When a business consists of more than one person, questions arise about how to share critical business information and technology resources such as printers. Most small businesses start to link computers together with a network and are unaware that the benefits of a ‘server’ computer may actually be within their budget. Servers are specifically designed to provide file storage, file sharing, resource sharing (like printers) and other services, to multiple computers.

What else can a server do for your organization?

• Better find and manage business-critical information in one consolidated location
• Store large chunks of information, enabling individual PCs to perform better
• Access up-to-date customer information quickly
• Share email and calendaring details between your team
• Protect your information by making back-ups easier
• Provide secure access to email & calendars other files or to your entire office pc, from another internet-connected computer
• Petter manage security features and monitor threats to your computer systems

Does that all sound like it’s going to be expensive? Servers are no longer confined to dedicated rooms, serving large corporations with large I.T. departments. Many of the major manufacturers promote ‘Small Business Server’ bundles, with the hardware and software needed for a business with as little as five employees.

Here are some factors that indicate your business may be ready for a server:

1. You need to consolidate and arrange your files, because you can’t always find what you need when you need it
2. You are worried about whether all of your important files are secure and are being backed up
3. You need to share hardware such as printers and fax machines for two or more PCs
4. You have employees who travel, frequently telecommute, or work off-site and would benefit from accessing what’s back in the office
5. You keep adding more files onto your PCs and running out of disk space
6. You’d like to run accounting software or other line-of-business applications on more than one PC
7. Your business is growing and plans to add new computers and employees or even a second location

When you do this you should be presented with a blue error page. Once you get to this page you can either reload the previous page or service (the Web address should still be in the URL bar), or go to another page.

As with any technology purchasing decision, MAFE Computer Services, LLC can help you decide if it’s the right time for a server. You may be looking for aggressive growth, stability or even expense reduction this year, so let us help you select the server features that will support your goals.

Solutions from MAFE Computer Services, LLC are easy, quick and affordable to implement. Contact us to get started today .