I recently read an article entitled, “When to plug business cracks with technology”, in the Globe & Mail.  The article discusses the potential growing pains of a small business when it evolves from a single computer to multiple PCs and or laptops. It evaluates various server options as alternatives, when a business reaches a size where it is no longer safe or practical to have files reside on one PC.

The article points to such growing pains as:

• Inability of more than one user to simultaneously work on common data files

• High degree of sharing via e-mail or other sneakernet-type services

• Growing amount of time spent looking for data and related files

• Difficulty for remote workers to share content as richly or as quickly as the in-office staff

• Versioning issues resulting from different employees working on common files in an inconsistent manner

While the article makes some great points on when to move your business to a server solution, we’d like to suggest that there is a space between the journey of a single PC/entrepreneur to server environment.

Share your work:  For businesses that share documents across employees, Sharepoint enables businesses to share work and collaborate more effectively both internally or externally with partners or customers.  It provides secure access to the same documents for all authorized individuals from any computer they choose to use.

Take your work with you: For Small businesses with employees on the go, the ability to take your work with you and access the internet wherever you are is critical to your business success.  Providing your remote workers with Mobile Internet Keys enables them to work wherever they are.

Protect your work: I was speaking to an acquaintance of mine, a computer whiz who said, “there are only two types of hard drives, those that have failed and those that will”.  A desktop Backup solution protects businesses from losing critical information due to corrupt files, hardware failures, accidental deletions or even lost or stolen laptops or PCs.

Join the conversation.  As a Small Business, what technologies have you implemented to “fill the cracks” that have helped your business grow?