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It is a fact that to succeed in today's competitive business environment, technologies are used extensively. In a small business, the limitation is to the budget that can be spent on acquiring these technologies.

Quite often we get carried away by all the different types of technologies available and we think that we need them all in order to make our business a success. In fact, that is typically a wrong conception. A technological tool only aids you to make the right decision by giving you the right information at the right time. It does not make the decision for you.

Once you recognize this, you will note that there are mainly three categories of how you can look at the tools available to you. They are as follows:

a. tools that you must have
b. tools that will be good to have
c. tools that are a luxury to own

The basic tool that any business should have is a computer and a printer. The make and model is immaterial. All of you to have make sure is that you purchase from a reliable vendor that gives you good support. The advancement in computers are so rapid these days that any hardware you invest in right now will be obsolete in the next few months. Hence spending money on expensive computers that will last you 5 years is not something that small businesses should invest in unless you can afford to.

The hardware invested is just a vehicle. What is more important is the software that will be used. Standard software like word processor and spreadsheet is a must. Word processors are essential as they are typically used for any type of documents that you want to produce. Whereas spreadsheets are good for planning, projections and even simple book keeping.

Another important piece of software that small business must have is the mail software. Today, most people correspond via emails even though they may not have websites. Faxes are most of the time a thing of the past. The nice thing is that today when you purchase a genuine Microsoft Windows Operating System, the mail software is included.

Any other software required will be dependent on the type of business. If it is a graphics company, investment in some form of graphics or cad/cam software would be essential. If the business is a restaurant or pub or store, then a point-of-sale software that controls the stocks and cash is essential. Another example would be a sales intensive company should invest in a sales tracking software (eg a customer relation management software).

Accounting software is only required if the company has its own accountant or account clerk. If accounting is subcontracted out to accounting firms, then this is not an essential piece of software to own.

Another misconception is that small businesses need a website to succeed. This is only true if the business if of e-nature like web site designing companies, involves selling internationally etc.

Technologies well invested would assist the small business to succeed. If wrongly invested, it would be just a 'white elephant'.

Learn more about this author, Judy Khoo.
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