The acceptance of the notion "watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves" has certainly helped to drive the adoption of computer technology. While computers may seem like a big dollar investment, small business owners buy them because they know that business automation breeds efficiency, saving pennies and dollars in the long run.

For many small businesses, the next leap in efficiency and cost-reduction is to move from the standalone PC to the networked office. While a very small business can get away with "sneaker-net"--walking floppy disks back and forth between unconnected PCs--as the company grows, this approach stifles productivity. And it certainly doesn't enable sharing information when people are away from the office.   

Fortunately, networking technology has improved so that a small business can implement a full-scale network at low cost without requiring a full-time administrator to manage the system. A server-based network enables a business to share files and folders on a network, dial in from remote locations to access information, centrally manage e-mail and electronic schedules, share costly peripherals like printers among several people, and run shared applications such as accounting, inventory, or customer management software.

In addition to the above, Microsoft® BackOffice® Small Business Server also enables a business to easily get on the Internet, both for access and publishing a Web site. Companies using this solution can extend the information sharing idea beyond files and folders to an Intranet--an internal Web site for sharing business information within the company.

But there are also mundane tasks that must be shared--like system backup. This oft-overlooked task is made easier on a computer network. Instead of relying on each employee to back up his or her own standalone system (and ask yourself, when was the last time you did it?), the BackOffice Small Business Server network enables you to centralize and automate backup every night so your valuable business data is protected.