Setting Up Internet Cafe

• Formulate an idea of how you want to run your Internet Cafe and write it down, the different amenities and services you want to offer and the audience you wish to cater to.

• Research the feasibility of your plan in the area you wish to open your Internet Cafe. Look specifically at the demand for an Internet Cafe and competitors in the area and estimate how much money you will require as an initial investment.

• Create a comprehensive business plan. Enumerate every detail for your Internet Cafe from computers that you will need to purchase to the type of atmosphere you want to create to long-term operational costs. Incorporate the results from your previous market research and explain how your Cafe will stay afloat over time. Make sure to make it clear and understandable and be able to explain it to anyone, especially those who do not know the technical jargon.

• Obtain permits. Check with your local municipality for the types of permits required. Get a legal adviser if you don't know how to fill out the forms - better to pay small costs up front and have peace of mind than to have expensive complications down the track.

• Choose an Internet service provider (ISP) for your Cafe's Internet connection which will most likely need a higher grade, more robust connection than a normal household set up. Negotiate with the ISP as they may offer special deals for businesses, especially Internet Cafes.
  
  
• Design the layout to fit the space, and if possible, use a professional designer. Work with the designer so that they understand the special requirements of an Internet Cafe such as keeping food and beverage preparation and consumption from damaging computer equipment. Include an electrician in the design process to ensure that the infrastructure will be able to handle the load of all the electronic devices in your Cafe.
  
  
• Purchase all the necessary equipment according to your plan such as computers, network cable, routers, printers, crimping tools and RJ-45 jacks.
  
  
• Set up your Internet Cafe which includes all the construction and renovations, electrical work, network set up, computer and software installation, and security system set up as well as any other specialty services such as food and drink preparation.
  
  
• Hire and train any employees you will need. Not only should they be technically savvy, but also friendly and easy to work with.
  
  
• Promote your Internet Cafe in the neighborhood through fliers, advertisements in newspapers, word of mouth and any other marketing strategies to target your audience.
  
  
• Listen to and incorporate feedback from your customers. If they clamor for more bandwidth, inquire with your ISP, or if they complain about the amount of performance-degrading spyware, hire an expert to solve the problem. This is also an opportunity to expand your business into other areas such as color printing and copying or hosting computer game competitions depending on the demand in your area.

TIPS:

• Remember to always go the extra mile for your customers. The customer is your first priority.
• Your customers' job is to pay and your job is to serve them, making sure they are satisfied and being able to answer any of their questions.
• Continue to evaluate your performance as a business and keep track of what works and what does not.
• Anticipate and adapt to local conditions.

Warnings:

• Install a firewall on your router if it does not already have one to protect your network from worms, viruses and other outside attacks.
• Install some sort of basic network traffic monitors without invading your customers' privacy but at the same time, keeping an eye out for excessive bandwidth use.
• copyright infringement is a problem, educate your customers as to what is legal and what is not and consider blocking peer-to-peer ports if it gets out of hand.

Things You'll need:

• Business plan
• Computers (high-quality devices complete with monitors, mice and keyboards)
• Software (Operating systems, productivity software, gaming software)
• Networking equipment (routers, switches, cabling)
• Uninterruptable power supply (UPS) units to protect from power surges
• Furniture

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Set-up-an-Internet-Cafe

What is Internet Cafe?

An Internet Cafe serves up a bank of computers with high-speed Internet access for public consumption. The customer gets charged by the minute or the hour, or might purchase a monthly pass. The Internet Cafe might also serve food and beverages, but this isn't always the case. These Cafes peaked in popularity in the United States between 1995 and 2000, but have mostly been replaced by WiFi Cafes.

One breed of Internet Cafe that persists to a lesser degree is geared towards multi-player gaming, but generally Cafes were intended for surfing the Net. That could mean collecting email, doing research, or just cruising the World Wide Web.

Those who don't have computers at home are obvious potential customers for an Internet Cafe, while others might have computers but lack high-speed Internet access. It may be a lot quicker, for example, to download software or multimedia files onto a memory stick using an Internet Cafe computer, than to sit for elongated periods of time in front of a dial-up connection at home. If the Cafe serves coffee or other refreshments, better still!

