Assessing Your Requirements: What Do You Need?

First and foremost it should be stated that there are many third-party providers of application software that can assist your business. This ranges from accounting software to inventory control, and beyond. However, many small businesses operate in one of two basic situations:

• A vertical market (such as a doctor's office) in which a third-party vendor supplies software (and perhaps hardware) as a turn -key solution for a particular market solution.

• An office for which no particular vertical market exists. Instead, the business is based on standard programs, such as word processors, databases, and spreadsheets.

The third situation that could be added to this is one in which your SOHO business is large enough to hire a network employee (not likely in most cases) or a consultant to help you out (a better decision, provided that the rates are reasonable). The reason this last situation is not part of the preceding list is that a consultant (now usually called a contractor, as in other businesses) may recommend one of the two items discussed previously. The consultant may agree that the vertical-market approach is good for your situation, or that the second is a better idea. In either scenario, the consultant can help you configure the standard office programs you will use.

There are several things to think about when using vertical-market software:

• In a vertical-market situation you may be constrained by your contract to use only software installed by the vendor. This makes sense only when you consider that the last headache the vendor needs is for you to install new software that may compromise its application. You may even be prohibited from connecting the SOHO network it provides with other computers already in your office. It might even limit your access to the host operating system, giving you access only to run the application.

• Another problem with using vertical-market software is that the support may or may not be what you expect. If you are evaluating a package like this for your office, be sure to ask about support options, additional assistance in training employees, and the costs these will entail. You should make sure that both you and any employees (if any) are both allowed to look over the demos of the software to determine whether it is suitable for your environment. In general, a small office has fewer requirements than a larger office that must keep track of many items. Accounting rules, inventory data, customer databases, and other types of data stores are very important, and you don't want to overwhelm any employees with software that takes a large number of steps to perform a simple task. If you are a sole proprietor, you don't want to bog yourself down trying to memorize complicated software! You'll spend forever reading the documentation, and then paying for a support call.

When it comes down to vertical-market software, you may have no choice. For a SOHO business you can't invest hundreds of thousands of dollars (or even much more) developing applications that are specific to your needs. In this case, be sure to "shop around" and get information (and usually happily provided demos and a free lunch ) from vendors of such software. In addition, always try to negotiate the price on these types of applications. Although you may not be able to call up Microsoft and ask to get $75 off the price of Office, vertical-market vendors are another matter. Generally, the development effort is already a sunk cost. The application exists, and duplicating usage documents and distribution media is the lowest portion of the cost.

If you are using off-the-shelf applications (such as Microsoft Office or accounting applications), you'll find that when your business expands, most temp agencies will be able to find someone to assist you during "boom" times as long as you are using standard packages. This can be a great benefit for a small business that ramps up during holiday seasons. For most of these standard applications, there are schools that offer courses that teach the skills, and many educational software packages that do the same.

Note

This type of solution works best for an office environment. For a specialized business, you may get by with the forms provided by the office software. Or you may find it necessary to use the vertical-market software. A standard Windows PC today will allow you to install a wide variety of applications, from common business functions such as accounting, inventory, and payroll processing to some off-the-shelf applications that are specialized to certain professions . Are they as good as the vertical-market versions? Please email me and let me know your experiences!

Training is very important when it comes to using a computer, or when introducing new systems to employees of a small business. If you do opt for a class on a particular software application, consider the following types of training and/or certification:

• From a vendor of the application. Many companies, from Novell to Microsoft, offer classes and training certifications for their products.

• From computer consultants who perform on-site training. Look for a competitive price, and references.

• From a local community college. You would probably be surprised how many two-year colleges (tech schools, vocational schools ”they're all similar) teach computer courses, many devoted to specific popular applications. This formal education may be useful in getting your foot in the door for a job. You might just find it useful to take one or two classes that relate to commonly used applications instead of opting for a longer course of study.

