Running a small business is very difficult, especially in the struggling economy, so when IT troubles arise a small nuisance can turn into a disaster very quickly, causing the owner to lose time and money. A business can't function reliably without a dedicated IT support team. Information Technology is so woven into the underlying backbone of every business that sometimes we don't even notice it's there. Staying connected with your exchange server, or keeping up with incoming emails is all done on the phone, these capabilities were none existent just ten to fifteen years ago. Almost all of the businesses from small home ran businesses to large enterprise level firms rely heavily on IT and when things go wrong, like servers crashing, viruses infecting work computers, and data loss it spells monetary disaster to the business owners.
Small Businesses must have a solid backbone when it comes to servers, networks and switches. The correct hardware and software selection could mean the difference between a system that is fast, secure and reliable and a system that has large holes which could become a costly problems. When picking a server or a workstation always plan ahead! As the size of the businesses increase the same server that could handle 10-15 users logged into it can all of a sudden become overloaded, slow and non responsive when another 10 computers are added to the network. Remember its always cheaper to buy hardware that is capable of handling future expansion than to pay two times for less than adequate hardware.
If your business has multiple computers, they all use email and some proprietary software, it's always a good idea to start by developing a solid computer network inside the office. This includes wiring all the workstation outlets with a CAT5 cable and running all the cables back into the server room where it will be connected to the switches. For these computers to have access to the internet they will either have to go through a dedicated server which will function as a gateway to the internet, or a router must be present on the network which will automatically assign IP addresses using DHCP protocol to each workstation. It's also a MUST to have a firewall on the network to prevent any sort of outside threats.
There are a few cases in which having an IT support professional on staff at all times makes sense. It is a good idea to decide whether you are in a situation in which it is necessary to have a professional on staff at all times of if it makes more sense to continue to hire a professional to fix your computer as needed. Consider the amount of computers and other technical equipment you have. Also consider the amount that these systems are used. computers have become a lifeline of all kinds of small and large scale businesses and homes. All the work comes to a halt when computers stop working suddenly, which leads to serious loss of productivity, time, customer faith and money. In order to bring it back to normal functioning you can lose the important data. Dealing with such issues instantaneously and in the most effectual manner is important for the stability of business. The best and easiest way to deal with this situation is to avail the services of a professional computer support organization, which has experienced and certified support technicians to provide you quick IT solutions to any system related problems.
These computer support service providers offer IT security solutions, undertake total computer management of your company, and perform regular maintenance tasks of the system to take preventive measures so that business runs continuously.