Technology 101

Cloud, SaaS, infrastructure, software selection, integration, digital transformation and IT support, without the jargon.

Understand and use technology to run a better business.

• Business technology fundamentals – The handful of technology building blocks every Australian small business relies on, how they fit together, and the habits that keep them cheap, secure and working for the business rather than against it.
• Cloud computing – What the cloud actually is, the difference between software, platform and infrastructure services, how cloud pricing works, and how to decide what belongs in the cloud for an Australian small business.
• SaaS applications – How software-as-a-service products work, where they beat installed software and where they do not, how to read a SaaS contract, and how to stop a growing business drowning in subscriptions.
• IT infrastructure – The devices, network, identity, servers, storage and backup that everything else in the business runs on, what good looks like for a growing Australian SMB, and where the common weak points are.
• Business software selection – A repeatable way to choose software: define the problem, map the process, decide whether to buy or build, score a shortlist on fit and total cost, trial with real data and plan the rollout.
• Systems integration – How to make your business systems share data automatically: the ways to connect them, how APIs and sync actually work, choosing a source of truth, and keeping integrations reliable as the business grows.
• Digital transformation – What digital transformation means for an established small or medium business, how to prioritise where to start, why people and process come before technology, and how to measure whether it is working.
• IT support and management – How to keep business technology running day to day: the support models available to a small business, what good IT management covers, how to work with a managed service provider, and the service levels to ask for.