• Read the manual! This is the oldest technique, the history of which I won't go into here. However, many people buy an expensive book before even thinking about looking at the available documentation for the computer, network hardware, and software applications that they buy. That may be because you want to understand how this network you can easily create operates. This book gives you a good broad overview of the topic of networking, but when it comes down to it, you've got to read the documentation for your specific products!

After all this discussion, sit back and think of the applications your small business needs in order to accomplish all tasks necessary, with the least amount of software. The problem with using multiple applications that store the same type of data is that you now have more than one application to update when customer or order changes occur.

Keep in mind, as pointed out earlier, that many temp agencies, which are a great support for a small business, have workers already trained in the basic office applications. Got a mess you need cleaned up? Call in a temp! Did an employee (or a friend who was helping you out) just leave? Call a temp! Are you under investigation for scandalous accounting practices and need assistance shredding evidentiary documents? Call a temp! These services are not to be underrated in the SOHO environment. Many times a small business needs help only for a particular issue, or to assist in peak- season times. In these sorts of situations, a temp agency can be worth the cost when you consider the revenues to be gained or lost.

Applications Drive Hardware Purchases

A vertical-market application can come in two flavors: The vendor supplies the hardware in addition to the software, or the vendor supplies just the software. In the latter case, if you understand computers and their capacity, you can create your own network instead of paying much higher prices for vendor-supplied hardware.

Tip

Don't get me wrong when I suggest that you provide your own hardware over that of a particular vendor. The vendor knows their application better than you do. And in a busy office environment, paying the extra cost to have someone else come in, install the hardware and software, and then train your staff can be well worth it. For example, in a SOHO you should never need a full-time network administrator ”part-time, perhaps, or an on-call consultant. Instead, in cases in which the expertise is low, and the vendor-supplied features can take the place of an extra employee or a part-time one, then the vertical-market hardware/application/support solution might just be the thing for your network. Although the application needs to be able to suit your office and accounting needs, support is the key issue.

If you have the in-house expertise, you can design your own network. This is usually the case with many of you who have purchased the now-basic networking devices such as small hubs, switches, and routers. You are already familiar with these devices and the cables needed to connect them. It doesn't take a genius to figure out these things, because high schools are now turning out prospective employees who can do this sort of simple networking. It's easy to set up a small network.

Switches and small routers now enable you to connect several computers in a SOHO environment and allow you to make a single Internet connection and share it with your other computers. Using a router, and possibly a software firewall, you can do a lot to protect your private network from external attacks. This is not a perfect solution when compared to high-end firewalls, but due to the minor expense involved, simple things like regular backups of data can be all that is required to recover data.

The hub is now practically considered legacy equipment. If you are using one in a SOHO environment, and are satisfied with the network throughput, then don't worry! If throughput is starting to cause problems in your small network, upgrade to a switch. A small switch today (four ports) will cost you about what a small hub did about two years ago.

Note

Some of the most popular vendors for routers for DSL/cable modem routers/switches for the SOHO market are D-Link, Linksys, and NETGEAR. (Yes, D-Link and Linksys sound similar, but they are two different companies.) These are the major brand names you'll probably see at your local consumer electronics store. Yet as other manufacturers start to enter the market, it would greatly benefit you to do a Web search to check the features of these and other companies' offerings for SOHO networks. You can visit D-Link at www.dlink.com, Linksys at www.linksys.com, and NETGEAR at www. netgear .com. Keep in mind that even discount stores are offering their own brand names for these products. As long as they have a free return policy, you might investigate the much less expensive products. I bought several 10/100 network adapter cards recently for less than $14 each.

Even the wireless hubs (called Access Points because many wireless devices contend for access to the network through the Access Point) and wireless network adapter cards are dropping rapidly in price, at least for the slower IEEE 802.11b standard. The IEEE 802.11a standard was finalized in 2002 (and supported by the Wi-Fi brand), and is faster (around 55Mbps on average) compared to 11Mbps for IEEE 802.11b. However, the slower wireless network equipment can be a good solution in many cases. For years the desktop standard was 10BASE-T, or 10Mbps. At 11Mbps, low-end equipment can be sufficient for a small network. This is perfect for a small SOHO that exchanges word processing documents, accesses a central database, or otherwise is involved in fast ”but not voluminous ”data transfers. Like I say, if it was good enough to stick around for many years, before Fast Ethernet, then it must have some benefit, especially in small networks.

