Building a cost-effective small office network
By Paul W. in Support | 07/07/2011
Your business may be small, but your reliance on the IT network is probably much the same as a large enterprise. The IT network should enable you to be more efficient and more productive, and therefore save you time and money. To achieve this, you need the best setup you can get on the budget you can afford.
Of all the requirements to be taken into account, you need to think about the following key factors.
- Ease of manageability
- Cost. An important factor, but it is imperative that low-price does not go above high-security. If the network is attacked by an intruder or a virus, the cost to your business might far outweigh the price that a decent setup would have cost you.
- Future growth. Although there’s no need to purchase high-end enterprise hardware for a small business, it’s important to purchase equipment that will allow the network to grow without having to invest in new kit.
- Backups - your insurance policy. Have a procedure in place and make sure you always follow it!
Components that you need to plan for and to get right include routers, switches, firewall and antivirus security products (hardware and software), servers, PCs, shared network resources (i.e. networked printers and copiers), and possibly even an internal email system. Planning all of these correctly will ensure you increase productivity, rather than becoming counter-productive due to a badly designed setup.
Added value, increased productivity
Another consideration that adds value to the small office network, and therefore allows it to become more cost-effective, is the possibility to access the office remotely. Remote VPN access to your office network can easily be achieved without huge costs, and even the smallest company can reap the benefits of this.
The wireless office is also something that might have crossed your mind. Although some people will advise you that a wireless network is cheaper initially, as you don’t need structured cabling in place, if speed/reliability are an issue then you may want to avoid it. Wired is better for many reasons. There can also be major security vulnerabilities when using wireless as opposed to a wired network, and hacking or network intrusion is much easier to achieve.
All in all, there’s a lot to consider. However, once you’ve invested in a solid network it should be capable of growing easily alongside the expansion of your business, and without incurring much further expense.