Find and fund technology at start-up

What technology should you look for when your starting out and how best can you fund these purchases for your business. Simon Hughes, director of small and medium-sized businesses at Microsoft, has the answers.

Go to a specialist IT provider

Even a technology-savvy customer needs the right advice. There is a host of specialist IT providers out there with years of experience dealing with start-up businesses.

They will know which technologies work best for your business and get it installed. A good place to start is Microsoft’s solution finder tool – you just need to type in your postcode and the tool will find you nearest local small business specialist supplier.

Think about what you really need

You may not need the most expensive computers or laptops. Think first about what you want it to do for you. This will not only save you money, it will keep you focused on your business goals rather than being led by what you could do.

There are solutions to almost every business problem, so by hammering down your specific requirements with your technology supplier you can be sure you’ll end up with something that works for you.

Make sure it can grow with you

If you have big ideas for your business then it pays to think ahead. What happens when you hire your first new employee – or your tenth! Make sure that the IT you buy is equipped to deal with this growth – it may actually be the case that you save money by going for a more advance solution.

Fortunately most of the big IT suppliers are fully aware you will want your technology to grow with you and so design their products for just this purpose. Talk to your supplier about how this might work.

What do your customers want

Keeping your customers happy is paramount in any business. Think about what your customers want and need. Conduct some market research into the experience they are looking for and make sure that the IT you are using gives then this experience.

This could mean making sure they can buy your product online; it could be that they want to be able to contact you 24 hours a day wherever you are or simply that they don’t receive badly targeted marketing materials.

Technology can address all of these issues meaning you can concentrate on making your business a success.

Get some training

To get the most out of your software it’s well worth making sure you are trained in using it. Whilst the software you buy often highly intuitive, it can do so much more than the average user will use it for.

Getting proper training can turn a useful tool into something that can give you the edge over your competition.

What’s the best way of funding these purchases?

Speak to your technology supplier. Make sure you work with a specialist IT supplier. They will already have experience of working with businesses facing exactly the same issues you are. They should be able to advise you on the options available to you.

Finance deals

You can get the latest technology without stretching your credit, burdening your budget or making a large lump sum payment.

Finance programmes such as Microsoft Finance can finance your whole IT solution with repayments from £50 to £1,500 per month for the first 12 months. The rest can be paid off in regular monthly payments.

And there’s no catch; you only need to spend one pound of your total package on Microsoft products.

Get it for free

You don’t always have to spend a fortune on IT, particularly on software. There are some great free tools for starting out such as Microsoft’s Office Live.

This gives you a free business website along with free professional email addresses, and links so you can sell your product though the site.

Sign up to a software assurance scheme

This is an agreement with your IT supplier that guarantees you’ll always have the latest version of the software you use. You’ll pay a maintenance charge to your IT supplier and you’ll never need to worry about where the money comes from for that upgrade you need.

One of the great bonuses here is that you’ll also be able to get a copy to use on your home PC at a reduced rate meaning employees can work from home.

Rent it

A lot of IT suppliers are now offering ‘software as a service’. This means the IT provider will hold and manage the programmes you’re using, so you can just log on to an internet site to access it. It means no fussy boxes in the corner buzzing away – all you need is a PC and access to the internet.

Rating

By Simon Hughes  on   Jul 08,2008

Add a comment  |  Add a rating  |  Email to a friend

Keywords

technology    buying IT    hardware    IT suppliers   

Comments