For more on wireless connections, which can be a great help in a SOHO environment ”especially because there are no wires to connect except to your broadband ISP, if you are connected to the Internet ”see Part V of this book.

Typical Office Applications

Microsoft Office, throughout the range of supported versions, is the most widely sold and used office application suite today. At one time (over seven years ago), WordPerfect ruled the word processing domain. Yet, with features that rivaled some typesetting software, in the short run, Microsoft Word overcame WordPerfect. And because Microsoft Office was then offered with a suite of applications, it became possible for Microsoft to take over this market for the most part.

Yet there are alternatives. For example, Corel still produces WordPerfect Office 2002 to compete with Microsoft's hold on the marketplace . Besides Corel's entry, there are two variations on a theme: OpenOffice and StarOffice. OpenOffice is a free, downloadable version of an office suite intended to be an alternative solution to Microsoft Office; SUN's StarOffice 6.0 Suite adds functionality but will cost you around $100. The more user licenses you purchase for StarOffice, however, the lower the cost per user .

When you compare this cost to Microsoft Office, along with support costs and required upgrades, then StarOffice or OpenOffice may just be a good solution if all you want right now is to have basic office applications. This is not meant to denigrate Linux, which already, in all flavors, comes with a large variety of other applications, from sound to graphics, and many others. The emphasis on OpenOffice is because one of the things that has kept larger corporations tied to Microsoft for so many years has been the applications, not the operating systems. If the OS works, and requires minimal maintenance, then the applications will drive the marketplace in the long run.

Tip

If you want to contact the organization responsible for creating the OpenOffice suite of applications, visit the Web site http://openoffice.org. This organization is responsible for developing and distributing the latest open software for OpenOffice.

SUN offers its own version of OpenOffice, with some enhancements, and calls the product StarOffice. Like the free download of OpenOffice, StarOffice provides an alternative to the Windows desktop if you are well versed in the Linux operating system. OpenOffice and StarOffice both allow you to save documents, spreadsheets, and so on in various formats (including Microsoft Office), so this may be a good choice for a small organization that includes someone skilled in Linux. Otherwise, I recommend the easier-to-use Windows operating systems to create small networks.

Should You Use Freeware or Shareware Applications?

One of the biggest headaches of a large network manager is the installation by users of unapproved applications, and these applications usually are downloaded from the Internet. Although free software may sound too good to pass up, consider the following facts and considerations:

• You get what you pay for. Support for freeware or shareware applications is usually available at a minimal cost, but the support you receive is not what you'd get from most major application vendors.

• Can you rely on the application? Does it perform all the functions you need? Will it be a " kludge " in which you have to enter data more than once for separate applications? For example, if you use a shareware general ledger program, will it take automatic input from your accounts payable application from another vendor?

• Does the application come with adequate documentation? Is it understandable?

• Are there any undesirable capabilities of the application? Read the fine print ”the licensing and privacy statements. Does the application gather any information about you and upload it to the vendor's site?

Perhaps the most important issue to discuss about freeware/shareware is the black-box/crystal-box argument. The black-box argument is that if you buy software from a reputable company, and the source code is known only to the company, then you are better protected against someone who has the code and might find and exploit bugs , or back-doors that can be a security issue.

The crystal-box argument is that if everyone has the source code, the application is scrutinized by a large number of people in the open source community, so the odds of finding and fixing bugs or other problems is greatly enhanced. With so many people evaluating the code, problems will, in theory, be found quicker and then be more easily solved .

The other side of this argument is that the "bad guys" also have the code, and you never know what they'll be up to.

Should You Make Copies of Applications You Purchase or Obtain from Others?

