If you’re running a small business, chances are you’re either running your office out of your own home, or in the back of a shop, with few people to help out with day to day admin. Therefore, it’s important that your office is well-equipped, to allow you time to focus on all aspects of your business. Whether you’ve already set up your office or are in the middle of planning, our guide will take you through some of the essentials.
Laptop
A laptop is perhaps the most important tool in your office, providing you with a portable way of managing your business. While a desktop PC can technically carry out all of the same tasks, having a laptop means that you can take it to meetings, allowing you to better record client progress and have presentations ready in seconds.
Storage
If your business requires you to store a lot of data, it’s worth purchasing an external hard drive to store backups of all of your files – this way you needn’t worry if your laptop is lost or broken. For less secure files, it’s also worth looking into cloud services such as Dropbox or Google Drive, as these allow you to store documents online, and access them from any computer.
Printers
A printer is an immensely useful tool, even in a so-called “paper free” office. Small retail businesses always benefit from till tracking and stock-taking forms, while invoices and bills are much easier to draw up when they are for the most part automated. Staff training materials are ideal for those offering a specialist service or product, making access to printed information essential.
Shredders
Equally important are shredders, designed to ensure security and waste management. Shred sensitive information quickly and effectively, and ensure that unnecessary pieces of paper are kept out of the way. It makes the recycling process easier, as all of your paper is in the same place, and some models such as the shredders from Ebuyer even shred credit cards and CDs, too.
Cordless phone
If you carry out most of your business from your office, a cordless phone is the ideal way to maintain communications while still being able to efficiently move around and carry out related tasks – this is especially useful in conference calls and when dealing with customer issues. If you’re making a lot of calls throughout the day, for example if you make sales calls, it may even be worth picking up a headset-enabled phone.
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