Special technology considerations for small businesses

There is no such thing as a business that is so small that it does not have special needs regarding its technology. If you are a business, you have some needs that consumers do not, such as:
-Accounting software, such as QuickBooks.
-A greater need to back up data.
-More interaction with an email program and more email management needs. This probably means you have to delete useless email more often than consumers do.
-Probably more Microsoft Office programs, such as Outlook, Publisher, or Access.
-A greater need to have newer computers and equipment, and to have your technology maintained more often. A PC for a home user can remain useful for six years, whereas a PC used for business will typically remain useful for three to four years. 
​-Paid anti-virus (We suggest Eset).
-If you're using a networked program (such as QuickBooks or Access), everyone using the networked program must be familiar with how to open the correct network file, rather than the wrong network file or a local file. Most networked programs will happily allow a user to open the wrong network file or a local file and start working away. This is not a good situation because they could add or modify data for a week before figuring out that they haven't been working within the correct file. 
-More elaborate printing. We suggest any laser printer over any ink-jet printer for business. If you need to print in color, then the ink-jet printer is fine for that, but your black and white (monochrome) documents should be printed with a laser printer. The TCO (total cost of ownership) of a laser printer can be five times cheaper than that of an ink-jet printer. 
-If possible, a 'defacto' person in the office who can deal with minor tech problems and/or can be the one who deals with technical support. Hopefully, this employee is rewarded for this duty through higher pay or job security; that's up to you. 
-A file server. Although client operating systems can be file servers, they have limitations regarding sharing and are often used as productive computers as well as being a file server. A cheap, relatively old PC can be used as a file server, and may not require a monitor in this assigned task. There are also network attached storage devices, which are somewhat more money, but perform the task of file server best.
If you are a business owner, go over this list and decide which special needs apply to you and which things are not addressed above.