The Top 10 Most Useful Small Business Products to Buy or Have NOW!

Originally Submitted on 5/26/97.

Running a small business these years means staying on top of the modern technological products which aid efficiency, quality products, client organization, and low overhead. The following products are but a few of hundreds available to small business owners today through the mail, office equipment showrooms, and catalogs. These ten items are some of the most popular in sales (after the basic fax, telephone answering machines, and other products that have been around a bit longer perhaps) probably due to their basic functions, as well as their proven record of helping a small business become more independent and efficient in a very competitive marketplace.

1. A NOTEBOOK/"LAPTOP" COMPUTER.

Assuming your business already has a table top or "tower" model "pentium" chip computer that is up to date with a 56k modem, a good graphics card, a CD-Rom/DVD (add-on or internal) and a minimum of 32 MB of RAM for major in-office use, the so called "notebook" computers can be very helpful if there is a power loss, a need to travel, or if you want to be able to use your computer "in the field." Best picks for 1998 from many sources, are the Toshiba (Satellite line) with prices starting around $2000., and IBM's "Thinkpad 760" line, which has a full multimedia capability and runs higher at $3000 and up. Compaq, AST and Micron also make very good products with prices in the $2500-4500 range.

2. TWO BEST BASIC SOFTWARE PACKAGES.

Besides having Windows95 or another up-to-date operating system installed, as well as a good word processor and anti-virus program, there are two types of software that small businesses really need to have. The first is an accounting-finance management program. The most popular of these are Quicken 6.0 and Quick Books Pro. The second software needed is a "contact" manager/scheduler program, which can help you with your client base, phone directories, daily-weekly-monthly scheduling, and many other things. Popular names for these are Sidekick For Windows, Claris, Goldmine 3.2 for Windows95/98 and Act! 4.0. Prices range from $50-200.

3. A COMPUTER DATA BACKUP SETUP.

Nobody wants to think their computer will ever lose data, but it happens frequently, due to power surges and failures, disk drive "crashes," electrical storms, etc. Tops in this fairly new but growing field of hardware are Iomega's "Zip" & "Jaz" drives ($200 and up range) as well as Hewlett Packard's Colorado Travan and SyQuest's "EZFlyer." Better safe than sorry. The days of backing things up on diskettes is coming to an end due to the simplicity, low cost, and space saving ability of these "mini hard drives."

4. A SMALL OFFICE COPY MACHINE.

One can spend a little or a lot on these important office hardware products. The best buys for both size and quality from recent reviews and reports are Sharp's Z-835 ($875-1000 range) Zerox's XC line, and Panasonic's FP-7113. All of these machines give great copies at fast speeds and have good nationwide service dealerships.

5. A COLOR COMPUTER PRINTER.

So far, color laser printers are still very pricey. So for the time being, the best "inkjet" type color printers still do a good job at a very good speed. Favorites now and for the year to come are Epson's StylusPro, Lexmark's Jetprinter 2050, and Hewlett Packard's "Deskjet" 820Cse model. The prices are in the $300-550 range.

6. A TWO LINE AND/OR MULTI-"FEATURE" BUSINESS PHONE.

It's hard to beat AT&T's (now Lucent Technologies) two-line Model 882 "Personal Information Center" for a small business phone. It has speaker phone, three way conferencing, a 200 name and number "contact-dialing directory," two-line Caller ID capability, a scheduler with alarm and calendar, and multiple directories, all for about $200! Runners up include the Sony IT-ID500, Panasonic's "EasaPhone" line, and Nortel's Powertouch Model 350. Price ranges for two-line phones are $200-350. Cordless models are also available. For a *SUPER* cool hi-tech phone with Internet access (I have this phone) Intelifone has two models: #SP2000 and SP2010. You have a *500* alphanumeric name and number directory with several "fields for each name, single line caller ID screen. (For *now* this is a single line phone, but with Call Waiting/Call Waiting ID, it acts as a two-line!) It also has a calendar, 50 memory redial, a good speakerphone, backlit "screen," and for a mere $6 a month, you have access thru a flip-down keypad and other keys to send e-mail, get stock quotes, back up your directory data, get lottery numbers, send text to pagers/beepers, get national directory assistance FREE, get weather forecasts for 1200 cities, and more. It also has a credit card scanner slide on the side that will enable you to charge items to your credit cards in the future instead of giving numbers out by phone. It is the ultimate in hi-tech phones out now, and fast, good looking, user friendly, and with Tech Support free 7am-Midnight daily! Cost at CompUSA and other discount retailers is about $250-300.

7. AN UPDATED CELLULAR PHONE.

Cellular phones have changed a great deal in the years since their introduction, both in price and features. They can help a small business function like a megacorporation at a fraction of the cost! Some cell phones, like Nokia's 5200 series offer new and useful features such as mailboxes, pager and call forward alerts and options, etc. Depending on the phone, the phone dealer, and who you choose to use as your cellular "carrier," the actual cost of the phone can be as little as $50-100 (on promotions where you agree to stay with that carrier for 2-3 years usually) to $1200 if you want to buy the smallest or the most high-tech new models by Motorola, Nokia, etc. Keep in mind warrranty, reception and USEABLE features, and importantly, the "standby" and actual "talk time" of the battery your phone uses. Don't forget to get the newest "no memory" fast charge battery chargers, and if necessary, car adaptors for use or charging from your car cigarette lighter plug using your car battery.

8. A GOOD E-MAIL SOFTWARE PROGRAM.

If you're connected to the Internet or do any e-mailing to clients using any of the many online service providers, you need a reliable, user-friendly e-mail program. Favorite programs from the box (versus downloaded) are priced from about $75-150. The best picks by popular use are Eudora Pro 4.0, Microsoft Exchange, and ConnectSoft's E-Mail Connection 3.0. If you are on the Internet and use Netscape as your browser, Netscape 4.0's e-mail system is not bad and comes with the package. It also has an add-on utility called "Power Pak" which offers a spelling checker, etc. (about $20 on CD-ROM).

9. A SCANNER.

Not a necessity, depending on your business, a "flatbed" type scanner can be very useful if one wants or needs to scan photos or articles quickly for use in a media display or desktop publication. The newest scanners should be able to scan at 300-400 dpi (dpi being the resolution, and the higher the number the finer the print or photo will be) to 800-1200 dpi. IF you use available "resolution enhancing software." Expect to pay $450-650 for a good scanner. Top awards go to Hewlett Packard's ScanJet4p, with other current favorites from what I have read and seen, the UMAX VistaScan and PlusTek OpticPro Model 4800P.

10. A HIGH RESOLUTION "MULTI-SYNC" 17-INCH MONITOR.

Okay, your nice new computer came with a nice 14" or 15" color monitor with probably a .28 dot pitch resolution. That is not bad. But if you plan on using your computer a lot, especially for detail work or desktop publishing, your eyes and your accuracy will be better with a larger monitor. Good quality 17" monitors have dropped in price, but still will run in the $600-900 range depending on where and how you buy it. Top new models and names are Nec's whole "MultiSync" model line ($650-800) as well as the Nokia 447 line, Samsung's SyncMaster Line, and ViewSonic's "Optiquest Value" line. A few of the more expensive brands even tilt to give you a horizontal or vertical screen (not real cost effective or practical for most users).

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