Last Updated on Apr 8, 2020 by James W
When you’re setting up the office for your new business, there are all sorts of tiny details to sort out. Finding a suitable space is step one, then you need to arrange the furniture in a way that’s conducive to good work. Setting up a space that is comfortable for your employees is important but you also need to remember the boring stuff as well. Your IT systems are one of the most important things that you need to get sorted because, without them, your employees won’t get much done. Slow computers are going to double the amount of time it takes your employees to do anything and if you don’t have proper IT support, any technical issues will waste entire days of work. When you’re setting up your office computer systems, make sure you’ve thought about all of these things.
Work Out What You Need
Knowing what your needs are is the first step to setting up a good computer system in the office. If you’re running a creative design agency, you’ll need to install design software on all of your computers. However, if you’re setting up an accountancy firm, that would be a huge waste of money. Obviously, that’s a drastic example, but the point still stands. If you just start buying high powered computers and expensive software that you don’t really need, you’re wasting a huge amount of money for no reason. Work out exactly what you’ll be using your computer systems for and what equipment you’ll need and stick to that list religiously. Don’t be fooled by salesmen that will try to convince you that their software is vital.
Proper Support Systems
If you don’t have good IT support, you could find yourself in real trouble. Lots of businesses make the mistake of trying to cut costs by neglecting IT support. They think that they can just solve the problems when they come up. The problem is, not having somebody on hand as soon as things go wrong means you’ll have to wait around for things to get fixed and you won’t be able to do any work while you wait. Even one piece of equipment breaking down can cause you massive problems. If your printer goes down, you’ll need a company to fix it. Experienced technicians repair the problem to get your printers back online in no time at all so you don’t need to stop work and risk losing money.
Cyber-security is also a huge consideration. Businesses are at risk of attack for a lot of different reasons. They may want to steal sensitive information like customer’s credit card information or crash your systems. It’s a massive inconvenience if your systems go down, and you could lose the trust of all of your customers if you lose their personal data. This is a blow that you might not be able to recover from so it is vital that you have adequate protection.
Laptop, PC, Or Tablet?
The old style PC is falling out of fashion these days and people are opting for laptops and tablets instead. However, they each have their benefits and you need to decide which option is the best fit for your office. Laptops and tablets have the benefit of mobility so if you have lots of team meetings and your employees tend to work in different areas of the office quite a lot then they are the better choice. However, if you’ve got a more rigid office structure where everybody works at their assigned desks, a PC works just as well. They’re also a lot cheaper than a laptop or tablet, so if you don’t need to move them around a lot, you may as well save the money.
Wireless Or Wired Internet?
Wireless internet is best, surely? Who uses wired internet these days? Don’t be so quick to write it off. Wired internet is actually far more reliable and you’ll get much better speeds. The decision between wired and wireless will depend on whether you chose PC or laptop. If you’re going to be using laptops and tablets and moving them around a lot, a wired connection just isn’t going to be viable. You’ll have to make do with a wireless connection and hope that it is reliable. Wireless connections also give you the benefit of being able to connect to your work computer remotely from home. However, if you’re using PC’s, then you should always go for a wired connection. It’ll be much faster and you don’t have to deal with any connection problems. It is also usually cheaper to buy a package that only provides wired internet so you’ll be saving money.
