What I.T. Equipment Do I Need to Set up Business

sogs

Can anyone please tell what I.T. equipment I would need to set up business (Veterinary Practice) would need internet, not technically minded at all so would need to know all equipment so I could work out budget.

many thanks

[Deleted User]

That's one open question!

What are your needs?

1. Do you mind using webmail? POP3? If not you'd need to consider something like Microsoft Exchange
2. How realiable does the Internet need to be? Something like this? http://www.top10-broadband.co.uk/types/business_broadband/ You'd need to buy a wireless router too.
3. How many PCs do you need? What would you use them for? You'll also need to consider the cost of licensing the Operating Systems and the software you install on each and every PC...
4. What type of connectivity do you need? Is it simply 1 PC to the Internet and that's it? Do you require a LAN?
5. How many printers would you need? Do you require the ability to copy, fax and scan?
6. What type of backup plan do you have? How would you backup the data changing everyday and the Operating Systems? There's a massive difference between a USB stick and Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery...

bonzer

How essential would the IT be to you? If it went down for a week could you cope or would you end up with angry customers and lost business?

If computers aren't your thing and IT is likely to be essential to your day to day business, you might be best off out sourcing the lot to someone else. That makes it their problem to supply your equipment, software, set it up and maintain it when it goes wrong. In which case you'd be looking to get a quote off them.

A quick google came up with this for example. Just for clarity: I know absolutely nothing about this specific company and this isn't a recommendation. It's just an example of the sort of thing I mean.

http://www.vetsolutions.co.uk/

Little_John

What ever you do don't go to a company telling them you don't have a clue and ask them what they recommend you buy or you will end up spending a fortune. you need to get an idea of what you want and sound confident when you put it over to them, get a few quotes and demo's of their system.

How many employees will need PC access, I'm guessing 1 in each vet's office, treatment rooms, reception desk, maybe the person who works behind the scenes?
What do you want to do with the PC's?

I suspect you will be wanting to run some back office management system that stores customer details, animal treatment histories, and manages accountancy and invoicing. There are a few systems like that in travel which is where I spec and install the type of system your looking at but for travel, so you need to get in contact with the companies that provide those types of system. They may vary from remote systems where you access a server elsewhere using terminal services or you may have a server onsite and the desktop PC's access that. both solutions have their benefits and disadvantages, the remote systems tend to be cheaper to implement and you just pay a licence fee to the provider, they are constantly updating bugs and fixes and the backup is done by them. A local server normally involves the cost of buying a server, server operating system, server licencing, backup solution which proper ones cost a small fortune, you then also have the cost of maintaining a server which some companies charge an arm and a leg for. You also may only get updates and upgrades as and when a fault applies to your system as a result you could have some downtime between the fault occurring and then it being fixed where the other solution if another company finds the fault the provider will fix it for them and as your using the same server the fault is fixed for you before you notice it.

Printers? you can either go for a large central printer or multiple smaller ones or even a document management system which is basically a photocopier that you can configure to be a printer, they are rarely bought and usually leased and you pay per page as they are expensive to buy.
Whatever you buy you would be better to buy network ready laser printers they cost more but if you opt for a remote system above then you can use them to print much easier than relying on the terminal services print to local printer thing.

Basic networking
A cabinet to put it all in on a wall, is not essential but it does make things tidy, patch panel, and a rack mount switch 10/100 or 1gbit is better if your using a lot of PC's and a local server. Don't use wireless, cabled networks are faster and more reliable there is also no chance of getting hacked in to unlike wireless.
Get your premises cabled, the more points the better minimum 2 points at each desk and 4 power sockets.

Telephone system, there are loads about, I have use panasonic, avaya and another I can't remember splice.com that it. The later 2 were very PC oriented and have software that allows dialling from the PC which may be an option built in to your back office system by double clicking a phone number on screen and it dials the number for you its pretty smart and usefully. Phone systems are digital and have been for a while so they can make use of the network and that is the reason for 2 network points at each desk, one for data (PC) one for voice (Phone)

Internet connection, business connections are expensive, they have some features that normally cost extra like static IP, lower contention ratios and more reliability. You may find that the software provider includes the internet connection in their cost. One I recommend is ZEN they have been ultra reliable for my customers for many years. Avoid BT business connections they limit bandwidth during peak hours I was down to 512k for months before I left. The bt exchange is round the corner and I should have got a lot more.

