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A small business needs IT, which might include any or all of the following:
Typically these are sourced as independent solutions which is arguably the first basic mistake you can make! And all too frequently each so-called solution is not ideal.
Take e-mail. Microsoft 365 (or whatever they’re calling it this year) and Gmail are commonly used cloud e-mail systems. Both have seemingly attractive initial costs, and a deceptive simplicity because they don’t require complicated set up etc. But over time, as storage requirements grow, costs increase. There’s also an argument that Gmail is a subsidiary of the world’s largest search engine - do you really want your confidential business correspondence (allegedly “de-personalised”) being scanned for metrics, content and trends etc? If your business has a good domain name, and it should, then setting up your own mail system or renting a system from specialists can be competitive, and just as simple to use. Check out whether the cloud solution has regular backups (With roll back? Accidents happen!). What exactly happens if/when you reach your storage/mailbox limits - bounced mail does not send your prospective new client a good message! Is the underlying operating system Windows or a Unix/Linux system. In my view one shouldn’t ever consider Windows based offerings for server applications.
Telephony is an interesting example, too. Because if it's not integrated with the rest of
your IT, it's a bit of a white elephant. Are the contacts on your phone system the same as the contacts in your
email? I very much doubt it. Can you see at a glance how and when you (or a colleague) last contacted a particular
client?
- Was it via email?
- Was it by telephone?
- Was it using a messaging app?
And what happens when you're out and about? Do your calls forward to your mobile automatically, or do you come back
to a pile of voicemails which are already out of date?
Your website may be a snappy online brochure, but is it actually serving a useful purpose? Do you know who looked at it last? Do you know where their interests really lay? Do your visitor logs give you useful leads? What logs, did I hear you say? No one wants to be bombarded by spam, but the effect of combating rubbish makes it harder to track legitimate enquiries. So provoking your visitors to engage with the site, the so-called "call to action", is absolutely essential if the website is to deliver real benefit.
Social media for business purposes is interesting because it polarises opinion. Done well, and by that I mean with somebody giving it fairly constant attention, it can deliver real benefits. But yet again you are in the hands of the search engine people, and their motives may not be the same as yours - there's a reason so much of this technology is offered for free. Surely half a dozen customers who actually engage with your business are worth more than a thousand followers who don't.