1. Do you have multiple Internet connections because you have multiple users that need Internet access?
2. Do you have multiple employees sharing a PC because it’s the only one that has Internet access?
3. Do you have multiple copies of a document, or program because more than one employee needs the information?
4. Are your PC’s being backed up, if so, does each person perform his or her own backup?
5. Do you have, or need a printer connected to every PC?

Internet access… It has become a staple of modern business. How many companies can you think of that don’t have a web page, or employees that don’t have their own e-mail addresses?  Many companies realized that they needed some sort of Internet access, so they installed a phone line and had one PC connected to the Internet for checking e-mail. Eventually more people needed access; so another PC with another phone line was added for another Internet access connection. After a while the company had multiple computers with their own phone lines for Internet access. Does this sound familiar? If you have a network already in place, you can get rid of those extra phone lines and have a single Internet access point that will cover all of your employees.

Sharing documents. A large number of users can access documents, or programs as though it were on their local machines. By having a resource reside physically on a single server, then distributed throughout the network, you can greatly simplify administration. This is done by reducing the number of copies of various documents and programs that need to be maintained on the network.

Having a single point of backup. With a network, you can reduce the problems involved in performing backups for a number of machines dispersed across the company. By keeping files in a single location, this task becomes comparable to backing up a single machine.

Sharing printers. Not only can you share documents and programs, you also can share printers. This would eliminate the need for each machine having their own printer, or disturbing other employees by bringing them a document to print on the printer connected to their machine.

Future Expansion. Are you interested in these items, but think that it will take thousands of dollars in hardware? If you currently are running a network, you most likely have all of the items in place that you need. With a network in place, you have opened the door to future expansions such as, but not limited to:

1. Faxing documents from your desk.
2. Hosting your own E-mail.
3. Hosting your own Web Site.