I’m always amazed how much I spend on technology to keep my business going. It seems like I’m constantly replacing components or making upgrades to each of my business’ computers. At least once a month my business comes to a standstill so we can patch a piece of equipment to buy us more time.

Much of the clientele my business services are other small businesses. For years now I’ve had to tell customers their business will be interrupted because of some computer issue they bring to us. Most of their downtime could have been prevented with regular backups.

Computers and technology have become a necessary component of any business. Whether it’s an integral part of the business or used behind the scenes, a computer is compulsory. Having a working system is essential to keeping day-to-day operations afloat.

There’s two types of customers. Our worst type to deal with are the ones who spend so little on maintenance and then wonder why their gear doesn’t work. Repairing office computers with used equipment is a bad idea. Trusting your source of income to used equipment is a terrible idea.

As a business owner one of the toughest lessons to learn is that computers are necessary to generate income. Like a hammer is to a carpenter, a computer is to every business. Maintaining a working computer that is used for business should be a business owner’s top priority.

Office computing comes with some rules and for small businesses these rules are difficult to follow. The first rule is to not use the computer for anything other than your business, which means no personal surfing. Second of my rules is to perform frequent backups of all documents.

Backups are simple. Though I’m not a huge fan of cloud backup, it’s certainly the easiest way to insure all of your business documents are offsite and secure. My preference is to manually backup data using an external hard drive that is stored offsite when not being used. Backing up data is not rocket science and could save days of frustration in case of catastrophic failure.

Viruses are probably the number one reason computers end up in our hands. A very difficult lesson to learn is the result of personal surfing on business computers. Viruses today not only hinder work but may also expose your personal information to those who created the virus. It’s a good idea to have a second computer for personal use.

Keeping up with changing technology involves spending money. Windows XP has been defunct for over a year now, but we’re still servicing business machines with Windows XP. Technology changes and when it does we need to be prepared to change.

When equipment becomes obsolete it’s pointless to keep it alive. It can be frustrating updating to new technology; however, resurrecting a very old system has significant cost. Even though we as business owners may see the change as pointless, we’re at the mercy of businesses much larger than ours. It is much easier to make small incremental steps than making one drastic upgrade all at one time.

Spending money on technology isn’t about keeping up with the Jones’, it’s about keeping our businesses afloat. Tools that make us money should be kept up and a portion of our budget needs to be assigned to keeping our technology running smoothly. My personal rule is very simple: If it makes me money then I’m willing to spend money to keep it making me more.

(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can call him at (978) 919-8059 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)