The growing business handbook : inspiration and advice ... - Sparkler

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164 Rent the unique, reliable office server and IT solution from Forget About IT For a fixed monthly cost, we allow you to dedicate your time and resources to developing your own business. Dependable and professional, we supply, manage and maintain the system, with guaranteed response times and off-site remote backup, so that you can forget about your IT. Call us for more details on. ..
165 Build the network 6.1 As you grow from a room to a floor to a site to a chain, Marco van Beek at Forget About IT discusses how to make sure your IT system keeps up and how you can avoid finding yourself in network hell As a business grows, its networking infrastructure must be able to grow with it. When you first start a business, sharing data with your colleagues is not really a problem. You might not have any yet, and even if you do, most likely you are all working from home and e-mailing each other. However, as a business grows, sharing resources can be a very powerful way of controlling costs, as well as enabling your staff to have tools that on their own they cannot justify. When you have a handful of users, a small ADSL or cable wireless router is a practical way of setting up a network, and most manufacturers will say that they are suitable for up to 20 or 30 users, but in reality their performance will start to drop even with half a dozen people on the network. The main reason for this is that a wireless network doesn’t scale unless you are prepared to spend a lot of money, and by this I mean that if you get a quote and it is less than a wired network of equivalent size, you are probably not spending enough. Although wired networks offer at least a tenfold increase in speed over wireless, this is not the main reason they are faster. They are faster because each user can have a dedicated connection, rather than sharing bandwidth on a wireless channel. Ethernet switches have the ability to prioritize traffic, as well as queuing it in a way that optimizes the utilization of the heavier loads. However, used incorrectly, they can degrade the performance just as easily. Most ADSL or cable routers include a small Ethernet switch, giving you four or more ports that you can use for a wired network. Wherever possible, you should use these for devices that do not have screens and will tend to be left on all the time: printers, network attached storage (NAS) devices, servers etc. As your business grows, you will fill up those four ports very quickly, so the next infrastructure purchase should be a proper Ethernet switch. Your choices are straightforward: managed or unmanaged, rack-mounted or desktop. The difference between a managed and unmanaged switch is that with a managed switch, you can configure the behaviour of the device, and it can be used to troubleshoot problems. The more complicated the network the more likely it will be that you need a managed switch. If you do not have anyone who understands how to use a managed switch, there is no point in buying one. Stick with an unmanaged switch until such a time when your network has grown to make it a requirement. As to the physical shape of the device, the main reason to buy a rack-mounted device is because you have a rack
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i THIRTEENTH EDITION THE GROWING BU
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iii The perfect property for your
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v Contents Part One Planning for gr
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Contents vii Patenting costs 49 Wha
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Contents ix Part Four People and pe
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Contents xi 6.3 How to find your id
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Contents xiii 9.3 Licensing 233 Ton
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Part One Planning for growth 1
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3 Business models and competitive a
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Business models and competitive adv
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Business models and competitive adv
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Take a look at the map of our campu
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11 How to compete against fastmovin
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How to compete against fast-moving,
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How to compete against fast-moving,
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17 How to build a growth plan 1.3 A
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How to build a growth plan 19 Next
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How to build a growth plan 21 Opera
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23 The SME economic outlook 1.4 Gra
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The SME economic outlook 25 ●●
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27 The growth opportunity 1.5 Manuf
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The growth opportunity 29 To make t
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31 Managing setbacks and turnaround
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Managing setbacks and turnarounds 3
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Managing setbacks and turnarounds 3
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Part Two Ideas and innovation 37
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39 Whole company innovation 2.1 Inn
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Whole company innovation 41 of a pr
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Whole company innovation 43 create
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Whole company innovation 45 Incenti
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47 Innovating out of recession 2.2
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Innovating out of recession 49 expe
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Innovating out of recession 51 Jacq
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53 Exploring patent information 2.3
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Exploring patent information 55 ●
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Exploring patent information 57 Mr
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59 IP challenges for technology ven
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IP challenges for technology ventur
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IP challenges for technology ventur
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65 Making open innovation work 2.5
