Five minutes on hold and still counting. I'm on my tenth phone call this morning. What started as a "simple" project to upgrade a computer and wire in someone to telecommute over an ISDN line has become a technical nightmare.

Nothing was coming together. The computer guy knew every detail about the computer I wanted to purchase, but could not advise me on what modem I needed to combine digital and analog capabilities. The telephone company could install the ISDN line and phones, but knew nothing about getting modems, computers, and software to all work together. My network consultant understood how to connect the computers but was fuzzy about telephone voice communications issues. I found myself stuck in the middle with the job of systems analyst, trying to pull all the experts together. I had fallen into the "technology trap."

Home-based entrepreneurs face a huge challenge understanding and using rapidly changing information technology integral to home office productivity. No single aspect of working from home is more critical than successfully using office technology. In fact, the home business revolution is built upon powerful, affordable personal computers and telecommunications technology.

How can you meet the challenge, avoid the "technology trap," and keep your sanity? You don't have to get lost in technical details. The key factor is understanding the capabilities of different equipment and, more importantly, how it can work within the framework of your existing computers and equipment. Here is some advice learned the hard way (by me):

• Check equipment compatibility. The modern home office is wired together with a wide variety of equipment from many different companies. Each piece of equipment must not only work, but work together with your other equipment. When you purchase new computers or other equipment, pay close attention to equipment compatibility and availability of customer support.
• Choose new software carefully. Software brands and capabilities are growing rapidly, and are critical to your productivity. When you purchase new software, again check for potential compatibility problems with existing software, operating systems, and computer components. What's true about computer hardware helping or hurting your productivity is true in spades about computer software.
• Watch that "need for speed." The latest computer models travel at warp-speeds of 400 to 600 megahertz. These higher speeds will get the job done more quickly. But a new computer will require customer support in configuring some software and other equipment to get the full benefit intended. And most software is not yet written to take advanatge of the new capabilities built into the latest processors.
• Make technology part of your business. Information technology is evolving at a breakneck pace. Take time to become familiar with it. Computer and software companies are waking up to the home office/small office market as their economic future.
• Seek out support rather than stumble along. If time spent de-bugging computer and equipment problems is jeopardizing your business, even with good technical support from your hardware or software vendor, call in an outside expert to help untangle things.