An Internet Cafe is also handy for travelers who can stop in to check email, look up directions, or send off a message to loved ones at home. Other people may just feel like getting out of the house to sit and relax undisturbed in front of a computer in a comfortable setting. For people that don't have portable laptops, this is a nice option.

According to the online guide, Internet Cafe History, Londonite Eva Pascoe was the first to open an Internet Cafe in September 1994, called Cafe Cyberia. Reportedly instant publicity brought in heavies like Mick Jagger to invest in the enterprise. It wasn't long before Pascoe's idea was replicated. However, as early as 1991, San Francisco's SFNet offered a bank of networked computers that were first connected to a bulletin board and later to the Internet via a 2400 baud modem.

Although the Internet Cafe is still very popular in countries like India, wireless technology and the affordability of laptop computers has made Wi-Fi Cafes more ubiquitous in the United States. A WiFi Cafe transmits a wireless network signal throughout the premises enabling any customer to "hop on" using their own laptop with a wireless network card. Although these cafes are wireless, they are sometimes referred to as wired Cafes or "hot" after hotspots -- or places with wireless access.

Source: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-internet-cafe.htm

Internet Cafe Must have

When you walk into an internet cafe, what are the things you look for? Is it ambience? Do you ask how fast the computers and the connection are?

Needs

• Faster computers – It’s always logical to have the fastest computers in your area (against other cafes). Why? This is one of the single, most important factors to tell your customers that “hey, for the same price, I can give you a better gaming experience”. A decent computer is also one of the first things that new customers notice, so if you’re gonna splurge on the budget, do so with the hardware.
  
  
• Software / Content – What’s a great PC without great games or applications? Common sense. Showcase games that only your PC specs can brag about. Your PCs can play Crysis on high? Do it. Also, make sure you have the latest and best MMORPGs and software/apps for your customers.
  
  
• Connection – Lag will spread through your potential customers liek the plague. No one wants to play in a cafe where the connection is slow. Get the fastest line that your budget can afford. You won’t regret it.
  
  
• Hardware – Make sure that you have webcams, printers, photocopiers, scanners and maybe even a fax machine. The extra income derived from this will help in the long run
  
  
• Food - Gamers deserve the right nutrition. You don’t want customers to go out for food. Hey! They might not return. A good starter would be instant noodles, coffee, soda and energy drinks and then just make notes on what they want later.

Wants

• Ambience - Not to dark not to bright. Go to some cafes and you’ll see what I mean. The ambience must be conducive to work and/or play.
  
  
• Privacy – Cafe goers want privacy. Make sure that those nearby CANNOT see what they are typing or doing. Also, something like a board between users can protect sensitive information like usernames and passwords.
  
  
• Extra service – Do you have a loyalty program? This can be something as simple as a card which you stamp every visit and then they get free hours if they get enough stamps. These little VAS can slowly build your loyal customer base.
  
  

"Remember, even if you do all the above, I feel that the most important would be good customer service, be helpful, be courteous and ask your staff to smile!"

Source: http://gmtristan.com/internet-cafe-must-haves/

Internet Cafe Management

In old times, when computers were initially started to connect through Internet, no one thought of the networks which we observe these days in huge companies, libraries, hospitals and Internet cafes. Single computer connection was a huge discovery. But nowadays huge networks with large number of computers are managed with great efficiency and timeless manner.

These days, Internet cafes are reaching everywhere. They are becoming increasingly popular. With their ever increasing popularity, demand for extended networks has also risen. Internet cafes serve their customers various services ranging from gaming and Internet to drinks and foods. More important is to manage a large number of computers connected through Internet. User control and management is an important concern for Internet cafes. Managing Internet speed, Bandwidth, billing, user accounts and their protections and security etc. are the major concerns for every inter cafe. With these ever mounting issues faced by Internet cafes, several management softwares are introduced in market. These internet cafe softwares have made the life of Internet cafes quite easy. These softwares offer several features in just one package.

Internet cafe management software offer complete package with a bundle of features to manage your cafe at minimum cost and maximum efficiency. You don’t need to control each computer separately. You control and manage all user accounts from a single computer and that is the most attractive feature of these management softwares.

The cyber cafe software offers you maximum security. It restricts users’ access to system settings, control panel, computer local drives, and IE settings to ensure maximum security. Users are always asked for verification to start using computer and Internet.

