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How to choose the right computer equipment for your business to increase your productivity and efficiency without it costing the earth.

Business software helps you complete a range of tasks. Choose the right software, provide support and train your staff with our introduction.

It is highly likely that you depend on the internet for some aspects of your business. Find out how you can use the internet more effectively.

Good communication with customers, partners and suppliers is vital for business success. This summary explores business communication methods.

How would you cope if your IT system failed or was breached? We cover the main IT security issues and how to protect against them.

Good IT management can help you choose, use and implement IT. Our overview helps you manage IT in a way that maximises the return on your investment.

IT support is vital if you rely on your IT system. But how can you set up an effective safety net in case things go wrong? We explore the options.

Getting the right IT is just the first step. Appropriate training, policies and working practices can help you maximise return on your IT investment.

Dealing with a web designer - checklist

Designing your website is probably a job for a professional - but as the one holding the purse strings, you'll want to stay in control of the project. Here are the issues to consider.

  • Decide what your budget and timescales are.
  • Prepare a thorough brief, providing the background to your business and the web project and explaining what you hope to achieve.
  • Decide what selection process you will use to choose a designer.
  • If appropriate, require designers to sign a confidentiality agreement before you reveal project details or any confidential information.
  • Explain what constraints the designer must work within: for example, matching your existing house style and following brand guidelines.
  • Work with the designer to develop a specification; establish as clearly as possible what will constitute an acceptable design.
  • Agree a timetable; plan interim targets and agree how progress will be regularly reviewed.
  • Agree what testing will be required during the project and before you accept the completed site design.
  • Establish what will happen if the project starts to run late.
  • Establish what will happen if you want to modify the specification once the project has started.
  • Establish what rights each of you will have to terminate the project once it has started and how any payments would be treated.
  • Require the designer to assign copyright and design rights relating to the site to you, or at least to grant you an appropriate licence.
  • Require the designer to waive any moral rights to be identified as the author or designer of material or to object to how it is used or modified.
  • Ensure that you have an appropriate licence to use any software or source code required to make the site function.
  • Require the designer to warrant that he has the right to any intellectual property used in the site, and to indemnify you against claims.
  • Review any obligations you are asked to agree to (for example, to provide specified material by a certain date) and confirm that these are acceptable.
  • Agree how much the designer will be paid, when payments will be made and whether you will pay any extra expenses.
  • Agree an appropriate dispute resolution procedure in case of any problems during the project which you cannot resolve between yourselves.
  • Prepare agreements with any third parties (for example, if someone else is hosting the site); establish how everyone will work together.
  • Plan ahead for how the site will be maintained and developed in future; consider whether this needs to be taken into account now.

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