Entrepreneurs often experience a strange disconnect when it comes to technology companies. They're inundated with hype about hot new products but often have a devil of a time getting good service or information about what's right for them.

James Staten, a small-business and technology expert at Dataquest, a unit of the Stamford (Conn.) Gartner Group, says the small-business owner's time has come. With the large-company market for hardware and software saturated, technology sellers are already beating their way to entrepreneurs' doors. His advice: Don't be snowed by techno-babble. Buy from someone who speaks your language.

San Francisco-based Staten, who was in New York the week of Oct. 5 for the Internet World technology exposition, talked with Business Week Online's Jeremy Quittner about this and other technology issues facing small businesses. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation:

Q: What is the importance of having an Internet presence for small businesses?
A: It started out as sort of a hyped message sent to small businesses, where with a Web site, you can be as big as a big business because on the Internet you all look the same size. And that was the draw, initially. You can be global. You don't have to be local. But as many small businesses will tell you, "Oftentimes my advantage is that I am local. Because if I am in Kansas City and I am getting calls from San Diego, I can't really service these guys." Now we are getting the idea of communities within the Internet -- and how do you present yourself in such a way that you represent that community?

Q: How much should a Web site cost these days?
A: If you want a presence -- HTML and maybe some nice graphics -- you are looking at between $15,000 and $30,000. You can get away with a lot less if you are in the graphics business. There is a perception [the cost] is going up. Now they are throwing Java in there and new applications, and now they are starting to throw [in] E-commerce. And with E-commerce, the cost can really start to skyrocket.

Q: Is Apple, and more specifically the iMac, suitable for small business?
A: Apple is a strong value for someone who is starting out with a small business for the first time. Take a look at what your relationship is going to be. If you think your system will be fairly isolated -- "just us, we are the only ones in the company who need to be on the system, and I don’t have to rely on a third party to buy products from or sell products to" -- then I could probably be happy with Macintosh. I won’t run into compatibility issues, because everyone in the same office can all be on Macs and all be on the same version of Office. The ease-of-use level is a huge advantage. q

Q: How about the iMac specifically. Would you buy that for a small business?
A: The iMac is actually good for business in the same way that the NetPC is good for business. If you have people in the business who you really don’t want having access to the assets of the company, or the ability to take those assets at home with them at night, iMac is great because there is no floppy drive. It would be fairly difficult to mess up the system and fairly difficult to get into the system. A customer service station? The iMac is perfect for that. But if you plan on running your business all day on the iMac, you probably will run into frustrations really quickly.

Q: Should small-business people, given all the time required, stand aside until the Web has figured itself out?
A: I would suggest that small businesses don't want to stand back from this stuff. All of this technology is difficult. But if you don't communicate back to the [technology] industry what is wrong, the industry won't respond.

Q: How does the looming prospect of recession change the mix of things for small businesses and technology?
A: I think a lot of small businesses will be more hesitant to make those investments but at the same time will realize if they can't rely on their local market, they will need to start expanding. And the cheapest way to do that will be through the Internet. So there will be a lot of experimentation and low-cost toe-in-the-water experimentation.

Q: So it might be the time to accelerate experimentation with the Web a little bit?
A: Just like the stock market, it might be a great time to buy -- when everyone is getting out. But do you have the cash to do so? ... This might be a good time if you want to figure out how to build and manage a Web site.

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