VenturePORT Series - Technology
The proliferation of low-cost technology has effectively leveled the playing field in many industries. You will not need much money to look like a Fortune 500 player, so make sure you don't cut corners in a way that will tip off your small size to people who don't know you. The idea is to look big by having the same technology or better than your larger competition.
In the old days, the idea of having superior technology would have seemed impossible. Today, as a result of the "cheap revolution" in technology, many of the smallest companies can have it all. You can further lessen the cash-flow impact of computers and equipment through leasing, when necessary. This can lower the monthly cash expenses for a fully equipped office to as little as a couple of hundred dollars per month.
That said, don't be tempted to go overboard. Carefully identify what you need, or don't need, to put on a fully professional appearance, maximize communication efficiency, and provide highly responsive service to customers. Don't be seduced by the low monthly payments to take on obligations you don't need yet.
Telephones
Despite the proliferation of e-mail, customers will call you, and you will make plenty of calls, so you want to make sure your phone system, whatever you choose, presents you as a "real" company.
Landlines: You have three-basic options for your land-line service: Traditional phone service for your local phone utility, Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), and digital service delivered by T-1 lines.
For most start-ups, the main choices are land-line service and VOIP. Most of the Bell companies have extremely low-priced, flat-rate packages for small businesses, usually up to a dozen lines or so, but competition is changing the offerings quite rapidly, so you always have to inquire in your area to learn about the latest options. These flat rate packages include domestic U.S. long distance service, which in the old days was a separate cost.
VOIP service, usually offered by your Cable service provider or by independent companies such as Vonage.com, delivers your phone service over your high-speed Internet access. This has become increasingly reliable, and the call quality when uninterrupted by Internet static is quite high. The cost is usually lower than traditional phone service. Keep in mind, though, that your VOIP service is subject to more interruptions than traditional phone service and goes down altogether when you lose power. This is why many small businesses often use both traditional land-line and VOIP service.
Digital service delivered via T-1 lines is for companies with higher call volume, such as those with some kind of call-center. This option delivers your phone service via T-1 lines but can carry the signal on digital land-line service or VOIP. Once you have a T-1, you can move to VOIP whenever you feel confident in the service. This option works for companies with more lines than included in the flat-rate Bell business packages, because you do not pay per-phone-line charges with a T-1 line and get the benefit of buying phone numbers in blocks of one hundred.
Should you choose a VOIP or digital phone system, you should retain some traditional land lines so that you have a backup in the case of a power outage. The supplier of your phone system can help you make sure that phone calls roll-over to the traditional land-lines in the case of an outage.
More sophisticated systems let you set up PIN numbers so that only authorized people can make overseas calls, or enable you to track outbound and inbound calls by extension. You generally need some inexpensive software supplied by your telephone equipment vendor to generate reports.
Voice mail: Because almost every company uses voice mail today, you too can use an automated system to answer and route your calls. Numerous options exist to manage voice mail, including very basic, easy-to-use PC-based systems. Whatever you select, make sure it enables you to set up a main greeting, custom greetings for each employee, and, even better, allows you to use three-digit extensions so that you don't immediately tip off callers that you're a tiny company by having extensions numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. It pays to make sure the automated voice sounds professional and appropriate to your audience; after all, that's a first impression of your brand.
Today, a basic, professional voice mail system handling dozens of people can be had for several thousand dollars and leased for a very affordable monthly expense. For not much additional money, you can get software that enables you to log all of your call information and to power a call center. This makes it possible for your sales team to get information on inbound callers on their screens when they pick up the calls.
Wireless: Since you will want to be highly responsive to both customer and employee needs, you will also probably need a cell phone plan. Those of you with multiple employees will want to choose a plan that permits unlimited calling within the plan, so you don't run up minutes speaking with one another. You also will want to consider the coverage in your general area of operations and make sure you select the plan that most closely mirrors your average monthly usage level. Always check your plan a few months after you get started to make sure you're on target with anticipated usage.
Another consideration: If you or your employees travel overseas, you will want to make sure you get phones with the GSM format used in most countries. Most major cellular services now provide phones with GSM, but you might have to pay extra. Some phones enable you to remove their SIMS card overseas so that you can buy a local SIMS card in the country where you are traveling and potentially save money; others don't permit you to switch the SIMS card. It can easily cost $1.50 per minute to call home from your wireless from overseas, so be careful. (It usually pays to buy a phone card overseas and call from land lines.) Also, if you have bought a phone to function worldwide, call the wireless company's international desk to make sure your phone is properly set up for calling the U.S. from overseas. Likewise, those of you who use your cell phones to call overseas usually will need to set up an authorization with your phone plan to do so.
You generally have to have 10 or more lines to get any kind of discount for multiple cell phone numbers. Some companies let employees get their own cell phone service and give them an allowance for company usage.
Fax: Although rendered close to obsolete by e-mail, you will still need a fax. Many people today set up electronic fax numbers that they can access from their computers. Or, you can pick up a good fax machine for less than $200.
