Historically , Macs and modest business are n’t often associated with each other . Yet small firms seem to be one of the markets Apple is targeting with Mac OS X Leopard Server . Leopard Server ’s newfangled Server Preferences interface is design primarily for small businesses , which often need some of the feature of a server but do n’t have the budget for dedicated ironware or an IT specialiser . Apple has also been targeting small businesses with a special section of its entanglement situation and with special events in its retail stores to educate users and clientele proprietor about how Mac OS X can be used .
In many fashion , Mac OS X is an ideal political program for small businesses and offices . It is leisurely to instal and ready up , often requires little technological support to sustain , and remains costless of many of the virus and malware problems that blight Windows PCs . All of this should be attract for a business with anywhere from a fistful to a few dozen employee that can not afford full - metre IT staff .
Alykhan Jetha , CEO of Marketcircle , which develops business apps for Mac OS X , described the additional keep demand to maintain Windows PCs as being the grownup advantage to hunt down a commercial enterprise on Macs . Many business owners are “ just feed up ” with egress like viruses and crashes that cut productiveness and increase ownership costs , he say . Jetha also pointed out that about 50 % of his new customers are whipper — businesses that once used Windows .
Marketcircle is n’t alone : Many other business software developer are seeing stronger need for Mac mathematical product . Kevin Ford , founding father and CEO of Parliant , a company that develops telephony solutions for Mac OS X , has report a “ significant ramp up to the number of businesses ” buy Parliant ’s product . He also described the Mac ’s overall total cost of possession ( TCO ) as its primary reward for small business , both because of the depressed overall price to support Macs and because line of work can often “ hang on to their Macs longer . ”
While lower TCO and fewer problem are advantages to Mac OS X for small business , they do n’t calculate for a recent surge in Macs as business organization machines . That can be attributed mostly to Apple ’s transition to Intel processors and the fact that its hardware can now run Windows applications for those metre when a like Mac - relate product is n’t uncommitted . The ability to apply Apple ’s Boot Camp or one of the other virtualization tool to run Windows app also aid stagger transition costs as businesses buy and migrate to Mac hardware and software package .
Beyond stability and exemption from virus and spyware , Mac OS X offers small - business owners other advantages . Setting up share-out service under Mac OS X , for model , is a wide-eyed matter of give the Sharing instrument panel in System Preferences . With just a few easy - to - understand clicks , you could share a Mac ’s cyberspace connection , printers , files ( with other Macs or PCs ) and even connection Page . The ease of setup is n’t limited to Mac OS X. Apple ’s newest wireless networking hardware , the AirPort Extreme Base Station , really allow for the perfect little - post internet solution . It too can share printers and/or an attached USB hard crusade — all the while allow for wireless connection / cyberspace access .
wanton apparatus and serious security alone do n’t make any computer a answer for business . For that , you also require computer software . Perhaps the freehanded misconception about the Mac in small business is that it is a computer for home user , educators and nontextual matter / media design , and that there plainly are n’t any job creature available to Mac drug user . That might have been the case in the past tense , but that is certainly not true today . Business resolution for Mac OS ex hunt the gamut from those that forgather the pauperism of any company to those that do specific niche such as retail , practice of law office and even medical / dental practices .
Finance tools
method of accounting is probably the least likely business enterprise function to be associated with Apple and Mac OS X , yet there are a number of accounting software packages available for Mac - dominated patronage . For small businesses , there are the well - known QuickBooks and MYOB packages as well as the lesser - known MultiLedger and Payroll applications from CheckMark . For midsize and larger business concern that have outgrow smaller - scale accounting tools , there are AcctVantage and Connected Precision Accounting , which put up solutions tailor to a society ’s needs .
For individual adviser and freelancers , there is the fantabulous billing 2 by Marketcircle . Billings makes it well-to-do to track time spend on projects , record notes about client fundamental interaction and make visually sensational account — should you make up one’s mind your invoice should be visually arresting . For stage business look for a similar root that ’s designed for a staff of employee , try iBiz .
Managing contacts and calendars
While Mac OS X ’s Address Book and iCal may be just for company with one or two people , a business organisation with even a handful of staff phallus needs a solid solution for coordinate schedules and portion out contact information . tool like Now Up to Date and Contact and Daylite offer this expanded power . Daylite even allows you to integrate calendar and contacts into projection management and conduct development for increased productivity . SOHO Organizer is another high - powered choice for handle contacts . If you only want a staff programming result , there is the excellent xTime Planning by app4Mac .
Of of course , no give-and-take of contact and calendar management for Mac OS X would be complete without mentioning Leopard Server , which will make it easy for small businesses to create a central contact and calendar server that seamlessly mix with iCal , Address Book and Mail .
Project management
Having shaft to track project status is crucial to any business , particularly as a ship’s company grow . There are a number of Mac OS ecstasy project direction shaft , including Daylite and other top - notch solution such as FastTrack Schedule and xTime Project , both of which provide blanket feature sets and support for Microsoft Project file . There is also Project X , with its fantabulous interface and Mac - like feel , which make it a good prick for users Modern to image management software . Also offer a like Mac - like look : Omni Group ’s OmniPlan .
There are also plenty of peter for brainstorming and idea organization , include Omni Group ’s offerings , OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner , as well Mindjet ’s Mind Manager and package from ConceptDraw . Along similar personal credit line is SOHO note by Chronos , a pecker that allows you to direct — and sync to a variety of devices — data as diverse as quick notes , motion picture and multimedia files and Microsoft Office documents .
Telephony
helping hand down two of the most powerful business tools for Mac OS X are Parliant ’s PhoneValet and PhoneHerald . PhoneValet turns a Mac into a muscular telephone system , staring with voice chain armor , on - screen call telling , sound tree diagram and normal that can be used to divert call or offer custom content establish on caller ID information or call clock time . PhoneValet can also log and/or disc outcry for you — an especially utilitarian tool if you volunteer any type of sustenance services . Whether your party has one or two separate headphone lines or a PBX - scale earpiece organisation , PhoneValet make it easy to create a professional setup for incoming claim . Its companion , PhoneHerald , leverage Mac OS X ’s text - to - speech technology to appropriate companies to automatise the cognitive process of making outbound calls for tasks such as confirming engagement or advise citizenry about changes or cancellations of meeting or event .
There are , of course , many more app program available that would be of use to companies large and small . But for smaller firms , the plethora of program usable — coupled with the dependability and overall ease - of - use of the Mac OS XTC political program — makes for a potent , and potentially winning , combination .
[ Ryan Faas is a freelance author and IT adviser specialize in Mac and multiplatform web design and troubleshooting . He is the co - author ofEssential Mac OS X Panther Server Administrationand the generator ofTroubleshooting , Maintaining , and animate Macs . For more data , visitRyanFaas.com . ]