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Making open innovation work 67 the
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Making open innovation work 69 an i
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Part Three Gaining market share 71
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73 Taking your brand to the next le
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Taking your brand to the next level
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77 With over 1,000 titles in printe
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79 Market intelligence 3.2 Nick Hag
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Market intelligence 81 table 3.2.1
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Market intelligence 83 but also tha
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85 Web marketing 3.3 What’s the p
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Web marketing 87 considerable amoun
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89 Winning new business 3.4 In a do
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Winning new business 91 back away),
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93 Brand rights 3.5 Name? Logo? Dom
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Brand rights 95 trade mark attorney
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97 With over 42 years of publishing
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99 Fit for market 3.6 Confidence is
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Fit for market 101 markets abroad a
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Part Four People and performance 10
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105 Rewarding good performance and
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Rewarding good performance, lowerin
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109 With over 1,000 titles in print
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111 Employment policies 4.2 Belinda
Page 127 and 128: Employment policies 113 information
Page 129 and 130: Employment policies 115 Belinda Cop
Page 131 and 132: 117 Taking on an employee 4.3 Help
Page 133 and 134: Taking on an employee 119 employee
Page 135 and 136: 121 The sharpest minds need the fin
Page 137 and 138: 123 Training for growth 4.4 David G
Page 139 and 140: Training for growth 125 of the trai
Page 141 and 142: 127 With over 1,000 titles in print
Page 143 and 144: 129 Executive search for smaller bu
Page 145 and 146: Executive search for smaller busine
Page 147 and 148: 133 Improving workplace performance
Page 149 and 150: Improving workplace performance 135
Page 151 and 152: Part Five Cash flow and working cap
Page 153 and 154: 139 ÒThe message is clear - we wan
Page 155 and 156: 141 Cash flow management: an essent
Page 157 and 158: Cash flow management 143 3 Keep a c
Page 159 and 160: 145 With over 42 years of publishin
Page 161 and 162: 147 Invoice finance for growth 5.2
Page 163 and 164: Invoice finance for growth 149 the
Page 165 and 166: Invoice finance for growth 151 ●
Page 167 and 168: 153 Preventing slow payments 5.3 Do
Page 169 and 170: Preventing slow payments 155 some l
Page 171 and 172: Preventing slow payments 157 Graydo
Page 173 and 174: 159 Commercial fraud and business i
Page 175 and 176: Commercial fraud and business ident
Page 177: Part Six Efficient SMEs 163
Page 181 and 182: Build the network 167 essential net
Page 183 and 184: 169 The sharpest minds need the fin
Page 185 and 186: 171 Strategic sourcing 6.2 Plan to
Page 187 and 188: Strategic sourcing 173 So, how and
Page 189 and 190: 175 How to find your ideal office 6
Page 191 and 192: How to find your ideal office 177 a
Page 193 and 194: Part Seven Leading growth 179
Page 195 and 196: 181 How small business owners can b
Page 197 and 198: How small business owners become be
Page 199 and 200: How small business owners become be
Page 201 and 202: 187 Developing the next layer of ma
Page 203 and 204: Developing the next layer of manage
Page 205 and 206: 191 The leadership process 7.3 With
Page 207 and 208: The leadership process 193 Although
Page 209 and 210: 195 With over 1,000 titles in print
Page 211 and 212: 197 Ethics and the growing company
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Page 215 and 216: Ethics and the growing company 201
Page 217 and 218: Part Eight International expansion
Page 219 and 220: 205 Competing and collaborating wit
Page 221 and 222: Competing and collaborating with Ch
Page 227 and 228: 213 International expansion made ea
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International expansion made easy 2
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217 The export challenge 8.3 As a g
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The export challenge 219 Market Acc
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Part Nine Structures for growth 221
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223 Partnerships and collaborations
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Partnerships and collaborations 225
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Partnerships and collaborations 227
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229 Acquisitions that work 9.2 Stra
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Acquisitions that work 231 Issue 4
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233 Licensing 9.3 In finding the be
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Licensing 235 ●● ●● ●●
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237 With over 42 years of publishin
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239 Preparing a business for sale 9
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Preparing a business for sale 241 g
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Preparing a business for sale 243 L
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Preparing a business for sale 245 C
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Part Ten Growth capital 247
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249 Funding your business through t
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Funding your business through the r
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253 The sharpest minds need the fin
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255 Structured finance 10.2 Structu
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Structured finance 257 Factoring or
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259 Transforming the finance functi
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Transforming the finance function 2
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Transforming the finance function 2
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265 Index of advertisers A.Steele A
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