Increase Productivity

Working together in a small business means finding ways to share your business's vital information with your entire team so that everyone can work more productively. Your data is the hub around which your business revolves, so your team and the external clients, customers and partners you work with need to be able to connect to it, work on it, talk about it and share it.

Any growing business should store all its information in one safe, central and expandable repository and access it from there. Installing a server-based network is an effective way to achieve this crucial goal. No matter its size, your business can take advantage of a server, and there's no need to fear making the technological leap. It's easy and affordable, and it's a pivotal step toward getting true control of your information.

Suddenly, all the files your employees work on can become much more visible to everyone who needs to access them. They can work on them together, communicate with each other about them even when they're out of the office, and share information across the Internet with clients and customers as needed. Think about the ways your business could perform better if your employees were better connected to each other and to your data. Let's take a look at some typical small business collaboration challenges and how a server can help conquer them.

Easy Access to Files

• Challenge: Who has the spreadsheet with last month's receivables? Who's working on the new presentation? Most small businesses have little control over their files because everyone works on his or her own PC, which is cut off from everyone else. Multiple versions of files end up scattered on many computers, and all those systems can't communicate easily with each other. There is no central storage for critical data, and no way for people to work on files together. Searching for the right version of the right file is a time waster. Dallas land developer Michael Hulme remembers the problems he was having prior to upgrading to a server. "We work on very large projects, and we were always trying to keep many sub consultants up to date. We'd end up with revision control problems. Who had which file? Keeping everybody on the same page became one of our biggest headaches from one week to the next."
• Solution: As Hulme and his team discovered, a server puts your files in their place. It has centralized file storage that helps you make sense of your daily information flow. Imagine how in control you'll feel knowing the current status of every important document. A server stores both applications and files in one secure location, accessible by all. You control permissions, granting access rights to files and folders only to those people who need to work with them. It's easy to set up collaborative teams that share a single up-to-date version of a critical file, be it a document, an accounting ledger or a presentation. There's no more searching around the office for the current version of a file, so you can save time. And changes to the files are easy to track. You have a complete record at hand.

Data Sharing

• Challenge: Your company may have 50 hot sales leads, but if they're scattered around the office in the contact lists of 4 different employees, you may not even know you've got them. Data that you don't know about has absolutely no value to you. What are you missing? Wouldn't you like to have just one constantly updated place to track your customers, inventories or any other rapidly changing information that's vital to your operation? Event and wedding planner April Bishop has to keep track of thousands of small details, knowing that one small slip could ruin a bride's special day. "We are absolutely dependent on our data," she explains. "Everything that has to do with someone's wedding, from the name of the florist to what time is the wedding cake going to arrive... you can't mess those things up."
• Solution: Servers come with operating systems specially designed to help groups work together productively in all sorts of ways. Bishop upgraded so she would have a single place where her entire staff could share the constant updates to their databases and task lists. Microsoft^® Windows^® Small Business Server 2003 facilitates application and file sharing so that shared data in spreadsheets, databases, accounting ledgers, customer relationship management tools and other applications are easy to access by anyone who needs it. These are the kinds of applications that growing businesses rely on to thrive, and they can become even more powerful when they're embraced and optimized by an entire team. The server provides the processing power you need to help run these business applications while it simultaneously handles your communications needs and backs up your data.

Coordination 

• Challenge: Two's company. Three's a crowd. Four's a mess. And five? It's like herding cats. Getting a team to coordinate its tasks and schedules can be nearly impossible when no one can see anyone else's calendar or get a feel of anyone else's workload. How annoying it is to set up a meeting only to find out that the key person is on vacation. When your office communication techniques include Post-It notes and bulletin boards, you know that your important messages can be missed and work can slow down.
• Solution: Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 gives your small business many of the same tools that much larger businesses with huge IT infrastructures may take for granted. Microsoft Office SharePoint^® Server, part of the Small Business Server package, lets you share group calendars, contacts and task lists. It's the solution Bishop uses to help her employees keep multiple weddings on track every day. Your employees can easily find the best times for meetings and schedule them in seconds, a time saver you may not truly appreciate until you use it to schedule your first meeting and see just how quick it is. You can even create your own internal company Web site (also known as an intranet), which simplifies sharing of the latest company news and updates with your team 24/7. No more Post-It notes on computer screens. No more bulletin boards.

24/7 Access to Email and Files

• Challenge: The availability of email, cell phones and wireless Internet access has turned most businesses into all-day (and all-night) operations. How nimble is yours? Some businesses find that any attempt at team collaboration ends at 5 PM, when everyone hits the off switch and heads home, and team members who are on vacation or on the road will have to catch up when they get back to the office. As for live online collaboration with clients and customers outside the office, forget about it.
• Solution: Successful collaboration means being in touch when you need to be so your projects keep moving forward. Just because you're not in the office doesn't mean you should be unable to work with your colleagues. Server-based email supported by Microsoft Exchange Server offers huge email inboxes, integrates with Microsoft Outlook, and is accessible remotely on a variety of devices including notebooks, PDAs and cell phones. Everyone's email address carries your company's domain name for a more coordinated and professional appearance. There's no need to rely on less secure and underpowered Web-based email systems anymore. SharePoint also helps you implement remote access to company files so you can work from home or on the road, do paperless faxing (with fewer phone lines) and have secure connections over the Internet and automated data backup — all within the familiar Microsoft Office interface. Michael Hulme takes advantage of these communications features in his business every day. "Small Business Server and SharePoint have secure ways for us to get in and remotely control all the systems in our office. It's amazing. All of a sudden we have this whole bevy of capabilities."

Collaboration with Clients and Customers

• Challenge: In today's connected world, your clients and customers expect you to be available, informed and responsive. Any inability to communicate and share information with them at their speed and on their schedule can make you look unprofessional and potentially cost future business.
• Solution: SharePoint lets you follow easy-to-use wizards to set up your own Web site, which you can then use to reach out to your client base with surveys, discussion groups and more. It's an easy way to build, host and control your vital Web presence at minimal cost. You can even share documents, calendars and presentations with your clients in real time to facilitate virtual meetings. In Hulme's case, he opened up new 24/7 means of working with his outside partners. "There were so many services available from the server that we went ahead and added a page to our Web site that lets the outside team members on our projects click whichever one of the services or the server functions they need to access. Our sub consultants become part of our team." And if these tools can help you cut down on the time and money you spend on travel, all the better. With server-based networking and the right Internet connection, your clients can also become your collaborative partners.

You know there must be ways to make your work life easier by getting your team in sync and reaching out more effectively to your business partners. Now you know how to get it done. Even if you take advantage of only a few of the collaboration features a server-based network offers, you're bound to create a more efficient operation that helps improve your workflow in ways you can measure in time and money.

No small business is too small for a server-based network. You'll gain control over your information, and your employees will discover new ways to work together to help get things done better and faster even as you reach out to new clients and customers. What better way to position yourself for growth?