free program called Adobe Acrobat Reader which makes it possible to view the file. PDF files are especially useful for sending files that you don’t want changed, e.g. contracts or proposals. If you want to create PDF files, you need to purchase, the complete product Adobe Acrobat which will let you both create and read PDF files.

The Legalities

I would be remiss in not including some advice on the use and distribution of illegal software. In a word, my advice on using illegal software is: Don’t!

Why? First, it’s not worth the legal risks. The makers of software are now realizing the revenue losses due to the distribution and use of illegal software and are taking action to prevent it including pursuing legal action as well as strengthening their software activation and registration processes.

A second reason to avoid using illegal software is more basic—what is you do you do if you need help or updates? Neither are available from the software manufacturer without legally registered software. Further on this point, be sure to securely store your software disks for use after the initial installation of the software. In an effort to limit illegal software distribution, the software manufacturers are now requiring the use of the original distribution media (usually a CD) to verify licensing prior to installing or activating additional features or applying bug fixes or updates and in some cases, even uninstalling the software.

Peripherally Speaking

When selecting your computer technology for your business, don’t forget some important peripherals, specifically printers, fax machines, scanners and copy machines. There is a wide array of choices in each of these devices. When making your selection, you should consider the following:

o Black and white versus color printing and copying
o Inkjet versus laser—Consumables such as toner cartridges and special papers is where you spend the most money over the life of a device.
o Dedicated fax machines versus integrated PC fax/modem technology
o Scanning requirements including resolution, frequency of use and management of the output.

In addition, there is a wide-array of multi-function devices which have the advantages of providing lots of functionality in a small footprint and can be cost effective. While multi-function may be a good choice overall but may be not best at anything, for example, it may be an acceptable copier but may not provide adequate scanning resolution. Another consideration is that if the device fails, failure could be one function only, only scanning or all functions. Less expensive multi-function devices are usually slow and therefore, may not be appropriate for high volume applications.

Practicing Safe Computing

Finally, when computerizing your business, it is important to establish and follow some basic “Computer Best Practices” to ensure that your computer technology functions properly and reliability when you need it most. Some recommended best practices include:
• Implement anti-virus protection across your entire computer network
• Protect your computers and network from outside threats via the Internet using firewall and perimeter security devices.
• Protect your computer based information from inside threats, both accidental and intentional
• Implement a reliable backup process
• Get qualified help—so you can focus on your business, not your computer technology

By making wise computer technology investments, you can improve performance and save labor costs far in excess of the costs. Too often companies fail to invest in the entire technology package. Inadequate training, slow printers or the lack of a fast, reliable Internet connection can negate performance gains, if not render your technology virtually impotent. In summary, when trying to grow your business sound investment in computer technology can help you achieve your business goals today and in the future.