They know the significance of buying the best tools for the job, which means counting on only professional business-grade technology. Unfortunately, a lot of small business managers and owners simply haven't been taught about the importance of buying quality business-grade technology instead of their lesser consumer-grade counterparts. If you're a small business person and don't know the differences, and why you should care about the differences, you need to continue reading.
This article is a list of the 5 reasons why buying business-grade technology for your small business is a smart move. With this information, you can make informed decisions when it comes time to choose technology products for your small business.
1. Counting on consumer-grade products will inevitably cost you more money and time
Example: The all-plastic construction of consumer-grade laptop computers helps to keep the costs down, but at the expense of durability. When (not if) a consumer product fails, it will cost you valuable time and money to send the item in for repair, to buy replacement parts and try to fix it yourself, and to spend hours on the telephone with often ineffectual tech support departments.
2. Professional business-grade products will cost you a bit more upfront, but you'll recover the difference on the back end
Business-grade products tend to be more costly because they are built with better quality components that meet higher tolerances, meaning they can handle the day-to-day strain of a hard-working business environment.
Example: The features of an HP EliteBook laptop for business include a very light magnesium alloy and aluminum case, steel hinges, a display that is secured at four points, a shock-mounted and accelerometer-protected hard drive, a liquid resistant keyboard, and a scratch resistant finish. There is no consumer equivalent on the market.
The bottom line is that business-grade equipment will last longer and require less maintenance throughout its life.
3. Business-grade technology means business-grade support
Business-grade hardware and software manufacturers provide a much higher level of support if a problem arises. Their technical support departments know that their equipment is extremely important for your business, and, in many cases, they are accessible 24/7 to help get you back to work.
4. You get a much longer, and generally more comprehensive, warranty
Business-grade technology usually comes with at least a 3-year factory warranty. What that really means to you is that the vendors are confident that their products will function without any issues for a minimum of 3-years.
Small business PC vendors such as HP and Lenovo also provide "Next-Day, On-Site" warranty support for their products, meaning a local technician will come directly to your office to address a problem the very next business day. Most consumer technology is warranted for only one year, which is about the longest the vendor expects the product to last before failing and needing repair.
5. You get features, features, features
Example 1 - A TalkSwitch phone system for small businesses is nearly limitlessly customizable. It offers many high-level features such as automated attendants that send calls to your workers in their office, or their home, or to their cell phone; and the system will send voicemail recordings in an e-mail to individual employees or to entire departments, just to name a few abilities.
Example 2 - A business-grade network router will give you the ability to use a virtual private network (VPN) to securely access data in your office from anywhere in the world. There are no consumer-grade equivalents.