Server application is run on a single computer which is used by the administrator and you can control and manage all the computers from this single computer. You don’t need to configure the software on all the computers. You can configure Internet Explorer settings, restricted programs and applications, user skins, security options, and pricing options from single computer. Hence it enables complete control on all the computers.

You can activate all the server functions i.e. locking and unlocking computers, shutting down, restarting and other checks.

Internet management software allows you to set different prices for different users and clients. Frequent users can get discounts. While you can offer mid night or dinner time discounts as well. Weekend specials can also be configured and set by this software. You can also set a minimum rate according to your own choice and options. You can also give your users some extra minutes of Internet free of cost.

The software generates prepaid tokens and time codes for every user. So a prepaid customer can log in and use the Internet until the time ends on his account. Users can also buy extra Internet hours or minutes. Logins are specified with their time codes and their expiry date as well.

The software generates user accounts in highly specified and customized manner. You can control each account independently. It even shows the account statistics in complete reports.

If the software does not have your language by default, you can add it by yourself. The software offers you language editor by which you can make your own language in the software.

Many thousand games are included in the software package, by default. So you do not need to learn about lots of set up wizards and other information. The software does it for you automatically.

It has built in license management system as well. It will distribute the license key when you ask for it. This feature makes the software cost efficient for you.

Source: http://www.articlespan.com/article/274875/internet-cafe-management-a-user-friendly-software

Techniques for managing profitable Internet Cafe

When operating a company such as Internet Cafe, whether it's a big Internet Cafe or small one, having the right software is really a must. Because you are facing a lot of continuing threats from hackers and non sophisticated consumers, protecting your company is essential. Two most important applications that you can invest in a business would be the payment and management software.

Two of the most essential challenges that an owner of an Internet cafe would be dealing with are:

1. Actual selling of usage time of your Internet Cafe computers as well as controlling them and

2. Protecting your computers from possible threats like malicious users, and other people who is not that familiar with using computers. They might alter any settings you set for your computers or they might damage your computer by visiting those sites or executing software that are not that safe.

One important feature that your cafe software must possess is the ability to bill the customer for the time they consume in using your computer. Billing should be depending on what you are offering, whether it's pre-paid time or as soon as the used time has been calculated. Internet cafe software must offer few basic programs that you can use which will make your billing simpler.

In busy cafe it's simply impractical to run around after customers and calculating the amount each of them has to pay. It may even be more impossible if you have computers located at another room. This will disturb your focus and total control in running your primary business. You also do not want to employ someone to watch over each of your computers either.

One major thing that you also need to ponder in operating an internet cafe is security. There'd be a number of people who will be using your computer from day to day and you are uncertain what they're doing in your computer. They might open web sites that can ruin your computer or they may open racy pictures on your computer, leave it there and then some kid will see it.

Some tips:

Install a basic set of Office applications that your clients can use in opening their Word, Excel documents and PDF files. This will make clients take more time doing something on your computers. You can also have basic imaging application aside from those default ones. These imaging applications must let your clients to open their photos, edit them and also print them. This will likely increase your earnings.

Major plug-ins such as Flash, Shockwave, and Real Player are important. Install them beforehand, so your clients will not even try to install anything themselves. This will also help secure your system, because nobody will attempt to install anything, you do not want.

Make sure that the printer, scanner (in case you have connected it) and CD writer software (if you happen to let your clients to burn CDs and DVDs) is installed on each of the computers and is the same for each system. If you ensure the software on all the systems is similar, maintenance will likely be much easier.

Having a system restore program installed on all the computers in your cafe is also essential. If you happen to have a system crash, you will be able to get your system in 10 minutes or less, which is a huge deal.

Installing anti-virus program on each of your computers is also one of the most important matters that you should consider for your cafe. This will secure your computers from virus infection, malware and spyware that may cause damage. You'll find loads of free anti virus packages and there are a couple of them that are really good. Usually you do not need anything more than that.

Install and configure a firewall on all computers as part of your cafe software to make sure that your computers are protected from any potential threats caused by hackers. Firewall tracks all incoming and outgoing network traffic when you're online and only allow those trusted connections.

Source: http://technology.ezinemark.com/cafe-software-7-techniques-for-managing-profitable-internet-cafe-plus-some-gravy-on-top-31e7ca46901.html