It’s a business world filled with technological tools and upgrades. Owners are looking for better ways to make production and output faster without sacrificing quality. How about you? Still crawling the internet looking for advice? You stumbled at the right place!
- In-site Servers. Perhaps you still utilize shared hosting, which means that your website and system is hosted on the same server as several hundreds or thousands other sites. While this can cut cost, it also comes with a risk: lags, slow customer service, downtimes. If you have a lot of traffic, then you should consider owning a dedicated server from trusted service providers.
You need it if: Your business has a lot of traffic and you have a large archive of raw files that needs efficient backup data and security.
Extra tip: Keep your server/s in a separate room with a good ventilation and efficient racking to keep our staff from loitering near it and accidentally touching important buttons.
- Monitor Upgrade. Monitors aren’t just pieces of fancy toy we use just to make everything sharper and make our desks more beautiful. One report from Pepperdine University found out that increased the number of monitors are vital to productivity since workers aren’t forced to keep switching between windows.
You need it if: You have a lot of writing, spreadsheet work, graphic or design work as a core part of your service offering.
Extra Tip: Ensure that your staff are not losing productivity due to social media or email usage that aren’t part of the work.
- Wireless Router. You might have a wireless router, BUT do you have a probably a good wireless router (versus the cheap and clunky one you received after you signed up with your present internet provider)? For many offices, that long lag you experience multiple times per day is caused by your clunky router…not your internet connection.
You need it if: Your business has more than three employees.
Extra tip: Have your desk support staff to reset the factory setting on the router once every month. Routers can get a surprising amount of malware that’s hard to see. It also forces you to change your password occasionally.
- Color Printer. Not all companies are taking advantage of office-grade color printers if you still don’t have one, make this the year you get one. It’s an efficient tool for printing visual documents and files for client presentation and mock collateral printing.
You need it if: You have many print materials or collateral like award certificates, handbooks, presentation tools and handouts for employees or visitors.
Extra tip: Never let anyone print in color unless it is absolutely necessary. Printer inks are pricy…Unless you buy a continuous ink supply system (CISS), now legitimately sold by major printer distributors like Epson.
- 3D Printer. Owning a 3D printer in your office is like having an unfair advantage over your competition. Why? While a color printer can show a flat 3D design of a prototype model you’re working on, a 3D printer will let you see, touch and feel your creations. It will double, no – make that triple your staff’s creativity and brainstorming productivity. There’s no losing string here folks.
You need it if: Creative business setting that needs rapid 3D printing or prototyping of tools and new inventions.
Extra tip: You can use your 3D printer to create memorable giveaway pieces instead of the traditional pens and t-shirts.
