computers in SMB

[bcarn]

A small business has a lot to worry about, but how does one decide what computer system is the best investment?
At what number of employess is a server necessary?
Is POP mail a problem because of viruses?
If all the important data about the business is in my computer how does one ensure that data is save, protected, and available?

[KevinReichard]

You're asking for a lot of specific advice but the answers you're looking for really depend on your specific situation -- what kind of small business you own, the size of your company (a four-person firm is run differently than a 99-person firm, but these are both small businesses), what your computing needs are, and what sort of return you'll be expected from a computer system.

> At what number of employess is a server necessary?

What kind of server? Most small businesses probably do not need their own mail server, and it's cheaper and easier to let a hosting service run your Web server should you decide you need a Web site. In general, most smaller businesses don't need to be running their own servers at all.

> Is POP mail a problem because of viruses?

No. The mail itself isn't the problem. The problem are clients that can run malicious code on your machine. Outlook Express is fairly bad about this; Outlook, Netscape Mail and Eudora are much better. And there's really inexpensive software like McAfee or Panda that can block viruses as well.

> If all the important data about the business is in my computer how does one ensure that data is save, protected, and available?

If something is truly important, you can assign a password to your files via the operating system, and you can also encrypt it as well. You can also manage your internet connection by putting a firewall on your connection to the Internet and then make sure all your company networked computers sit behind the firewall.

These are not easy questions, and many of the answers do rely on your specific situation.

--Kevin

[bcarn]

I guess the putting computers in the business is like buying a car.
so many options.

so here is the specifics.

Small business runs industrial Mfg Representative Sales.

5 Computers in house

7 Sales working from remote locations (their homes mostly)

Running Sales order in Peachtree

Contact Manager Software

Email like crazy

FAX like a madman

currently running a server and sweating losing the data.

How can I make this a cohesive, and secure operation, and protect against losing the business data on the server?

Thanks

[doctordon]

1) At what # of employees is a server necessary?
Ans: When you need to fully isolate the server's actions from the user's actions. I just set up a separate Purchasing Server for a client - only 1 person now but expects to expand. He will be taking his laptop offsite and needed a reliable, safe single location for the data. He is using pcAnywhere to operate the client software on the server remotely. When he gets his first junior, that person will have their own client computer attached via the LAN to the server.

The real point is that safety of the data was paramount. A laptop could not provide that. A separate, non-mobile server does handle it. And even a standard computer can handle the server function for a small group if extra measures are taken to protect the data (I used more RAM and a second identical drive to convert a standard computer to fulfill the server function for up to a small group of users). The question of how to transition (and when) to a true server depends on the demands on the server. Do you need it 24/7, etc.? Somewhere around 5-20 users is probably where you should move to a real server, mostly to get the higher reliability and easier automated backups. The transition may not be cheap as you strive for 100% uptime and a zero "single point of failure" situation.

2) Security is defined as two different things in the computer world: a) keeping unauthorized people out of what you have; and b) maintaining what you have as operational.

Firewalls and passwords are an example of the former. Backups are an example of the latter.

I won't go much into the former as that is an entire field of knowledge by itself. But keeping data safe has some easy to understand and relatively easy to implement aspects. Some suggestions are:

I. Full backup daily.
II. Keep a copy of that backup at least 20 miles away. (Earthquakes or floods can devastate smaller areas.)
III. Know (because you have tested it!) that the backup can be easily restored. (It really hurts to find out that your carefully maintained backups don't restore! Spare drives are good for this.)
IV. Have the how-tos on all of this written up and kept both locally and with the 20 mile away backup. (What if a stranger has to rebuild everything?)
V. Test to make sure you can rebuild your basic network at your site and the alternate site and that works with the offsite data. (It is very frustrating to realize you need a specific VPN setup to operate and that company is no longer in business and the software is no longer obtainable. This can apply to obsolete hardware too - do you use a specific dot matrix printer for your multipart forms?)
VI. Keep full instructions of how the various positions in your company do their jobs and interact. If you lose all of your people and you are not available too, will the business die because no one can actually do the business or run the computers?

There is a lot to consider here. Disaster plans should cover all of this but no plan will work if it's not tested. So write the plan and then test it. I usually find the plan has several failings, not just one.

As a hint, I use two types of backups - one type to protect the data and a different type to protect the computer operating system. The former is copied daily to a bootable backup drive and also copied off to CD-R daily for offsite storage. The latter (the system) is backed up weekly to make the bootable backup drive. It is tested on a monthly basis to verify it works. The real trick is to do the data backups and the system backups without taking the system offline.

If you have more questions, please contact me separately.

Good luck!

[Spike]

I don't want to sound like i'm advertising or soliciting anything here...BUT I run a Internet Hosting company which has had a presence on the net for around 4 years now. In my opinion, (I also am a Technology Consultant for an IT Consulting Firm) for small businesses, purchasing space on external servers for mail, web hosting, and other things is far superior to attempting to set up your own servers for these services. (BTW...this is my advice for smaller small businesses...i.e. <50 people, but it also works for larger ones.) For almost any business, security should be a concern. For this reason, it is much better to allow a company which solely provides services such as e-mail, web, etc that knows whats going on and is large enough and has enough clients to reassure the client that the host has adequate security and is always current in security patches and updates.

