I was in the IT/Marketing industry for 6 years before I burned out and got into real estate (and won't look back). My love/hate relationship with technology has led me to come up with a set up fundamentals that I go by that keeps me practical in my technology choices (computer, printer/scanner, PDA phone).
The basic premise is: "Do not change what you have unless you are sure it will save time and money." Although the commercials and even your friends/colleagues may tell you otherwise, for the most part the latest and greatest is not necessarily the best choice. The less you change it, the less it breaks. Here is how I simplified my own technology life:
Say yes to Dell Latitudes or other business-oriented laptops. I always go with Dell Latitudes, and I always buy the most memory (i.e. RAM, measured in MB's and GB's). Why Latitude? Because they actually don't put in the latest and greatest technology. Instead, the put in technology combinations that have already been time-tested together, which should offer more stable computing. And they are pretty light. Many more consumer-oriented computers have "cool" features, but would you like to have more "stuff" in your computer or have a computer that will work smoothly day in and day out?
Go big on memory. As for memory, not enough memory is usually the reason people think they computer is a slow as a turtle. The main thing they typically need to do is spend $50 or $100 more on a memory upgrade to make their computer work like a horse again.
For a new computer purchase, I wouldn't buy a computer with less than 2GB of memory, although at this point if I could get more than that I definitely would.
Go Canon. I know that HP is everywhere and that there may be other good brands, and I know many people who have great experiences with them. But I've had all sorts of printers, and there is no printer I've had better experience with than Canon MP series. I've had the MP780 and now I am at the MP830. The only thing I don't have is wireless printing, which I am sure the current version of this series probably has as well.
Throw away your fax machine. OK, don't throw it away, but stop using it as a primary way to send and receive documents. Ever had to refax a document multiple times because there was a communication error, the other person's fax wasn't working or ran out of paper? Scan-and-email can put all those problems in the past. You will save yourself much time and frustration, especially with larger documents like contracts.
If you get the Canon MP series, it comes with an auto-document feeder (ADF) that works like a charm for scanning files. In "Text Enhanced" scanning mode, it produces multi-page TIFs and PDFs at small file sizes. You can then take the document, save it on your computer as a reference and also e-mail it out to your customers and colleagues.
Don't switch cell phones every year. Stick to the same PDA phone as long as you can and definitely learn how to sync it with your outlook or other e-mail software. I've had the Palm Treo for 3 years now (various versions of it since I break mine a couple times a year). If you don't know how to sync yet, make that top of your agenda. The money, time and potential frustrations of going to a new PDA phone is better spent on more revenue-generating activities. Unless of course your old PDA phone just doesn't work anymore.
Say no to useless downloads and software. Don't download or install any software program or browser plug-in unless you are 100% certain that it will save you SIGNIFICANT amounts of time and money right away. Why? Because every time you download a program, you run a higher risk of blue screens, viruses, and of course memory-hogging which slows down your computer. And sometimes different programs have conflicts with each other, which doesn't rear its ugly head until later . . .
In fact, don't change anything unless it will TRULY save you time or money. Do you really need to have your e-mail go to your phone, laptop, and all your other mobile devices? Do you have to upgrade to the latest Adobe Acrobat? What will happen if you don't? If you have been a PC user for years and are super-busy, is it really a good idea to switch to a MAC or vice versa? Do you really need to switch internet providers to save you an extra $15 per month? Do you really need to get a better cell phone plan? Maybe a little time to unload from technology and changing things each day will clear your mind and let your process through some good marketing and lead-generating ideas.
All that said, there are great new features coming out in laptops, pda phones, software and other gadgets that some realtors find indispensible. Maybe you want to share some of your own here?
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