Website and email. A local server can deal with email via the exchange server software but depending on the number of employees it could be an expense you don't need, a typical pop3 mailbox will cost you about £20 for 1 year, your site host may include 5 mailboxes in your site hosting costs.

A few rough prices to give you an idea
Network cable costs per network point usually about £65 per point (2 per desk remember) the cost of that to the supplier is about £7 on average per point but cabeling is a tough job dependant on the building.
cabinet about £100
switch small 8 ports can be had for about £50
digital phone system with install and config for say 8 phones about £2000
Server with licensing for 5 users, with install and config £2500
backup solution for the server £600+ (software, drive, tapes and config)
AntiVirus/security software is usually about £35 for a centrally managed server based protection useing Kaspersky for 2 years.
PC's buy them from dell, spend about £400 on each dual core 2Ghz 1GB memory and 160GB hard drive should be plenty for 3-4 years of use.
There are additional security devices available like VPN hardware which I would recomend and your looking at about £300-400 for a decent one installed and configured.

LeeSouthEast

You'd need some vetinary software as well - this won't be cheap. However you could write your own (or have someone do it) for far less. You only need patient contact records, treatment histories, payments, etc. If you're interested in 'DIY' (there's nothing like using software designed just for you!), drop me a PM.

I would also recommend Zen as an ISP - you pay a little more but the service is great.

Dime_Bar

You have some good advice already.

However, for email you I would not even think about going down the route of having a local server, either use Google Apps (free or paid for) or Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite which has just been launched which is paid for, on a per user basis. I say this as the upfront costs and ongoing support issues of having your own server is a problem that you do not what at the beginning of your businesses life. Just keeping on top of the security updates can be a nightmare. Plus using a "cloud" solution would mean you could dispense with VPN for any home work and make your network that bit more secure.

Both these solutions have a "Customer Management System" (CMS) option, they are both paid for but I would have thought they would be good enough for your needs.

As for getting some specialist software this seams like an over kill to me, I would have thought a CMS would be sufficient as your could record any contact and treatment on it and be able to create reports etc.

Its well worth, as mentioned above getting the building Networked before you move in as this is easier and also usually most cost efficient. Always over estimate the number of network points you need as it can be a !!!!!! to get more put in after.

All of the cabling can be presented at a Patch panel in a small Comms cabinet and add a nice rack mounted switch and you will have a tidy solution.

Even better if you can position this near to where the BT Sockets are.

Where in the world are you? How many employees do you plan to have?

Also have you planned on getting a merchant account from a bank so you can take cards?

Little_John

Using a pre done software solution won't cost that much it is priced per user/licence The travel based systems vary some are £30 per site per month others are £180 per user per year. some £65 per user per month which is expensive.

bespoke software designed to do what you need is usually a very expensive solution to start with as you have the development costs. but after dependant on the contract you either own the software so it costs you nothing for ever after or the developer owns it and you pay a fee to the developer. If you decided to develop your own solution you need to really know what you want before you get the developer involved, I often see it with site design people just want a basic about us, what we do etc site then they want online booking and other stuff which can change the whole site just because it wasn't planned out well from the start. So get demos of the systems available take the bits you like and itch the bits you don't like then tell a developer what you want. an ability to report or output with sage would be an advantage as accountants like sage.

DCFC79

Id also get a quote from a few different companies so you can see what the others would suggest,

sanchez_saver

My company has used Genisys enterprise just tell them what you want let them know you want a cheap cost an they should give you the options. thier a HP gold partner so theres no crap with them.

Phone :
+44 (0) 1256 816611

hope this is of use

nowtsquared

I would suggest a visit to a few vets to see how they are set up for their IT bits and pieces, make loads of notes on how they do their various tasks - appointment management, printing dosage instructions and so on.
It wouldn't surprise me if there isn't a code of practice covering what needs to be done.

Distill those notes into something that makes sense to you.

Return here and use a search engine to get answers to specific questions and weigh up options.