There are a few office essentials that can be fairly expensive. Without proper planning the cost of Internet access and printers can grow unnecessarily as you add new computers or workstations to your office. Most small businesses only require one Internet access into the building and one or two printers. By following a few simple steps you can save your business money by sharing Internet and printers among your computers.

First, you need to do some planning. Think of how many computers and devices you have. Do they need to be attached to each other? Can they all be connected to the Internet without any business repercussions? Computers containing highly sensitive material might have no place being connected to the Internet.

Next you need to get connected. Small offices often have a handful of computers, and can benefit from using a residential router. You can find these routers at your local big-box electronics stores. I use the DLink DIR-615 myself and have recommended it for a few other businesses. A router will be responsible for connecting to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and for sharing that connection with everything that you connect it to. It will have a cable going from the router’s WAN (Wide Area Network) port to the modem that your ISP gave you. It will also have either a wired or a wireless connection to each of your computers and other network enabled devices. Once the connection is established these computers will have full access to the internet and limited access to each other.

With your office network coming together, you can start thinking where to place printers and other devices you might want to share. If your device is network enabled you might want to place it in an area accessible by everyone who would need it. If your device is not network enabled you can connect it to a computer that has network connectivity and set it up in such a way that the computer is responsible for sharing it with all other computers. When a computer is sharing a device, such as a printer, it needs to be turned on in order for other computers to use it. You can attach multiple printers to the same computer if the setup fits your needs.

Many printers have the ability to be attached directly to the network either by wire or wireless. Network printers are great as they don’t need an unused computer to be powered in order for you to print to it. When planning where you place your printers consider having one print area for your office as it can reduce space needed and removing the convenience of printing at every one’s desk can also reduce the amount that is printed.

Although Internet access and printers are the easiest and most commonly shared, you can definitely experience cost savings by sharing many other devices. Whenever making a large purchase find out how it can be shared among your entire office. If you have a large number of computers and devices you want to share it would probably be a good idea to consult with an IT professional to help you set everything up.