Entrepreneurs need to be much smarter about tech

Using it wisely doesn’t have to be troublesome

Today, every business is a technology business. Whether you have a oneperson consulting company or a 500person manufacturing firm, every business must use technology and use it well. But managing tech can be overwhelming to a small-business owner. So concentrate on the most important ways to spend your time with tech.

Here are eight things you need to know when it comes to small-business technology:

❚ Put it in the owner’s name:

Here’s one thing you’re almost certainly doing wrong: You probably have other employees listed as owner or administrator of your technology. Stop!

Employees come and go. Even longtime, trusted employees come and go, and certainly the tech contractor will go. When they go, they may control your tech or even take it hostage.

Make sure you are listed as the owner/administrator of your website, accounting system, document storage, email system, contact manager, social media accounts, email newsletter and any other key business technology.

❚ Learn how to use it: Take time to learn the most important technology in your company, especially the technology that manages financial and personnel data. Learn how to use your payroll application, access your Quickbooks, use your telephone system, transfer funds in your accounts and block former employees from your document storage.

❚ Keep passwords safe: Lock passwords where others can’t access them. Or try a password manager such as LastPass (www.lastpass.com), Dashlane (www.dashlane.com), StickyPassword (www.stickypassword.com).

❚ Make sure key outsiders can use

it: The other day a friend at a public relations agency told me about a conference call service their new, young office manager installed with lots of great bells and whistles. The problem? The outside people they needed to have calls with found it too confusing to use. Sure, there are lots of products that you can ask your staff to take time to learn, but you need to make things easy for prospects, clients, key contractors and other critical outsiders.

❚ Copy vital info offline: Unfortunately, some smaller cloud-based companies suddenly vanish. You don’t want your data to vanish with them. Regularly backup/download your critical information such as your mailing list, your financials, your invoices and orders. Don’t let a disappearing company mean disappearing data.

❚ Pay for it: Sure, there are all kinds of online services with a “free-mium” model – where there’s one level that’s free, and you pay for more advanced features and services. But for your critical infrastructure services – such as your payroll, website hosting, document storage – you’re going to find the free versions are not only limited, but you won’t get any kind of tech support, and those free services may disappear or change suddenly. For the greatest protection and quality, pay for an appropriate level of service.

❚ Lock ex-employees out: The minute you decide to terminate someone, make sure they no longer have access to your data. Just as you wouldn’t let an ex-employee have keys to your office, don’t let them have keys to your technology.

❚ Make sure you have access to all

employees’ data:. Make sure employees store all key data and sources on company-owned technology, that you have access to their files and that you know – or better yet, can bypass – private passwords.

Rhonda Abrams is the author of “Six-Week Start Up,” just released in its fourth edition. Connect with her on Facebook and Twitter and register for her free business tips newsletter at PlanningShop.com. The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.