If the requirement is simply word processing or spreadsheets, the job is easy. If you are planning to spend a serious fraction of a million dollars, or more, then you have a whole new set of problems. What the growing company needs Several features characterize the growing company that is looking to automate its data processing. The start-up operation wants a small system with three or four work stations. For all growing companies, cost is as critical a factor as performance.
Money is needed to fuel growth and there is never an unlimited supply.
The growth problem is compounded since it always makes additional demands on the computer and this must be accounted for when the system is acquired. An additional challenge is the fact that the growing business is, almost by definition, entering new territory. The company is unlikely to be staffed with data processing experts. Frequently computer decisions in these companies are made by the president, who tends to come equipped with a particularly entrepreneurial mind-set. Bigger is better.