Hardware

Overview

	Requirements
	Communication
	email intranet unified messaging
	Connection
	isdn ads leased line
	Hardware
	specification configuration management
	Network
	specification configuration management
	Security
	anti virus back up firewalls

Imagine if you could minimise the cost of ownership of your IT equipment.

With many setups, the herculean task of getting it to work eclipses the real benefits that could be acheived if it did all actually work.

Usually this whole situation arises from breaking the second rule of Internet usage: cutting corners. Information Technology is an immature art, and the technology itself is far from perfect, but with a little forethought, system reliability can be maximised, downtime minimised, and your valuable data protected.

The key is to plan your requirements step-by-step, starting from scratch, to make sure that everything is covered.

Problems

It is a truism that IT can save on costs, especially wages. However, experts suggest that those same costs often end up being called IT costs instead of staff wages, so that in fact most small and medium enterprises make little or no net savings at all.

The computer revolution has come about so quickly that most companies have put their systems together piecemeal, and then wonder why it isn't very reliable and why it costs so much to run.

Furthermore, in all the current hype about the 'white heat of technology,' many people forget that machines are only capable of replacing the more menial labour. Wherever intelligence is required to get a job done well, the machines are there to act as a facilitator, not as a replacement.

The invention of the telephone undoubtedly caused many postal workers to be replaced, but the explosion in business it facilitated created many more jobs in the long run.

The Internet has a similar potential, again, in the long run: its big advantage is that customers can come to you more easily, 24 hours a day; you don't have to work so hard to seek them out: your website can do the work for you.

Many people look at IT with some trepidation, either with a straightforwardly Luddite mentality, or just a simple fear of the admittedly steep learning curve that a new setup can involve.

But it is important to remember the potential benefits that can come from putting in a little short-term effort and a bit of cash (and remember too that lease-purchase is a handy tax-deductible option for most businesses).

In a way, perhaps it all comes down to confidence: can you, personally, see yourself benefitting from the increased control over your business that comes from an efficient web portal and computerised database?

Can you benefit from extra enquiries from customers who have found you through your professionally-produced web site?

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