Your computer infrastructure is critical to the success of your business. It may be a single system for keeping accounts and preparing documents, but without that infrastructure, your business could be anywhere from inconvenienced to completely shut down.

The precise needs of your business will be unique to your business, and Beland Internet Technology Services is equipped to help you define those needs and make sure they're all being met by your computer infrastructure. There are a few things, however, that every modern small business should have in their internal infrastructure. Take a look at the following list; these are things that are covered by every complete design plan.

 Disaster Recovery
Would your business survive the loss of data stored on your computer? Typical items stored on a business computer include customer records, financial data, payroll records, schedules, and inventory. Do you have a plan for continuing to operate if that data is lost?

 Safety & Security
What safeguards are in place to protect your computers from viruses and security threats?

 Maintenance & Service Agreements
What regular maintenance procedures will be carried out to maintain your systems, and who is responsible for repairing them if there's a problem?

 Upgrades
How often is your infrastructure checked for obsolescence and necessary updates?

Those are the critical items that every business must consider, whether you have one computer or hundreds. In addition to those questions, your business will have many other considerations which must be taken into account. The number of computers is of course an important consideration, as is the quantity and type of data you normally deal with. For example, a real estate office will have a large amount of image data - pictures of the various property listings - which is important, but not especially secret or critical. The data can be replaced, if necessary by re-taking photos of the actual listings.

An accountant, on the other hand, may not have as much data to keep track of - financial records are mostly text, and text is smaller and easier to store than an image - but that data is not only very sensitive, but also often difficult or impossible to completely replace. You can see how each business needs a different solution for data storage, backups, and disaster recovery.

In a similar manner, the types of applications required for your business have a tremendous impact on your infrastructure needs. To continue the same example from above, a real estate office has a strong need for portability; the ability to virtually extend the office into the field means greater flexibility, the ability to better serve clients and adjust to changing situations. An accountant, on the other hand, does not require as much mobility but does need tighter security and the ability to process financial data, which typically means heavy use of spreadsheets and other system-intensive software.

Once these factors have been considered and a plan for your new infrastructure has been devised, it's time to consider your Internet Infrastructure as well.