Maximizing The Use Of Your Computer System

Maximizing the use of your computer system has four main components. First, you must have a vision of what you're trying to accomplish with your computers. Second, hardware appropriate for your needs is required. Third, you'll need software that accomplishes these tasks. Finally, training is necessary to make your vision a reality.

The vision of your computer systems should be based on the concept of sharing data and resources. Networking will benefit most businesses, and tying your computers together is inexpensive and easy. The ultimate goal would be for each piece of information to be stored only one time on your system, and each software or computer that requires this data look to the same place for retrieval.

For example, if you maintain a customer Rolodex on your computer system, this data should be stored in a central place for every user to access, instead of pieces of information spread around on multiple user's computers. Better still, the accounting system and Rolodex program could both look to the same set of customer data. This means that you only need to update the information one time, and each system will have current information. Unfortunately, everyone has different tasks and uses different software, so this is very hard to accomplish in practice.

Shared resources means printers and other hardware devices, such as modems, are available to all of your users. It usually is cheaper to provide one network printer to five users than it would be to purchase five printers, one for each user. In addition to the purchase cost, there is the cost of keeping multiple printers functioning. However, the downside to a shared printer is that if your one printer breaks, many people cannot print, instead of just one.

Purchasing your hardware can be a challenge, because there are so many choices. It is better to purchase name brand equipment, instead of off brands, because of better access to support during the lifetime of the computer. Once you've decided on a manufacturer, you should try to continue purchasing from the same manufacturer, and purchase the same model, if possible. Using the same computers throughout your business will make maintenance and configuration easier.

The computers that you buy should match your current needs. Someone using a computer for word processing will not require as much...