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Top Tech Moves for 2008

Jonathan Blum

Running a small business takes every minute of every day, he says. Who has the time to figure out some new computer program?

In his early 20s, Chris ran a successful diner passed on to him by his father.

He did all he could to squeeze some coin out of the labor-intensive retail business: 18-hour days, managing a cast of semi-knucklehead employees and competing with the next Applebee's or Famous Dave's(DAVE).

Finally, it all got to be too much and Chris moved on. But this year he challenged me to come up with the top tech moves any small business -- even a hectic diner -- can make to improve its life in 2008.

Chris, here's your list. Happy New Year.

1. Program your phone and fax machine.

I know it sounds nutty, but the biggest time-waster I see is a lack of phone and fax savvy.

If you've bought a phone in the last five years I can almost guarantee you're not getting full functionality out of it. Smart dialing systems are not optimized. Smart messaging and forwarding are almost universally ignored.

Remember the golden rule of business optimization: If you are going to do something more than a dozen times, like dial the number of a vendor, it's worth the time to automate it.

Get out the manual -- or hire someone to come in -- and smarten that phone right up. It will pay dividends immediately.

2. Yank the wires.

Small businesses have an overwhelming distrust of wireless data and office solutions. For the sake of your business, conquer your fears: Hunt down and yank out every universal serial bus connector, Ethernet cable, mouse cable and phone cord.

Between N-class routers, data-over-power line solutions, improved Bluetooth, DECT class cordless phones -- don't even think of going with cheapskate 5.8 gig phone gear -- and WiMax broadband access, there is no reason to have a single wire in your office.

Not only is wireless more efficient, easier to maintain and neater than the wires rioting under your desk now, but wireless connectors also cut down on dust and grime.

Once you get rid of the cords, you will wonder how you lived with that digital spaghetti.

3. Learn to use your software.

This is work, but it will pay off in no time. There is simply no getting around learning the ins and outs of the software you use every day.

That's true whether you communicate with Outlook, write in Word or book tables with point-of-sale restaurant software. You're wasting your time if you don't know a task from a style sheet or a downloaded template.

By this point in the digital revolution, most any commercial-grade software comes with extensive help literature both online and off. Sadly, this vital business tool goes mostly unused.

Read the basics of the productivity software you use most. I'm paid to know about this stuff, and I cannot remember the last time I looked at support literature and did not learn a new trick.

OK, Chris, these three are not magic bullets. But try them. Not only will they save you time, but hopefully they will show you that the confusion hovering over digital tools is nothing but a thin fog.

Invest just a bit of time and patience and this fog will lift.