Are you one of the millions of people who have been affected by the lay-offs due to COVID-19 and have been looking at starting your own business? Or have you been looking at kicking off your start-up for a while and finally have the time to actually get your big idea off the ground?
There are currently around 30.7 million small businesses registered in the US alone, making up for over 99% of the total businesses. These open up 1.5 million jobs and account for 64% of new jobs created. So, despite the fact that COVID-19 has had a huge impact on jobs and the running of small businesses, now could be the perfect time to get it started if you haven’t already.
If you are looking to kick off your brand new tech start-up, you will need to kit your company out with some essentials. You will need to carefully plan what you need, budget for them, and do some research into the best options for your specific business. It can be quite a daunting task, so we thought we would help out by giving you a guideline of the essential office equipment you will absolutely need for your business.
Communication is going to be on the top of your priority list when it comes to starting your business, so look at all the key features – phones, laptops, mobiles, Wifi capabilities, conferencing and audio-visual equipment all fall under this category and are all essentials for your business. We broke everything down to make it easier for you to plan what you need.
Although you will still want to invest in a physical landline for your office, investing in a VoIP system is going to be a great investment for your company. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol is a system that allows you to communicate with voice facilities over the internet.
Not only is this much cheaper than the normal phone systems due to using internet facilities, but you can also make and receive calls from anywhere. This means that in this age of working from home, you and your employees can actually work remotely and still be fully accessible at all times. Before making a purchase make sure you go through a VoIP Phone Service Buyers Guide, to ensure you are getting the right equipment for your company.
Even in this digital age, a telephone system is still a vital part of the business. You will need to list your landline on your website and make the option available for your customers and clients. Depending on your business size, and requirements, there are a number of options available for you to choose from.
You can opt for a shared line system, or ensure that each employee gets their own dedicated line for customers to reach them easily. As mentioned above, do some research into your options. You may need a simple line solution, and run the rest off of VoIP.
You will naturally have to ensure that you have access to the internet at all times. Do some research into your local network providers to ascertain who has the best fiber options for the best price. As a business, you will want to opt for the higher speeds, uncapped and unthrottled options.
You will also need ethernet cabling, modems, routers, patch panels, and naturally laptops or computers. Make sure that you look into all of the business options when looking for the right products. You will need higher speeds and functionality than what you would at home.
When delving into storage, we are not necessarily talking about filing cabinets, although these do come in handy if you do still work with physical documents. But, most companies have gone paperless and require storage and functionality solutions to manage the vital company information and data.
You might think that your startup is too small for a server, however, you would be incorrect to assume that. Servers are vital in storing more information, ensuring that vital information is not lost and increasing the speed of information transmission.
What is key though, is that you will need to take the protection and safety of your server room very seriously. These servers hold vital company data and information and you will need to secure them to make sure that not everyone can just walk in or out.
Investing in security like access control facilities, alarms, and security cameras is vital. If you are choosing to go the access control route, which is highly advisable, only certain members of staff will be allowed in. This will mean you need identity solutions like a tag, ID badge, retractable badge holder, or digital access control, which is more of an investment.
As much as a lot of companies do rely on the cloud to store their valuable information, it is also important to regularly back up data and information to physical hard drives for safe storage. Investing in a number of large hard drives can save you a lot of time and money should you lose anything like contacts, vital documents, or customer information.
It is important to regularly back up your files and dump information to your external drives, and in most countries in the world, there are a number of regulations surrounding the storage and protection of company data. It is vital to keep information for at least five years before deleting anything, so you can calculate just how many you will need.
You can tell that we didn’t delve into some of the more physical equipment needs of a company. But you will need to decide whether you will be buying laptops or computers. You will also need to invest in printers, audiovisual equipment, and if you are working in an office, furniture.
It is also important for you to ensure that you have a high-end security system which includes cameras, alarms, and access control to protect your physical business, your data as well as your employees. It is important to create a budget early on to understand what costs to expect and do your research on the best options for each aspect to suit your business.
If you are interested in even more technology-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels, then we have a lot to choose from.
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