Setting up your office is one of the most exciting and time-consuming parts of starting up a new business. What you’ll need – and sometimes more importantly – what you
won’t need in order to get your organization up and off the ground is one of the first big decisions you’ll have to make. This week, we’ll talk about some of the essentials – and the not-so essentials – of what you’ll need to give your business the best jumpstart possible.
Buy equipment that fits your needs – Especially when you’re starting off, you’re working with somewhat limited resources. As such, you shouldn’t be going out and buying the best high-volume, high quality printer or copier out there. In many cases, it just makes more sense to rent it and get a smaller all-in-one machine to start. Also, be realistic. Think about where your max threshold will be and buy down to the unit before it. You can
always upgrade. Be realistic about what you are
now, with an eye of what you’re looking to be in the future.
Think bulk – Don’t buy chairs from here, a printer there or a telephone service here. Many places – ours included – can do many things for one, lump sum. And as we’re sure you’re aware – the more you buy in one place, the less each piece costs you. So if you’re looking at an office supplier and you know you can grab some monitors, printers and copiers – AND you see that they do telephone services, too – try and bundle it all together. Very few services are set it stone and chances are, you’ll be able to negotiate a great rate that works for everyone.
Don’t cheap out on phones- I know everyone talks about having cell phones and that you can trim some costs here and there – and truth be told – for small startups that have one or two employees, that’s fine. But by the time you’re buying an office, the chances are that that’s not the case. When you own a business, you’ll have lots of people vying for your time – and your ears. If all they have is your cell phone and email, that’s the only way they can get in contact with your business. Giving them a place to reach out – and potentially have the phone picked up by someone else – increases the likelihood of your getting their business. Being as available as possible is important.
Document management – While success is measured by dollars and cents in the business world, the currency that creates currency is information. The better an organization organizes, uses and manages it – is what separates the companies that are successful and the ones that end up failing. Whether it’s online archiving, protecting or distributing that information – having a system in place early on – and getting you into a habit of using it, can create a tremendous advantage for a small business.
Network infrastructure is an investment, not an expense – If a heart is what keeps a person alive by pumping blood and distributing nutrients, then your computer networking should be treated the same way for your business. It’s the heart of your business and the lifeblood of any successful organization today. Don’t go cheap on security. Don’t go cheap on the ways your organization will face and communicate with the world. You exercise and eat right to take care of your heart. Do the same with your network infrastructure to take care of your business.
If you’re in the market for a new telephone system or just kicking tires, we’ve put together a list of five things you should expect when purchasing your next telephone system. Some of the latest systems not only take the edge off of many of your administrative burdens, but also increase your mobility and allow for sustainability as your business grows.
Let’s jump right in!
Web administration tools
Most telephone systems come with browser-based admin tools that allow you to manage your system over the Internet. The tool is both user-friendly and secure, enabling you to perform administrative tasks, monitor your system, and manage accounts using the Internet.
Remote extensions and mobile integration
Portability is one of the biggest advantages of today’s systems. From remote extensions that forward calls to home lines and mobile devices to on site/offsite capability, managers can now be more available than ever before. From an internal perspective, it’s also a great asset as it makes it easier to track, find and communicate with employees.
Laptop/Desktop integration
Today’s phone systems can do more than merely dial and receive calls. Most should make it easy for you to integrate your phone with your desktop or laptop, allowing you to utilize your CRM software to place and answer calls with your computer.
Scalability
Most systems today are scalable, meaning that they’re easy to expand upon as you grow. Whereas in the past offices were slaves to the technology of the time, today’s phone systems are designed to be intrinsically adaptable, allowing you to get twice as much bang for your buck by growing and expanding upon it as your business needs evolve.
Unified messaging
Unified messaging allows you to do two things:
1.) It allows you to send voicemails to your email inbox and;
2.) You can play those messages in a variety of places – from your desktop phone, cell phone, home phone, or whatever platform you demand.
Unified messaging is a robust tool that allows you to do a wide range of things from converting texts to voice, to integrating messages multiple platforms into one, streamlined application. For those that deal with a great deal of traffic and correspondence, this can be an invaluable tool.
