Many entrepreneurs spend much of their time working from home—or, in some cases, all of their time working from home. So it’s essential to have the right home office technologies that keep the business running smoothly and efficiently.

 

We asked business owners what technologies are most essential to their home office. Here’s what they said:

 

Business owners use a lot of different technologies in their home office—but which are most essential?

Voice-Controlled Assistant

I have the Amazon Echo Show, which connects to Alexa over my home’s WiFi. I love that my calendar syncs with this all-in-one technology. I’m frequently reminded of an upcoming online meeting because it displays on the mini-screen that I would have missed on my desktop. I can also easily play background music that is not connected to my desktop, which battles the monotony of working alone from home.

—Lisa Bradley, CMO and co-founder, R.Riveter, Southern Pines, North Carolina

 

Document Scanner

When I started working from home, I knew I wanted to transition to a paperless office. The one technology that allows me to do that is my document scanner—the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i. It’s small and lives on a corner of my desk, but it’s always ready to scan every piece of paper correspondence that enters my home office. It then gets sent automatically to Evernote, where I can store it and find it any time I need it.

—Ruggero Loda, founder, Running Shoes Guru, Amsterdam

 

Video Editing Software

Since a lot of our business is generated with video tutorials, I am a big user of Adobe Premiere Elements. As an insurance agency, we do a lot of videos about Medicare. The software lets you edit your videos, while easily adding b-roll and music.

—Randy Wolfe, owner, QuoteMyMedicare.org, Irmo, South Carolina

 

Cloud Data Storage

I use a relatively inexpensive cloud backup service. Couple that with an external hard drive, and the data in your home office is protected against all possible disaster scenarios. It offers great peace of mind.

—Mark Runyon, president, Seatacular, Atlanta

 

Tablet Computer

For me, it’s my iPad Pro. I got it last year and it really allows me to be mobile either around the house or around town and still be able to write, design and create for my clients while keeping track of everything for my company. It has a keyboard that folds up and becomes a nice protective case.

—Scott Robertson, CEO and founder, Robertson Communications, Rancho Santa Margarita, California

 

Wireless Lighting System

The right atmosphere is essential to being productive, and lighting is a big part of that. In our home office, we use smartphones to control our Hue lights (by Philips) and set the perfect ambience. We have three to five preset lighting configurations throughout the day that keep our space feeling warm and creative.

—Josh Braaten, CEO, Brandish Insights, St. Paul

 

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