Times are tough and any way entrepreneurs can save money is necessary
. Technology is an important asset to all businesses, but many people don't know how to exploit it to its fullest potential to maximize their dollar.
Google Apps and Cloud Computing
One of the most expensive aspects of building your small business is investing in your first e-mail and network infrastructure server. Often people purchase a Small Business Server (SBS) and it can easily run in to the thousands of dollars. Cloud computing is the term given to hosted solutions, that is doing your processing on the Internet directly. Google Apps offers an excellent platform for hosting your business e-mail and documents and is an extremely affordable first step.
Faxing Online
Having an extra telephone line just for your fax is a long term recurring expense. On top of that you need to invest in a fax machine, paper, and ink, and what about the long distance charges? Many small businesses and corporations have elected to start using online fax services which dramatically reduce your costs. Additionally, many of these services you can port your current telephone number without any problem.
Online fax services give you your own telephone number or even a toll free number if you do nationwide business. Faxes get e-mailed to you as PDF files and sending a fax is as easy as hitting the print button in your word processor or other application.
These are just a couple of simple ways to help to reduce your regular IT costs.