One of the bigger buzz phrases in the business world over the last few years has been the idea of going ‘paperless.’ While that seems like a great goal, it’s not really all that realistic. In fact, we’re finding that the more people push online document management – the more they seem to be clinging to paper documents. Still, being able to move a considerable amount of your files online can reap some obvious benefits; benefits like less storage, disaster recovery and most importantly – faster access to the information you need to help your business run better.
Still the one question looms: Where do you start? That’s the question we’ll attempt to answer today. Going ‘more paperless’ is a big decision – a good decision – but also one that will take time and a decent amount of planning on your end to make it all come together. Here are some tips we’ve compiled to help you get started.
Make sure you have full buy-in from your employees – As with any significant paradigm shift in an office environment, old habbits die slowly and most people hate change. The most critical step in the process of going ‘more paperless’ is to get the full buy-in of your office staff. Without that commitment you can expect your employees going back to their old routines quickly and your plan will go nowhere.
Plan, then plan more – Once you feel like you’ve got full buy in from your employees, it’s time to sit down and evaluate your current business processes. Where is your workflow bottlenecking? Where are the most common areas where documents need to be accessed quickly? How are you filing your current documents? How do your employees retrieve documents and do they do it the same way? Once you identify those areas that need improvement, you can then develop a plan to capture your documents digitally and move them to a place where everyone can have fast, easy access to them.
Start small – One of the best ways to waste piles of cash is to go entirely paperless all at once. More often than not this creates mass confusion and is far too big of a shock to the office culture. That results in a loss of buy-in and a lot of money spent in areas where perhaps going paperless isn’t a good idea. Remember, you’re chaging a business here. It’s good to smart small – whether that’s one department at a time, one account at a time, one customer – however you decide to attack it – do it incrementally so that you have the opportunity to achieve the fastest results and achieve the best benefits possible.
Finding the right hardware & software – The most important thing to remember about hardware and software is that both are tools designed to accomplish specific tasks. They are not magical solutions that end all of your problems. Whenever you decide to purchase these resources or whatever you decide to do with them, remember that you’ll need to define and hash out a process as to how they’re going to be deployed and utilized.
Figuring out what to do with all your paper – As you know all to well, those file folders didn’t become full of paper overnight. As such, you should also understand that converting all those documents to digital format won’t happen overnight, either. Most customers are surprised at how long it can take to get all of their old documents scanned and filed into their computer network. Make sure you have a defined process as to when, how and how much you’ll need to access back-filed information and make sure it fits within your current business process.
Be patient – This is the hardest of the six tips to stick to. The typical document management process takes anywhere from six months to a year to complete. It’ll take some time and create a few headaches along the way but it’s important to remember – it’ll all be worth it in the end. Be patient and you’ll reap the rewards. 
Paper jams in copiers are a pain and are easily the largest causes of headaches among their users. Nothing’s worse than having to fiddle with a jammed copier when time’s a ticking and you need to get back to work.
While there are many reasons that paper jams occur, there are some precautionary things you can do to avoid them altogether. Here’s what you can do:
Is your copy lease coming up soon? Are you a little friendlier than you’d like to be with your copy tech because of all the issues you’re having with your machine? Or maybe you just got off the phone with a rep and can upgrade and keep your payments the same. Whatever the reason might be, you’re flirting with the idea of upgrading your copy machine. While that’s certainly a good thing on a variety of levels – mistakes do get made. As such, our topic du jour today talks about some of the most common mistakes business owners make when they’re looking to upgrade their machine.
Here they are:
Not taking the time to reassess your needs – Businesses change over time and so do their needs. Technology changes at an even faster rate and its effect on how you get your day to day tasks done can be significant. That’s why it’s important that whenever you’re looking for an upgrade, that you take these factors into consideration. How much printing do you need? What technology can meet that need and what does it cost? It’s always important to take a look at where you are and deploy the tools you’ll need to get to the next level. Copy machines are no different.