Putting Your Business Online

What do we mean by "Online"? Like other bits of computer jargon, Online tends to mean whatever people want it to mean, and it is used in many different contexts.

The first step into the online world for most businesses (and individuals) is to fit a modem to a PC, and use it to connect to the internet. Although this is a small-scale and very low-cost "toe-in-the-water", it can bring two significant benefits:

• it allows you to send and receive electronic mail, including files and documents;
• it allows you to use the worldwide web to find all kinds of information, and perhaps to place orders with suppliers who operate online ordering systems.

Once your needs outgrow a single PC and modem, you may want to opt for a networked internet connection. This is usually achieved using an ISDN or ADSL ("Broadband") connection (which are similar to a telephone line but much faster), and a system which allows different computers on your network to share internet access using that connection. The key advantages here are:

• each member of staff can have their own email address;
• the cost of one shared connection is much less than that of several individual connections;
• the sharing system can monitor what employees are doing on the net, and restrict access to some sites or to some members of staff.

Whichever connection option you choose for your office, you can operate a worldwide website to promote your business, and provide product and pricing information to potential customers. See our Website Design section for more information.

The ultimate "online" business does not even have an office. Instead, staff work from home and use a modem to connect to the company IT system. Once connected, they can do everything they could do from an office. The main benefits of this type of business model are:

• vastly reduced overheads because there are no offices;
• more flexible working patterns, which some employees like, and which often result in more effective and productive working;
• flexibility in choosing infrastructure suppliers, which can again reduce overheads. It is much more difficult to move offices than it is to switch internet providers.