Service providers no business can do without

More than ever before in our history, businesses are finding that communication is as essential to success as any other aspect. In order to successfully compete, even the smallest business must provide customers with access to information that rivals the largest corporations. Customers are used to getting the information they need instantaneously, and the business that makes its customers work for answers will soon find itself with far fewer of those customers. So let's take a look at the most essential communication elements, and see which can be handled most effectively in-house and which are best provided by others.

Just a few years ago, most businesses - and especially the small, local mom & pop operations - could get by with simple telephone service and a Yellow Pages ad. For most of these businesses, a simple FAX machine was likely to be the most high-tech piece of equipment they owned. Contacts and customer information were stored on Rolodexes, which hadn't changed significantly since the earliest days of the 20th century. Boy, how things have changed!

Network administration & management
Nowadays, even the most basic small business operation relies upon computers for storing technical and administrative information, and if the business consists of more than one person, their computers will likely be on a network to share files and most likely, Internet access. In the early days of widespread personal computers, setting up and maintaining a network was a task best left to the pocket-protector crowd, requiring fairly extensive technical knowledge as well as specialized equipment. On modern personal computers with current operating systems, setting up a local area network is relatively simple. For larger operations with more than five computers, however, setup and maintenance of a network can be a full-time job, once again performed by people with extensive technical knowledge. For many small-to-medium-sized companies, it is more cost-effective to retain the services of a network administration and management service than to employ enough full-time personnel. Furthermore, such service providers will typically provide updated training for their personnel that would be not only cost-prohibitive to the average small business owner, but could also impact the flow of routine work. While some activities are best performed in-house, a small business is usually better served by retaining a reputable network service than by hiring personnel specifically for such tasks.

Reliable telecomm service
There are still plenty of people who can remember the days when telephone service was synonymous with Ma Bell. No matter what you needed, from a single residential phone line to a switchboard for a huge company, you placed one call and wrote one check for everything; equipment, installation, repair, and regular service. Since the Telephone Company was forced to break up in 1984, customers' options have grown exponentially, as has the potential for choosing a bad option. Among the choices the business owner has to make:

• On-premise or hosted phone system / PBX (private branch exchange)?
• Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) or land line?
• Cellular?
• Which service provider(s)?

Since so much of a business' success depends upon good communications with customers, it would be foolhardy for any business owner to make decisions without doing fairly exhaustive research into the options available (and the companies offering those options). Fortunately, the Internet provides ready access to objective trade journal analyses and customer reviews of virtually any technology, piece of equipment, and service provider to determine applicability of the technology to required tasks and objectives, usability and reliability of equipment under consideration, and actual customer satisfaction with service providers.*

Resources:
Telcom companies lookup by area code: http://www.telcodata.us/search-area-code-exchange-detail

FAX service
While newer technologies such as e-mail, instant messaging, and VPNs offer options that would seem to render the lowly FAX irrelevant, many companies and government agencies still rely upon FAX communications. For the small business, a standalone FAX machine or inexpensive all-in-one machine that combines a printer, scanner, copier, and FAX may suffice. For the larger company that relies heavily upon FAXes, a larger combination printer/fax might be required. And in many cases, companies that provide e-mail to FAX conversion and delivery can prove to be the preferred solution.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)
Frankly, this one is a no-brainer. From communicating with customers to placing supply and material orders to resolving problems, a good, reliable ISP is absolutely essential. As with other service providers, you'll need to look beyond the price, the clever commercials, and the published claims. If for no other reason, you really don't want to be faced with having to send e-mail to all your contacts, advising them that the businessman@flybynight.com address they've been using for the last year is no longer valid.*

The type of service you get will depend upon your location, speed requirement, capacity requirement, and budget.

Resources:
To understand the types of connection to the Internet:
http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/internet_connection_types.asp
To compare available ISPs: http://www.ispcompared.com/

Website design, management & hosting
Nowadays, it is virtually essential for every business to have a website, even the small-potatoes widget repair shop in the neighborhood. Where once a business could count upon customers to look it up in the yellow pages, those customers now want to get the information they need with one or two clicks of the mouse. Even if your customer site is two blocks from your business, he/she is as likely to find you by way of Internet search as by looking you up in the phone book. While you can design your own simple website without any knowledge of web page code, for the best results, you need to put your best face before the public, and that means hiring professionals. Best recommendation is to find a local business website that you like, and scroll to the bottom to see who created it and/or manages it.

Offsite data storage
At some point, your critical data is going to be compromised or lost altogether. Perhaps the problem will be something as mundane as a hard drive failure (yes, they do fail), or that young genius you just hired might open an infected file that was attached to an e-mail message. Or, heaven forbid, a fire could destroy your offices, and your computers along with them. While these might sound like alarmist (and unlikely) predictions, the truth is that at some point, your critical data is going to be adversely affected or outright destroyed. While you can replace computers and office furniture, your proprietary data such as your contact lists, customer records, accounts payable and receivable, and your tax records cannot be replaced, making it essential that you maintain duplicates of those records, preferably somewhere besides the office where the main records are maintained.

A simple and inexpensive solution is to attach a portable external hard drive to any computer where critical data is stored, back up that data on a regular basis, and have someone take the portable drive with them when they leave the office. While this approach does maintain redundancy of critical information, it can be cumbersome in an operation where numerous computers contain important data, and there exists the potential for theft, loss, or damage to the notoriously delicate portable drives. Another alternative is to retain the services of an offsite file storage service and upload critical files to their secure servers. Some factors to consider when shopping for these services:
 

• Is their facility physically secure?
• Do they have redundant systems, in case one fails?
• How long have they been in operation?
• Any feedback available from customers, both current and previous?
• Do they maintain appropriate bonding & technical certifications?
• Do they have an effective and responsive help desk?

As you've seen above, there are a number of areas where a business must choose between performing a function using in-house talent and resources or outsourcing the functions to specialists. What might appear to be the most economical solution to a problem may well turn out to be the most expensive in the long run. By making informed and objective decisions, the business owner or manager can better ensure the success of his or her organization, often by focusing primarily upon the company's strengths and leaving some functional operations to those for whom they are a specialty.

* - A frequently overlooked but critical consideration when evaluating these service providers is the physical location of their main server banks and redundant systems. In one city, many thousands of business and home customers were without service for an extended period of time during a tropical storm, simply because the telephone and Internet service providers' equipment was located in the most economical pieces of real estate in the area: the basements of office buildings. When the storms lingered, the basements were flooded, rendering the service providers - and many of their customers' businesses - virtually inoperable.