Find out what you need

The first step when you open up a new company and start sourcing technology is to find out what you need. Simple, right? Not always. Technology changes rapidly and the needs of your company can change not just week to week but day to day. Get more than one expert opinion on the type and quality of hardware and software required to get you off the ground. Plus, do not try to cut corners when it comes to buying the technology either. It pays to invest in the top of the line; it costs to pick up the cheapest kit.

Pay attention to your website

The days of a basic website with a phone number, a few images and a contact us page are dead and gone. Nowadays, your website will be as crucial as point of contact as your main location. Ensure that it is visually impressive, easy to navigate, informative, friendly and that is comes with an effective data capture form. Invest in a web-team if you don't have the ability to do it yourself.

Take advantage of the cloud

Whether you like it or not, you are about to open a business in the era of Big Data. 90% of the world's data was created in the last 10 years and this figure will be bigger 10 years from now. You simply have to have all the tools you possibly can get to control and use this data to your advantage. Do not drown in a sea of information. Utilise cloud storage to back up all that crucial company info.

Get mobile

These days, every customer expects any product or service they buy to be flexible and easy to use. Mobile working is a big part of how you can provide it. To keep up with the pace, kit your workforce with tablets and Smartphones. This way everybody stays in the data loop at all times.

Security, security, security

Is there anything more important these days then the safety of your information? Adopt a strong password policy throughout your whole workforce, ensure your information is backed up and install the most airtight security solutions to your hardware.

If you feel your eyes getting heavy next time you are staring at the computer monitor then that's because they are being put under more than twice the strain as usual. You blink roughly 7 times a minute while working on a laptop, PC or tablet, while the normal rate is 20 blinks per minute.

If your fingers are getting tired at the same time, that's probably because your typing. The average typist's fingers travel 12.6 miles every day.

We all know Apple like to make the inside of their hardware as beautiful as possible. If you crack open the original Macintosh, released in 1982, you will find 47 autographs from the Mac division of the company.

The first ever computer mouse was made from wood by Doug Engelbert all the way back in 1962.

We all know the web is getting bigger and bigger, but did you know that more than one million domain names are registered every single month.

The first ever banner ad was placed in 1994. Now over 5.3 trillion of these ads were placed online in the US alone last year. Typically, an internet user will see about 1,707 of these ads every month, though click through rates stand at just 0.1%. Plus, it's only a few people doing the clicking: 85% of all banner clicks are done by the same 8% of internet users. It's also worth noting that banner ads don't really get much sympathy, as just 15% of people trust them to be advertising what they claim to be advertising.

Technology is now a huge part of how human relationships both begin and end. 40 million of the 50 million single people in the United States have tried online dating at some point, while one in eight of all the marriages that began last year began online.

While you might assume the popular QWERTY keyboard is the most efficient way to type, the DVORAK keyboard has proven to be twenty times quicker on average. This is due to the fact that QWERTY was designed with typewriters in mind, while the DVORAK model was meant for the modern, computer based typist.

With all the technological innovations that come down the pipeline these days, it's no wonder so many business people are confused as to which they should adopt and which they should avoid. This guide will highlight three excellent recently released pieces of technology that can really add something to your company's set-up.

The Wall Street Scanner

Considering the sheer speed with which data moves in the modern business world, any app, device or software that helps you keep in touch with crucial information as it becomes available is a must-get for the modern company. The Wall Street Scanner is an iPhone app that keeps you and your office connected to the latest economic happenings, regardless of where you are located.

By scanning social networks, tracking corporate sites and checking the stock market minute by minute, this app delivers simple, logically laid out graphs and forecasts regarding all the latest stock trends. This is one of the best ways to get a simple reading of today's economic climate.

ConnectedHQ

The last thing you want to worry about as a company owner or office administrator is new technology that ends up slowing you down. What you are looking for is technology that simplifies what you do, without sacrificing any productivity. Connected HQ is a great example of that latter concept in action.

An intuitive, logically laid out dashboard interface, this brings together all your social media onto a single space. For just $10 per month, you get a brilliantly simplified gateway to your email, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin profiles, plus whatever other profiles you utilise to boost your business. Perfect for the company that does not have time to mess around, logging in and out of platforms.

Soonr

It's likely you are already signed up for a service that allows you to keep all your files on a cloud-based platform. Soonr does this too, but comes with the advantage of being optimised for workgroup projects.

If your business runs on collaboration, then Soonr will be ideal. It configures alerts so all the team is kept in the data loop at all times, while projects can easily be assigned across your workforce from a single, centralised space.

The utterly unprecedented leaps forward in technology that have made the last five years so exciting will almost certainly continue for many years to come. Every week it appears a new story hits the headlines, announcing the latest mind-bending breakthrough that will change planet earth as we know it. Though it is difficult to predict which of these will actually make good on the praise, here are three of our favourites from recent times.

Leap Motion

Dragging desktop technology into the future is Leap Motion – a system that allows the user to control what's on their screen by hand, without touching a controller or touching the monitor. The user merely moves their hands above the motion sensor, sending their commands to the device. It's already being incorporated into many games but Leap Motion also allows you to scroll through the web, zoom into maps or images or sign online documents.

Key to its success is the fact that it is both smoother and more responsive than previous attempts at this kind of technology.

The Driverless Card

Sounds crazy, possibly is crazy but, apparently, it's true. Boffins at Google have developed artificial intelligence that allows cars to be driven without any human input. It works off a system of video cameras and sensors within the vehicle and has already driven 1609 kilometres on its own.

Though the ins-and-outs of the technology are being tightly guarded, Google believes driverless cars will be available to the public within the next decade.

Firefox OS

Mozilla's decision to build a brand new mobile operating system from scratch was a bold but smart move. While iOS and Android worked great individually, they came with their own systems and made cross platform development tricky.

So, Firefox OS and its focus upon openness and user choice makes it an ideal solution. Built upon Gonk, Gaia and Gecko software layers, this is open sourced and carries HTML5 and CSS3. The good news for developers is that they can create and share apps with real simplicity, while the good news for users is that they can customise the interface without the previous blockages.