Technology Challenges in Minding Your Own Small Business

WHETHER you’re selling pet supplies or doing foot massage, you need information which is timely,
relevant and accessible to you regarding how to mind your own business, pay your employees and
suppliers, attract your customers, beat your competitors, and make a profit.

But information today does not reside in neat files in your laptop by itself. It lives inside
complex computer network systems which you, your staff and many other people (including
competitors and Internet predators!) can retrieve, given the right technology.

Some small business owners may not like the idea of committing money and people to own and
manage technology themselves, as they feel it may not be the most productive way to invest.
What then should be the best information strategy to drive business, and yet leave the owner
free to concentrate on making the business thrive?

Technology refresh
The first major consideration when working out a smart strategy is the idea of "technology refresh".
What it implies is that you cannot go on using yesterday's PCs, servers, network devices and
software to store, find and manipulate information regarding your own pricing, product mix and
availability, customers' requirements and preferences, your vendors' supply chain, competitors'
campaigns and general market conditions.

When IT sales people talk to you about technology refresh, it's a nice way of saying that you need
to spend to upgrade your computer hardware, your software applications, communications and
security setup, and even the part-time technician happily servicing your system so far.

Online software service
Because you may not have sufficient cash, you have to balance what you ideally need in terms of
new IT stuff and what is practical. For example, you may love the Mediterranean-blue decor of the
new Microsoft Windows Vista and Office productivity programs, but it will cost you in purchase
and employee re-training.

You may be better off installing free or almost-free office applications (for a small annual fee)
from online content providers (or portals) such as Google, or Sun Micro's Open Office.

For more specialised business processes, such as managing customers and taking care of sales
operations, there are Web-based firms which provide powerful applications via inexpensive monthly
or yearly subscriptions. A popular example would be Salesforce.com that provides CRM or customer
relationship management functions to drive your sales.

Managed services
If your needs are more comprehensive, then consider farming out your ICT environment to be
managed by someone else. There are a number of highly-experienced Singapore ICT solution
providers who understand local business conditions and challenges.

They can manage your technology requirements, from setting up servers, PCs and peripherals, to
the installation of business applications, helpdesk, security, smart communication, data backup,
as well as hosting your company’s Web site.

In this managed environment, you do away with employing technical staff, too, since all work is
now outsourced. So you and your employees concentrate on doing what is absolutely necessary,
i.e. marketing and selling your products and services, and bringing in the revenue.(In case you
are wondering, computer companies today have added a C, for communication, to their core IT
capabilities, hence the new term, "ICT".)

Outsourcing your IT department
Even mammoth corporations such as banks, manufacturers and entire government agencies that
used to run their own complex internal computer departments, are getting rid of such departments
and asking ICT contractors to run the show. The big corporations think it's smarter to concentrate
on doing what they know best -- banking, manufacturing, whatever -- and farm out or outsource
the non-core business activities and processes to contractors.

Outsourcing is now widely accepted. Besides ICT contractors, there are other outsourcing
contractors that can take care of a company's human resource, payroll, and even the entire
logistics supply chain.

European fashion houses, for instance, which know very well how to design and sell fashionable
clothes, contract out to global logistics companies to handle almost everything else: collecting
the garments from small sewing shops all over China, transporting the stuff to retail outlets in
shopping malls, and even ironing and displaying the clothes on the shelves! All that the fashion
house employees do is just sell and collect money! So, it would be a smart move for you, as a small
business, to explore the outsourcing option.

You can call any of the large ICT contractors (also known as systems houses or systems
integrators) to sit down with you to discuss different hardware and application configurations,
pricing, terms and conditions of the actual operation, security and confidentiality issues regarding
your business, and the level of responsiveness to unexpected demands (such as a hardware
breakdown or someone hacking into your customer database).

Don’t feel overwhelmed by many of the techie jargons and acronyms that you hear. If you’re
unsure, insist that the terms be defined in plain words. This is important to avoid subsequent
misunderstanding since some of the acronyms could have been so recent that there exists more
than one definition.

Lease, don’t buy your IT equipment. For a very small and straightforward business process – such
as a single retail shop that needs only two or three networked PCs, a printer and a point-of-sale
terminal – you may want to think of leasing. A hardware supplier, such as Dell or HP, can arrange
to finance and lease their computers and network equipment, complete with office productivity
software. You don't really own any of the inventories (except your business data) but what the
heck, you're not in the technology business. And if anything goes wrong with the equipment or
software, the supplier, who is in effect a kind of “IT landlord”, will repair or replace the part.

So, mind your own business, profitably, and let someone else mind your technology. Useful biz-tech
glossary of terms Business-related tech terms and acronyms change constantly as technology evolves.

Here are some frequently-discussed terms that may be useful to the smallbusiness owner.

Technology refresh: Periodic replacing of a firm's existing hardware and software, either by outright
purchase of new equipment or via a long-term leasing arrangement. Typical leasing options include
ensuring the various computers, devices and software are adequate to meet the growing and
changing needs of the business. This could include adding more printers, replacing servers with
newer ones or updating the application software.

Hosted, managed solution: Instead of owning the IT infrastructure (hardware, network and
software), the business owner uses the services of an ICT solution provider. The benefits are many.
There is no need for capital investment or keeping technical support staff. Also, as the business
grows, the ICT solution provider can conveniently and quickly upgrade (or “refresh”) the firm’s
technology capability. Those providers with regional network can easily support the firm when it
wants to expand overseas.

Network security: This is absolutely essential, comprising policies and practices to prevent
unauthorised access of the company's data. Such data typically resides in the servers and network-
attached PCs and laptops that can be accessible via the Web. Hacking into business networks has
become so sophisticated and persistent that it is often beyond the resources of a small business
to deal effectively with it, hence the need for a technology provider.

Software as a service (SaaS): A delivery model whereby the software company places an
application program online to be used by customers over the Internet. The users do not own the
software but merely pay a subscription fee to use it. This fairly recent term replaces earlier
ones such as “on-demand computing” and “utility computing”. The benefits are that the fees are
low and users get to enjoy the latest updated version. Portal services: On the Web, a portal is
an information gateway with a rich collection of online services, content and links.

A pet shop’s portal, for instance, can contain both a storefront of its services and pet food
available for online purchase, as well as features such as editorial articles on pet grooming and
animal abuse, links to other sites, a forum and photo gallery of customers' pets, and a calendar
of pet shows and competition.

A portal is therefore more complex than a Web site, and many companies and organisations prefer
to let portal speciality companies host and manage their portals.