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Internet Access
No matter what your business, you will need to have access to the Internet both to visit Web sites and to manage your e-mail. The main factor in making your selection is speed and cost. You have to consider speed in two directions — downloading files from the Internet, the most frequent function, and uploading files to the Internet, more often a factor for companies doing a lot of large-size file transfers or attaching large e-mail files. In this case, you will need to make sure that your service provider doesn't significantly downgrade upload speeds to accommodate the vast majority of users who basically need to download files.
Generally speaking, you can get service from your local phone company in the form of Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL), with some phone companies now offering fiber optic access that is highly competitive with cable in terms of speed and cost. DSL is usually the least expensive but the slowest of any of the so-called high-speed access options, and the speed can vary widely throughout the day or from day-to-day.
For many companies, depending upon their location, the local cable companies offer the fastest option. Their download speeds are lightening fast at very affordable rates (usually well under $100 per month), and most business services offer acceptable upload speeds for most companies.
In some communities, the Bell companies now offer fiber-optic service that can be even faster than cable for about the same price or a little more. This is also worth looking into.
Finally, power-users of the Internet for heavy uploading of files will require a T-1 line, which, while coming down in price, still costs much more than any other option and is generally unnecessary for most companies for Internet access. Some office buildings let you share a T-1 line with other tenants. That can be great if there are not too many people using it at the same time, which will degrade the speed.
E-mail. Your Internet access provider invariably will offer multiple e-mails as part of your package. The problem is that your e-mail will have the name of the Internet Service Provider, rather than the name of your company. Generally speaking, you will want to create a Web site domain, whose URL you will use for your e-mail. This requires setting up your e-mail settings to route the mail through your domain, so that your e-mail uses the name of your company and not that of your ISP.
Mobile email. Many highly mobile entrepreneurs can't do without their e-mail and get mobile messaging from Blackberry or through their mobile phone carrier. These systems work great but are highly intrusive in that you get continually pinged with new messages and can become addicted to it. You also will not be able to work with attachments, so that you cannot necessarily address all of your responses from the device if you need to open up and edit a file. That said, those who use these devices swear by them. Some of these devices work globally.
Others prefer high-speed wireless cards offered by the major wireless carriers. These insert into your laptop, so that in most major communities around the U.S. you can get all of your e-mail, including attachments, on your laptop. This solution has the convenience of letting you deal with attachments as soon as you receive them, instead of waiting to get back to your laptop or desktop computer. It also has the additional benefit of giving you a little respite from the steady stream of e-mail messages, since you have to open up and turn on your laptop to retrieve them.
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Computers/Printers
The steady drop in hardware prices has made it possible for any size company to have state-of-the-art computers at a very reasonable cost. You can lessen the cost even further through the various leasing options available from most vendors to people who have a credit record. The biggest decision is whether to get a Macintosh or Windows-based computer, and what amount of Random Access Memory and hard-drive space. Generally, you should get over one gigabyte of RAM and at least 100 gigabytes of hard-drive memory in a desktop, and of course much more for your network server.
In past years, the argument for getting a Macintosh or Windows hinged on personal preferences, whether cost was an issue, or if you would be doing desktop publishing and video editing. The Macs used to cost a lot more than Windows-based systems with less choice of software in the gaming arena, in particular. But the cost differential has declined, and Mac users have access to plenty of software. In addition, Mac has developed computers that can run both the Mac and Windows operating systems, so you can have the best of both worlds. It no longer costs a big premium to "think different," so be sure to shop carefully before making decisions.
Printers also have fallen greatly in price and quality, so it's possible for most companies to get perfectly adequate ink-jet color printers for most applications for under $150. Laser printers make sense for high volume use or when you need maximum print resolution. The real cost of printers over time goes for cartridges and repair, which add up to more than you think, especially if you do a lot of printing.
Networks: If you have multiple employees and computers, you will probably want a network so that all of the files can be saved to a central computer and shared by others. There are various levels of network offering various levels of flexibility, so you want to make sure you know exactly how your network is configured to maximize access by multiple users. Most networks can be configured to connect both Windows-based and Mac computers, so you don't have to decide upon one universal solution for your company. Another option is to set up a wireless network. Just make sure you set up a security password so that only your employees can use that network. No matter what network option you select, don't forget to network in your printers and have a regular system for backing up your system off premises.
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Software
Software related to accounting and sales and marketing are covered in the Accounting and Business Development chapters, respectively. Once again, your company can take advantage of the fact that most software has become extremely affordable. In addition to accounting and customer relationship management software, you company will likely require software for:
Office applications (word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations.) Most companies use Microsoft's Office suite of software to run their day-to-day businesses. Office comes with Outlook e-mail, which also has a scheduling and calendaring function.
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Copiers
The days of having to depend on your local copy shop have gone away for most small businesses, due to the affordability of copy machines. Models range from well under $1,000, often sold in combinations with scanners and fax machines, up into the tens of thousands of dollars are more. However, you'd be surprised what kind of equipment you can get at a reasonable monthly lease rate. With copiers, you want to make sure you anticipate the volume of copies and get a machine built for that volume. Other desirable features are sorting, collating (automatic stapling preferred), and color. A general rule of thumb: The more features and complexity, the more problems. Make sure you have a good service contract; copier machines break, and usually when you need them most.
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