Chapter 34

Managing Your Technology

To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.

The Farmer's Almanac

Whether it is hardware or software, there is no doubt that running a small business today requires that one be, if not technically savvy, at least technically proficient. That competence will enable you to keep your computer systems and other technology up and running and, when things get beyond your ken, to be able to hire helpers and know what the heck they are talking about. In this chapter, we explore how to manage your technology and how to fix what will probably someday ail you.

Top Tech Terms

Just so that we are on the same page, and so that you will be able to speak geek when necessary, here are some essential small business tech terms that you might need to know.

  • B2B, B2C, B2D, B2E, B2G. Acronyms that describe relationships, websites, or applications that are business to business, consumers, distributors, employees, or the government, respectively.
  • Bandwidth. The transmission capacity of the lines that carry electronic traffic. The greater the bandwidth, the more data that can be transmitted at one time. In popular slang, bandwidth has also come to refer to one's resources: “We don't have the bandwidth to deal with that problem right now.”
  • CMS. An acronym for a content management system—software that allows you to manage large amounts of website content. Popular CMS systems include WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
  • CRM. An acronym for customer relationship ...

Get The Small Business Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed in Your Small Business, 3rd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.