You want your small business to grow in 2013. You have hopes for reaching new revenue records and increasing your staff. You would even like to add new locations. But how will you achieve this growth? You might think about looking at IT. Tackling the right tech projects can make your small business more efficient and supply your staff with the tools they need to snag more customers and sell more products. The following are three IT projects recommended by the Small Business Computing.com website that can add to your business’ bottom line this year.
Bring Wi-Fi to your business
A growing number of businesses permit their workers to bring their own personal electronic devices – everything from laptops to smartphones – to their cubicles. The thinking driving this movement: When people work on laptops and tablets that they know well, they work more proficiently. But enabling your staff to participate in the bring-your-own-device movement doesn’t mean very much if your office isn’t equipped with a reliable Wi-Fi router that allows your workers to access the internet, send e-mail and post to social media sites while at their desks. Make setting up a powerful Wi-Fi network in your office a top priority for 2013.
Upgrade to Ultrabooks
Your personnel should be equipped with their own laptops. With these devices they can work from hotel rooms when they are traveling and run presentations in front of interested potential customers. But you want to make sure that your employees are using laptops which are both portable and powerful. That’s where Ultrabooks come in. They’re not overly expensive, however they do load programs and boot up far faster than do Netbooks. And they’re much easier to tote around than are traditional laptop computers. Provide your employees the tools they need to be successful; invest in new Ultrabooks this year.
Say farewell to Windows XP
Windows XP was a solid operating system, especially compared with the universally unloved Vista. But Windows XP’s time has come and gone. Microsoft will no longer offer technical support for the 10-year-old operating system come April of 2014. And the company will stop sending security updates for the system at that time, as well. Which means that it’s time to upgrade any machine still running this operating system. Upgrade instead to Windows 7; it’s one of Microsoft’s most popular operating systems.