Five Small Business Tech Resolutions for 2008
Start out 2008 with a business bang! Get free online tools to help in everyday and long-term technology chores. Here are some suggestions for the best free small business tools available for a 2008 launch for your business.Keep track of your software licenses
Every time you buy a Microsoft Office or Windows software product, or one from Adobe (like Acrobat) or those expensive graphic suites (like CS3), you get a serial number usually attached to the CD case. After installing the software, does the box (with that critical serial number inside) wind up on a shelf somewhere? Resolve to undertake a software licensing program in 2008 and keep track of your serial numbers with a copy of those numbers off-site, perhaps on a portable USB storage device that is password-protected. Use a spreadsheet and note the software title, date and place of purchase, serial number, on which computer it was installed and where the original or backup copy is. Reasonably-priced shareware is here and some free apps are here. Check out KeyFiler, an online solution.
Back up your software media and keep it safe (CD or DVD)
Make a single backup copy of all new software, including what you pay for and download from online sources. (Most software companies allow a backup copy.) Buy a media safe (here's a place to start looking) and keep the original media in that safe (not a bad place to stow a copy of the license information in #1 above). Fireproof safes are for paper; media safes withstand much hotter temperatures.
Organize your company graphics
Do you have original copies of your logo somewhere? Your products shots? Your purchased stock photography? Make January the month that the art director (even if that's you) puts all the company graphics in a single directory (with subfolders) on the server. If you don't have a server yet (why don't you have a server?), organize the pics on a single computer that is always backed up (look for a sale on external USB drives – here's a good place to start looking – and Flash keys – look here; you're going to need some). There are rules about using stock and other licensed photos. Keeping them organized in one place (and removed from a variety of less-than-secure places) is a step in the right direction.
Get a projector
In early 1998, I remember having a Fortune 100 company president wheel in an InFocus projector that his firm was lending to our group and demanding, "Why is this projector so damned expensive?" At the time, LCD projectors could cost more than $10K, so no wonder he was perplexed. The good news is that small portable projectors are available in big box stores like Costco and Sam's Club, and their prices have likewise slid into the affordable range. If your projector is more than 3 years old, chances are a new bulb will cost about 2/3 of a new projector today. Projectors serve multiple purposes and solve more than one typical office dilemma. If you have a product to showcase, don't make your potential customer squint at a notebook screen: project it instead.
Learn how to use Web meetings, Skype, and free conference calling
We've told you about LiveOffice's free conferencing service, so have you tried it yet? What about Wengo Meeting that lets you take your next meeting online? Webslides is a browser-based Web page slideshow that puts it together for you online. InstaConference has basic conferencing for free (although long-distance charges apply). The GizmoProject advertises itself as a free phone for your computer that reaches 60 countries.
But the granddaddy of online conferencing is Skype. Using Skype (and most other computer-based conferencing programs) requires a microphone and/or headset (unless the entire office wants to share your business call). It will be a free call if your recipients also have Skype; otherwise, the price is 'cheap,' Skype claims. Business accounts are available and obviously have more features. Make it a point in early 2008 to learn how to use Skype. Oh heck, you can buy it at Wal-Mart. How difficult can that be to use?
Make your 2008 resolutions now but be sure to follow through on them. If you have a brilliant addition for small business resolutions, please leave it in comments.