This is where a company such as mine comes in. We can and do provide hosting for small and large companies alike. We can do e-mails (1 e-mail at our domain to 100,000 e-mails at 1,000 of your own domains), web hosting (for multiple domains, on multiple servers for redundancy, even web design), as well as many other services. One of the most benificial services we offer is remote backup solutions, where we will provide you with some secure, fast, encrypted space on our servers where you can backup your most crucial and/or sensitive data.

Anyways, like I said earlier, I don't want to solicit, so I won't even mention my companies name. If you are interested in any of the services or any other hosting services feel free to drop me an e-mail or a PM. I will gladly answer any questions about anything (that I can).

[bcarn]

Thanks to you for your reply to my questions. Seems that you have a great deal of experience with this area of computer use.

I have to think about all this and see how it applies and can be afforeded in my little world.

When I get more confused I will be back.

Thanks again

[JKSteger]

What I would do is find a reputable SMB computer consultant/technician that can support your business needs. I know this is going to cost $$$, but you will reap the reward later. The guy we use, we have been using for four years now. At first he didn't understand how our business "ran" and it took some time to build a "relationship" with him ...and this is the key don't look for just a consultant to help but someone that you can build a business relationship with. He now understands our business model, our needs and because I have been using his services for over four years he knows my employees and he is quick and gets the job done.

Now he is not cheap but well worth the price. I couldn't do everything that is needed in this office without his help.

He is not out that much but as our business grows I am seeing the "value add" that his services bring.

JS

[RobAnt]

In your situation, you couldn't go wrong by choosing Novell's Small Business Suite 6.

It will support all your software, and a good back up solution (one is included, but it isn't exactly user friendly) can be added at reasonable cost.

It even includes email/sheduling/contact management & FAX send/receive, a virtual private network accessible over the Internet for your remote users & business partners, website hosting and much much more!

You can check it out on my website at http://www.ramms.co.uk/novell.htm

Oh did I forget to mention that the 5 user/2 server version is free?

[KIJ]

You might want to checkout a product called Everest by Icode. Small Business Computing did an article on it (cut and paste link below)

www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/biztools/article.php/1587271

The product is a mini ERP package for the small business. The biggest benefit to a small business owner, is it integrates all business functions: sales, shipping, inventory, CRM, contact manager, etc. giving you a real-time look at information as opposed to separate products for separate functions (i.e. Peachtree, contact management, email, remote access, etc.) Your then only backing up one database.

I know you are looking for a solution but as a business consultant/owner I offer this advice: Whatever the solution, think about the impact (wasted time, effort, $$$) of getting systems which are not integrated. It sounds like your getting to the point where you will start wasting time trying to consolidate data making it more difficult for you to run your business or sell your product.


Hope this helps.... Good Luck!! If you have any questions, feel free to let me know.

[RobAnt]

Your link doesn't work, Keith - the description you give seems interesting though.

Try using the http:// button and posting the link again - I can't work it out, because the link has faithfully reproduced all the full stops (or periods as you probably call them).

[KIJ]

Thanks for letting me know the link to the article is not working!

Unfortunately, when posting the link, the address gets altered somehow. If you copy the links below and paste them into your browser, it should display the separate articles (I dropped the "www.")

Articles links below:
smallbusinesscomputing.com/biztools/article.php/2223691%20
smallbusinesscomputing.com/biztools/article.php/1587271

If you still can't get it to work, try this:
1) Click "Home" on the Small Business Computing web page
2) On left hand side of webpage there is a box to search the SBC website (under the SBC navigation bar)
3) Key in "Everest" and click the GO button.
4) It will bring up a couple of links to SBC articles on the product.

[RobAnt]

To save you having to copy and paste, etc., here are working links to those two articles: -

Enterprise Resource Planning for Small Businesses

And

Icode's Everest: Empowering The Small E-Business

Incidentally, these reports are all very well, but they seem to say spray can cream (which disappears into nothing) - when what I really want is meat and potato.

Is there a link to the actual product description itself, rather than these rather long winded, say nothing, stories?

[KIJ]

Visit the Icode website (developers of Everest) at www.icode.com. You will find numerous brochures describing the Everest product, CD demos, on-line demos, etc. Basically, all kinds of marketing material.

If you have a broadband connection and the time, click on the Advance Edition eDemo hyperlink, it will give you quite a bit of detail on product capabilities. It is basically the same presentation that is on the CD demo.

Sorry I misunderstood your request for additional information on the prior post.

Hope this helps...

[TMUSRBD]

If you looking for security for your small business - and an assessment of what solutions you actually need, I just came across a great opportunity to get it all for free. Trend Micro is running a sweepstakes where you just have to explain your need for the assessment and you could win. Pretty good deal, especially if you like me (and most small biz owners) who have an extremly tight IT budget... The form is at www.trendmicro.com/smb.

Also an article just ran about Trend's solutions to SMBs, if you're interested. http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.co...le.php/3109431

[vTwoK]

Don't know about hardware but, if you want to run your business with not that much hardware invested and especially if you're just starting a small business, you may want to check this out.

www.samatyourservice.com

They have a free package for entrepreneurs. However you have to get the code and enter it into the sign-up code. Your local chamber of commerce should have this information or you can contact the company directly.

Vikki