5 reasons to modernize your SMB network by HP

Businesses of all sizes need to assess their approaches as so then.  They need to ensure they are spending wisely as they strive to increase earnings and keep clients satisfied. But, with much of the low-hanging fruit of business efficiency harvested over the last several years, SMBs must find new ways to maintain?and grow?revenues during holding down cost.

1.Embrace BYOD in your mobility strategy.   2012 is likely to be the year of BYOD, or "bring your own device." Allowing your employees to use their personal smartphones, tablets, and laptops on the company network creates both benefits and challenges. Employees no longer have to carry an arsenal of mobile devices to stay connected with work and home?and that convenience can raise employee productivity and satisfaction. Plus, your business can potentially offset the cost of buying mobile devices and service plans for employees.

The task of supporting this mobility wave

Make sure your company's wireless LAN is up to the task of supporting this mobility wave. Supporting many more smartphones and tablets calls for a high performance, IEEE 802.11n wireless network. Such as important, you should make sure that your information security is up to the task of protecting your company's data on those mobile devices.

2. Get clear on the cloud. Cloud computing offers SMBs an attractive, pay-as-you-go model for applications and IT services. It gives businesses access to state-of-the-art IT systems without the effort and expenses associated with modernizing their on-premises systems. Just in case to the cost efficiencies, workers can access their cloud-based data and applications from anywhere.

While SMBs can benefit greatly from cloud computing, accessing multiple cloud computing services without an optimized network architecture can create additional challenges.  Ensure you have the proper levels of prioritization, bandwidth and service-level agreements and specialization.

3. Explore social media for marketing. Social media transforms one-way communications to an interactive conversation. Don't let your company's smaller size preclude you from reaping the benefits that many big businesses are discovering. Explore using videos as so then as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter as part of your marketing efforts to connect with your current clients and reach new ones. Get in on the action with mobile coupons and offers.

5. Make the call for unified communications. There's been more than a decade of chatter about voice over IP. If your company is using an aging phone system, now is the time to consider unified communications.

Not only can using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) reduce your telecom expenses, nevertheless you can as well give your employees the communications tools they want. For instance, workers can receive their e-mails, voicemails and faxes in a single in-box, which is more convenient. They can be reached at a single phone number, whether they are using their desk phones or mobile phones. Your workers can now be more accessible to clients and coworkers.