The following data is an attempt to give an idea about the types of hardware and software that small businesses may require to meet their functional needs. This work does is not based on any specific category of business but contains a brief note on the technical requirements of all businesses in general.
Computer and Devices: The computing requirements of small offices are usually limited to Excel sheets or Word processing softwares and occasional powerpoint presentations. For using such small application suites office computers need not possess high grade processors or storage space. But some small offices might need to use simulator or emulator softwares or function specific softwares that require a little higher processing speed. An intel i5 processors are designed to perform well in such situations. Its Hyper Threading capabilities is often best suitable for running two heavy tasks at a time (multitasking). Since most of the small businesses do not have the budget to buy expensive apple computers, assembling one according to their requirements is the most viable option.
For offices that heavily rely on HD video editing (such as an advertising firms) and other similar utilities an upgrade to intel i7 may be required. And for such uses more than 1000TB of storage space (for each computer) might come in handy. For other simpler functions anything from 500GB (for each computer) is enough. Another viable option is renting cloud storage space. This can help the company collect all their data in a single location accessible to everyone. This can also facilitate file sharing easily without the hassle of using windows file and printer sharing option or creating a workgroup. Also, if the computers are connected through a router, file sharing can be facilitated using it. In such cases, individual storage spaces are not much of an issue.
A best suitable RAM option for these modern computers is 4GB and above. For simple office requirements 4GB is enough. But for heavy applications (such as simulators) and multitasking 8GB or above is prerequisite. And, the choice between a desktop or a laptop is greatly limited to the portability requirements of an office computer. For instance, if the employees might need to complete some of their office tasks at home, a portable computer is their best option. For employees that need to work at customer sites, a laptop cannot be avoided. Instead of laptops one can also use softwares such as TeamViewer that allows to you to connect to your office desktop using an internet connection as desktops have many added advantages over laptops. More than the fact that they are cheaper than laptops, desktops are also available in a variety of forms and features from which you can choose the best option for your office. Their maintenance is just as cheap as their price. But firms that often need to do marketing presentations for their clients tablet PCs, in addition to desktops, might be needed.
Printers and xerox machines for offices are chosen as per the functionality of the office. If the firm does not have to deal with hardcopies of transactions, then there is no need for a large number of printers. In such cases one or two printer (depending on the number of employees) that is networkly connected to the office intranet is only required (detailed in network component section). For faster printing Laser Printers are the best option. And for color printing Inkjet printers are required.
Software: Almost all businesses, even the ones based on programming or accounting, requires the basic word processor, excel worksheet, and presentation softwares. Besides microsoft office suites, there are others like WPS (available for windows, mac and linux) that holds similar functionalities with much lesser price. Licensing a good office suite is essential for all types of businesses without any exclusion. An application to run your business email without hassle (such as Microsoft Outlook) is also important in case the data are too sensitive to be accessed through the web browser.
Additional applications softwares are strictly dependent on the requirements of an office. Just as mentioned before, some offices may be running emulators and simulation softwares (such as MATLAB, PSpice, AutoCAD etc) depending on their job description. For instance, an electronic toy firm shall need circuit simulators such as PSpice. Another important application software is remote connectivity softwares such as TeamViewer. Laptops manufacturers such as Dell has inbuilt connectivity softwares that enables its employees to fix customer laptops without being physically present at the site.
Database management programs are probably required for growing businesses with large quantities of customer data. These data can be used later for improving customer relations as well as the company efficiency. Without Database management programs these plentiful customer data shall become useless since their overwhelming quantity will be very difficult for employees to fathom without help. Similarly, accounting programs, desktop publishing programs, etc can also become greatly useful (Toolkit).
Network Components: Network connectivity components of a typical office is chosen according to the amount of data that need to transmitted to and from the office. Modems are the best suited hardware for easy transmission of data using existing phone lines. They can be used to save installation costs of high speed internet services or transmission lines. But in situations where the transmitted data is too big to use slow telephone lines, cable broadband connections are required. Sometimes costly optic fibre lines can be extended from the main line to get connectivity speeds above a few gigabytes per second. But they are are only used by MNCs that have operations stretched over different countries.
Wireless connectivity is yet another viable option. It can simplify an office space for a small price. Through wireless connectivity there is also the advantage of avoiding situations where the technician has to spend hours to discover which part of the wiring showed error. But this talks only about connecting an office with the internet. Most office needs a system to transfer data between the computers inside the office. This can be made possible through a LAN, Local Area Network.
A local area network can be established with the simplest components of a switch and a router. Switch is used to connect more than two components (computer, printer, scanner, etc) together on a single network while routers help you connect components with multiple networks (Cisco). A switch is necessary to establish a LAN connection. But to connect the computers in LAN to the internet, a router will be used. This will allow all the computers in sales to share one internet connection; that is, from one service provider (Cisco). For small businesses, Skyriver, a business broadband service provider offering up to 250MB/s connection speed is a good option. Also, the routers can provide some security with inbuilt firewall. The administrator can provide the router with information regarding the websites that need to be blocked and that should be allowed.
Each component connected in a LAN is given a specific IP address that the computer uses to identify them (such as shared printers). It is essential that these components are given static IP addresses. Dynamic IP addresses will change with each on/off operation. This will burden the user with the task of mapping the new IP address of the component each time it is switched on. For all these connectivity purposes a central administrator computer will serve as the host. For instance, if the printer has wireless capabilities it can be directly connected to the router and accessed from any computer connected to the same router. But for printers without a wireless connectivity option, they need to be connected to a host computer (using usb cable) and (in windows) the “file and printer sharing” can be used to share the component with all the computers in the network (Grahams). Also there is another feature in windows where you can share the printer using internet which is done using Internet Printing Protocol (IIP). Also you will need Internet Information Services installed on the computer (Geier).
If the office heavily relies on secure messages (or data) sent over the internet they can create company emails for each employee. Registering their own domain names can be made possible through service providers such as Google Domains. Using these services, with a small fee, businesses can create email accounts with ample storage space for their employees. For calendar sharing, they can either use google calendar’s (that comes with the gmail account) “share with specific people” option or create new calendars using applications such as teamup calendar smartphone app.
Protection and Security: Protection and security is prerequisite for businesses dealing in any domain. If a malware gets hold of any of the employee computers they can have devastating effects on the whole business intranet. One important component to ensure the protection of office systems is a firewall. This will block the attempts of an ignorant employee to access unauthorized malicious content. Also by using Intrusion Prevention Systems one can completely check rapid targeted attacks (such as DoS and DDoS attacks). To avoid losing sensitive data to rivals, offices need to encrypt their data heavily using 128 or above encryption codes. If the company is storing their data on cloud spaces, the service providers will encrypt their data without additional charges. But in any cases, sensitive data stored in any server or computer should be encrypted to avoid data leakages.
Works Cited
Cisco. “Building a Small Office Network.” Cisco. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 May 2016.
Geier, Eric. “Sharing Printers over the Internet | Printer Sharing In-Depth: Permissions and Internet Sharing | Que.” N.p., 9 June 2009. Web. 24 May 2016.
Grahams, Adrian. “How to Connect a Laser Printer to Share Over Your Network.” Chron. N.p., 2016. Web. 24 May 2016.
Toolkit. “Assessing Computer Needs for Your Business -- | BizFilings Toolkit.” BusinessOwnersToolKit. N.p., 24 May 2012. Web. 24 May 2016.
