Using Technology In Entrepreneurial Business

Dave Pollard:

So the first thing to do is develop a Technology Plan. Although you can hire a consultant to do this with you (don’t let them do it for you), you can also develop the draft plan yourself and then run it by tech-savvy people you know, and (more importantly) other, established entrepreneurs you know with businesses of a similar type and style to yours. The entrepreneurs who’ve already gone through this process can tell you what you really need, and how to avoid the missteps they made, and this can really save you money and grief.

The Technology Plan need not be long, but it does need to be carefully thought through. Here’s a checklist of the types of technology it should address. For each type, you’ll need to assess whether you need it at all (some manual alternatives work just fine, and will do so even when your business scales up), identify and evaluate the alternative tools available (including an increasing number of free alternatives), and budget when to buy and how and how much to pay for each.

• Telephony
• Fax
• E-mail
• Public Website
• Financial Information System
• Customer Information System
• Order and Inventory Management System
• Intranet
• Desktop Publishing and Marketing tools
• Computers, Mobile Devices and Local Area Networks for the Front Line
• Weblogs & Social Networking Applications

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