Best Practices: Tips for your small business
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Add productivity to your business with Wi-Fi
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How do you use Wi-Fi in your business?
How do you use Wi-Fi in your business?
Wi-Fi saves you money on cabling, lets you and your employees move freely about the office, and allows you to take your machines on the road.
Wi-Fi lets you connect the computers in your office, both to each other and to the Internet, without using wires. This means you don't have to run expensive cabling through floors or keep everyone's desks near wall-mounted network outlets. Cable-free networking means you can move into an old building and get everybody online without having to invest in modern wiring.
Having Wi-Fi also lets you and your employees use laptop computers instead of desktops. You can move freely about the office and take your machines into conference rooms for meetings. More importantly, employees can leave on business trips and continue doing useful work with the same laptop from wherever there's a Wi-Fi hot spot, including many coffee shops and airports and even some city parks and malls.
But can Wi-Fi help bring in more revenue or add to your productivity? As with most things, it depends.
Here are some tips to help you figure out if Wi-Fi is right for your business.
1
Consider your business needs.
To get started, you'll need at least a basic router (such as the Linksys WRT54GS), plus one adapter for each desktop and laptop computer. If you're already happy with your wired network, you probably don't need to replace everything. Still, setting up Wi-Fi is cheap enough that you could always just add a router to try it out, as long as you have at least one laptop. Anyone who bought a laptop in the past few years is likely to find Wi-Fi built into it. If not, you can use a PC Card adapter, such as the Linksys WPC54G. If you have only desktop machines in your office and no one travels, you won't get much benefit from Wi-Fi unless you want to rearrange the office.
If you're buying everything from scratch, considering today's low prices, get Wi-Fi right from the start. Any money you save by purchasing wired network cards and routers now will be lost (and then some) once you factor in the cost of installing cabling.
To get started, you'll need at least a basic router (such as the Linksys WRT54GS), plus one adapter for each desktop and laptop computer. If you're already happy with your wired network, you probably don't need to replace everything. Still, setting up Wi-Fi is cheap enough that you could always just add a router to try it out, as long as you have at least one laptop. Anyone who bought a laptop in the past few years is likely to find Wi-Fi built into it. If not, you can use a PC Card adapter, such as the Linksys WPC54G. If you have only desktop machines in your office and no one travels, you won't get much benefit from Wi-Fi unless you want to rearrange the office.
If you're buying everything from scratch, considering today's low prices, get Wi-Fi right from the start. Any money you save by purchasing wired network cards and routers now will be lost (and then some) once you factor in the cost of installing cabling.
2
A wireless router gives you freedom around the office.
Armando Garcia is the president of Dicar Networks, a San Jose, California-based contract manufacturer for cable assemblies and a solutions provider with 33 employees. Dicar bought a Belkin Pre-N router that covers the entire 1,700-square-foot office. "We like the convenience for our customer-support and service teams. If one of our techs has a laptop in one corner of the office, they can come over to the other [corner], and it gives them that mobility," said Garcia.
Armando Garcia is the president of Dicar Networks, a San Jose, California-based contract manufacturer for cable assemblies and a solutions provider with 33 employees. Dicar bought a Belkin Pre-N router that covers the entire 1,700-square-foot office. "We like the convenience for our customer-support and service teams. If one of our techs has a laptop in one corner of the office, they can come over to the other [corner], and it gives them that mobility," said Garcia.
3
Equip your mobile employees with Wi-Fi-enabled laptops.
"While sitting in a client's conference room, I can be pulling e-mail from our editors and moving info through the Internet," said Ken Hagihara, the president of Integrity Public Relations, a four-person PR agency in Mission Viejo, California, that works primarily with high-tech companies. They use a variety of equipment, such as the Netgear WPN824 router and the FVS114 ProSafe VPN Firewall 8, in their main office, along with Wi-Fi-enabled laptop computers. "Now we don't have to think of absolutely everything before we go to a location. It makes us a little more efficient and allows us to concentrate on things that are more important," said Hagihara.
If you or your employees frequently work outside the office and carry laptops with wireless connectivity, consider signing up for a roaming hot-spot service such as T-Mobile or Boingo Wireless to enable employees to connect to work from airports, coffee shops, and other public places, including some hotels. Workers who travel once in a while can often subscribe just for the hour or day needed.
"While sitting in a client's conference room, I can be pulling e-mail from our editors and moving info through the Internet," said Ken Hagihara, the president of Integrity Public Relations, a four-person PR agency in Mission Viejo, California, that works primarily with high-tech companies. They use a variety of equipment, such as the Netgear WPN824 router and the FVS114 ProSafe VPN Firewall 8, in their main office, along with Wi-Fi-enabled laptop computers. "Now we don't have to think of absolutely everything before we go to a location. It makes us a little more efficient and allows us to concentrate on things that are more important," said Hagihara.
If you or your employees frequently work outside the office and carry laptops with wireless connectivity, consider signing up for a roaming hot-spot service such as T-Mobile or Boingo Wireless to enable employees to connect to work from airports, coffee shops, and other public places, including some hotels. Workers who travel once in a while can often subscribe just for the hour or day needed.
4
Get access to specialty applications and info on the go.
Hagihara's PR firm uses a number of Internet-based databases. "We use services like Hoovers (a Dunn & Bradstreet-owned business database of North American companies) to research potential clients," Hagihara said. "It's a Web-based service I can get access to wherever I am, to research earnings or company executives, for example."
Hagihara's PR firm uses a number of Internet-based databases. "We use services like Hoovers (a Dunn & Bradstreet-owned business database of North American companies) to research potential clients," Hagihara said. "It's a Web-based service I can get access to wherever I am, to research earnings or company executives, for example."
5
Make life comfortable for your clients and bring in more business.
Clients and consultants visit Hagihara's company on a regular basis. Since they often bring Wi-Fi-enabled laptops, Hagihara gives them the WPA (security) key so that they can log on and continue to work. "It's a value-add for our clients and for anyone who wants to stop by the office," said Hagihara. "We'll give our vendors a guest password," added Garcia. "Most small businesses already have the technology and functionality to do this, but they often don't know how to implement it."
A lot of small retail businesses, such as cafes and restaurants, use Wi-Fi as a general attraction for the public. You can buy specialized equipment for this purpose, such as the D-Link DSA-3100, which allows you to set up a public hot spot, where you can charge customers for access or offer it for free, as well as a private network for your business computers. Doing so can put additional money in your coffers and create a lot of happy customers who'll keep coming back.
Clients and consultants visit Hagihara's company on a regular basis. Since they often bring Wi-Fi-enabled laptops, Hagihara gives them the WPA (security) key so that they can log on and continue to work. "It's a value-add for our clients and for anyone who wants to stop by the office," said Hagihara. "We'll give our vendors a guest password," added Garcia. "Most small businesses already have the technology and functionality to do this, but they often don't know how to implement it."
A lot of small retail businesses, such as cafes and restaurants, use Wi-Fi as a general attraction for the public. You can buy specialized equipment for this purpose, such as the D-Link DSA-3100, which allows you to set up a public hot spot, where you can charge customers for access or offer it for free, as well as a private network for your business computers. Doing so can put additional money in your coffers and create a lot of happy customers who'll keep coming back.
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