As discussed in Part 1, building a sound IT infrastructure for your small business is crucial for its future profitability and expansion. Determining what will be needed can be a challenge, so consult with IT experts for the best results. Part 2 will discuss Communications, Outsourcing IT Support, and Infrastructure Tips.

Business Communication

Business communication now revolves around email. Selecting the system that is the right fit for your business will be important to allow your staff to easily communicate with their colleagues and customers while managing, organizing, and storing their messages. An in-house system is only feasible with a server. Small enterprises typically conclude that using an email service is more flexible and requires less management.

Outsourcing IT Support

Outsourcing IT support is a cost-effective option for many smaller companies that cannot afford in-house technical staff. Doing so from the very beginning will allow you to have solid IT infrastructure from the onset. An MSP (managed services provider) also allows you and your staff to concentrate on your core business. In the meantime, their dedicated support can make sure your servers, computers, data backup, and computer security are all functioning properly.

Infrastructure Tips

Simplifying infrastructure by using a standardized approach is effective for small businesses. In contrast, customizing infrastructure to please customers leads to greater costs and complexity, which are not suitable for a company with limited resources. Off-the-shelf technology and software decreases the costs of implementation in terms of time and training.

Scalability is crucial for companies that foresee significant business growth. Basic technological solutions for a staff of 20 employees may be unworkable when the staff grows to 100. Lack of foresight may lead to bottlenecks that negatively impact the organization.

If the concern is costly CAPEX (capital expenditure) for hardware that may or may not be needed in the future, cloud solutions may be the best approach for a startup. Utilizing public cloud providers such as AWS, Google, and Microsoft Azure allows an organization to scale their computing as needed.

Alpha Engineering Business Support

Choosing an expert computer technology-support provider is an important decision for your business. Alpha Engineering Associates has been a trusted partner of many companies in the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis areas since 1990. For affordable client-focused network consulting services and solutions, please call Alpha Engineering Associates today at (410) 295-9500.