You should always make one or more backups of any CDs or floppy disks that come with an application you buy. You should read the licensing information to see whether it can be installed on more than one computer.

Making backups of software you have purchased is a good idea and likely to be in line with the vendor's license agreement. However, using copies of your friend's software or downloading it from community shareware sites is called piracy, and in the SOHO environment it seems to be, if not a common practice, one that does occur frequently. Large companies are more likely to get audited , but that doesn't mean a small operator like you can't go to jail if you get caught using software you have no right to use. In addition, don't forget to register shareware if you plan to use it outside of the stated evaluation period. The vendor might be smaller, but the penalties are just as high.

Operating Systems: Should You Choose Linux over Windows or Unix?

Using Unix or Linux in a SOHO environment will be best implemented using a vendor-installed version, or having in-house Unix/Linux support, or at least a consultant. This assumes that the entrepreneur in a small business is acquainted with Unix/Linux. Most SOHO environments cannot afford a full-time employee to devote to operating-system tweaking and such. This does not apply, however, if your business is oriented toward products for just this type of environment.

Although the preferred operating system is a Windows version for a SOHO network, if you are a computer professional yourself (whether or not your business involves computers), then you might find yourself more comfortable using Unix or Linux. Yet you may also find yourself consumed by business activities and need a consultant part-time, to do what you could otherwise do yourself.

If you are going to use Unix/Linux as your desktop operating system, consider that there are several popular vendors of each. The most popular vendor of inexpensive (free) Unix is FreeBSD. This operating system was created based on the BSD Unix operating system. That version of Unix was developed by the University of California, Berkeley. The FreeBSD version runs on Intel and AlphaServer hardware platforms.

Tip

FreeBSD is a very popular operating system. You can download it from www.freebsd.org. Source code is also available from this site, along with other important links.

However, today it seems that the Linux operating system is making small, but steady, inroads into the business environment. Once used as simple network firewall devices, Linux has grown to a large industry, and there are many applications (mostly open-source that you can get for no charge) being ported to this operating system. Another benefit that Linux sports is its capability to run on low-end hardware platforms. Thus, older computers that may be at the expected end-of-life for a Windows operating system might run Linux at a satisfactory speed for a desktop, if not a server, depending on the hardware.

Note

Even Microsoft, according to industry gossip, is courting the idea of releasing its own version of Linux, or at least of releasing versions of its top software applications, from Office to Exchange, that run on Linux. A few years will tell.

If you decide to use Linux, perhaps the most widely used are these:

• Red Hat Linux ” This is probably the best seller (or downloader) today. Red Hat Linux has scaled from the lowest current Intel- or AMD-processor to high-end IBM mainframes. It is one of the few Linux vendors who are profitable today. Visit www.redhat.com.

• Mandrake Linux ” Another very popular version of Linux. Visit its site at www.mandrake.com.

• Debian GNU/Linux ” This vendor has chosen to use the Linux operating-system kernel (the guts of the operating system that controls everything else) and add to it application packages from the GNU project. This is the reason for the name of this Linux version. Debian is free, so that's a bargain. You can download the OS or obtain other information at www.debian.org.

• SuSE ” If you need to support other hardware platforms, such as older AlphaServer computers, that are now becoming replaced by other computers, then SuSE might be simply a temporary solution to lower costs by using earlier Intel or AlphaServer systems that otherwise would go unused as they are replaced . Visit www.suse.com. Because SuSE, like Red Hat, runs on both small-end servers and high-end performers, it can be a scalable solution as your small business grows.

When it comes to other office-productivity applications, you should evaluate the choices between those products and your business. It may be that your choice works best on a Windows machine or a Linux computer.

Graphics, Video, and Other Network-Intensive Applications

A small office usually requires standard business applications, such as word processing. It is also possible that one or two computers are devoted to special applications, such as engineering or programming, depending on your business. But accounting functions must be done, and word processing, billing, and so on must be accomplished at the same time. Earlier in this chapter you learned about the simple office network. If you have larger network needs, you will have to plan for them and provision the correct network equipment.