Whether your office is large or a little smaller, getting the right networking equipment in place could play a significant part in the performance and efficiency of your workforce. From experience, working on a slow internet connection or under-performing server can become incredibly frustrating. You can use this guide to help you get your networking considerations for small businesses right.
So what should you consider? Well the first thing owners think about when you mention networking, is a data server. The first thing you should ask yourself is, do I need one? Server installations can be very expensive and a lot of businesses are able to perform adequately without one.
Other things worth considering is the operating systems in place, will everyone be able to use it? It’s worth considering a well-known system that 80% of your staff will feel comfortable using every day.
Data cabling and getting the right data cabling installations is extremely important. There are many business owners that believe that all cable is the same. That is simply not the case. There are so many forms of data cable out there and all of them provide different speeds and usage capabilities.
Which cable?
For the majority of businesses in the UK a standard CAT-6 and CAT-6A will be more than suitable for your requirements. If you have a workforce of no greater than 10 office based employees, you can expect to receive up to 10gb/s over 100m. More than enough to satisfy the workforce’s demand.
One final consideration is the choice of installer or network engineer. You will want to ensure that any installation is completed by someone who knows the industry, what is best for the set-up and environment, and someone who is up to date with the latest technologies. Data cabling is constantly changing and newer, faster systems are always being discovered.
