Raw 02 - September 2008 - (Page 12)

RAW amberley computers T he exponential growth over the last couple of years with regards to e-commerce, 24/7 online usage, competition from abroad, threats from organised crime under the banner : “spyware and malware”, every increasing concerns over data privacy and even more over data loss and disaster recovery; has meant that businesses now have to change rapidly in order to survive, and are often pulled in different directions. For those just starting in business, the future is often a daunting one. Unless they are lucky enough to have a good investor or a good deal of savings to gamble with, every pound has to provide value for money and a return on investment. Advertising and image is normally high on the agenda, followed by communications and then something to work on, most will start from home, and most will work 50+ hours a week. So how easy is it to spend as little as possible, get it right the first time, but if it all goes wrong easily walk away with very little long term financial commitments? In our view and with some careful planning and some pragmatic advice, fairly easy. We know that for even established companies, some of the basics, especially choice of hardware and software payment, can apply to them. Being able to communicate has been the foundation of civilisation for thousands of years, thankfully most of us have moved on from simple gestures and grunts. Key areas today that people expect are: a phone number - probably the most important, an e-mail address, and a website of some form. is at hand every business, regardless of age, or size has a reliance on It somewhere. ten years ago, the development of technology was reasonably slow, and people had time to adapt and change their business over the years. When starting out you are more than likely to be working from home. Don’t advertise your home number - get a new number and place this over the top of your existing service, this could be another local number or an 0845 service. It does mean that you will always have to answer the phone! But then once you get more established this can be moved to a new line, and the advertising has not been wasted. Facilities such as call divert and voicemail can be added, remember not to use any complimentary service as this will alert some people to the fact that it’s a residential number. The same applies to mobiles, if you want to keep any existing number private and separate, then get a pay as you go phone, no contracts and the number can easily be taken to a fixed term contract. If you need a fax number then use a fax to email service, saves on paper and you get it anywhere. So what about e-mail? First, stay clear from “free services”, the perception amongst a large number of internet-savvy users is this business doesn’t care about e-mail or communicating with its customers. This perception may be a wrong judgement about you as a company, but it’s time for a reality check. In essence you get what you pay for. Reliability is the key here, all of the big companies have “rules” for accepting mail, and they are not always consistent. If you have any problems with your e-mail, the technical support is basically non-existent, and for potential customers to get a non-delivered e-mail will mean they will very likely not return, and tell their friends etc. ”yourcompany@freeprovider. com“ will always look cheaper and less professional than “something@yourcompanyname.com”. Co.uk Domain names can be as little as £9.99 for two years, almost all registrars have pop3 facilities 12 millionimpossible.com http://www.millionimpossible.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Raw 02 - September 2008

Raw 02 - September 2008 Contents Scott English Rachael Elnaugh Colin Stroud Heidi Weir Chris Wright Million Impossible Emma Thompson

Raw 02 - September 2008

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