Often times, America's millions of small businesses, entrepreneurs and franchises, are so busy concentrating on running their businesses, it takes a toll on their technology and environment. With limited staff and hours in the day, these businesses tend to grow organically without a specific design or technology plan. Yet these things all play a role in how productive a business can be.

My wife Kathy and I started the Mad Science of Scottsdale franchise out of our home four years ago. An international franchise, Mad Science provides children's science education through fun, hands on experiments at schools, birthday parties, summer camps and more.

After two years of working out of our home, we moved into an office building where our business started to take off and grow around us - literally.

In lieu of file cabinets, we stacked piles of papers around the perimeter of our three-room office space. Furniture was an olio of donated items, pieces from home and things from the dumpster. And our technology was not working for us, but against us.

Our inkjet printers were very expensive to maintain, and aside from phones and e-mail, our means of communication with the outside world included a frustrating and time-consuming 12-year-old thermal fax machine.

Plus, we spent hours each week on visits to the local copy shop to produce course materials, handouts, registration forms, instruction sheets and promotional flyers-only to have to wait for things to be completed or corrected when there was an error.

This issues we faced are typical of many growing businesses.

With three full-time office workers and 12 science instructors, known as "Mad Scientists" to support, we did have a system, but it was flawed and required a lot of time and energy to make it work.

My priorities were to keep the business running while meeting with potential customers and selling our services. I knew that operationally our business could be better but wasn't sure how to change it and didn't think I even had the time.

We were fortunate to have help in our quest for productivity, as we were selected as the grand prize winner in Xerox Corporation's "Help! My Office is Obsolete!" office makeover contest.

We received a complete transformation, including new document technology from Xerox, office furniture from The HON Company and design services from Thom Filicia, interior design specialist, on the Emmy Award-winning show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."

The makeover turned out to be a real catalyst for growth for our business, raising our profile in the community, streamlining our work processes, empowering us with technology and enabling us to purchase a second franchise territory Ð doubling our business!

For the first time, we were comfortable in our space. We were even proud of it and started to invite potential customers - parents and principals alike - to our office. We even hosted a local Chamber of Commerce event here. Now, everyone who walks in immediately gets a sense of the type of business and people we are.

Finding the right technology and understanding how to make the right changes in your environment all play a role in how productive a business can be. Throughout the makeover process, we learned a lot about this and have advice to share with other franchise owners.

The work environment has a direct and positive impact on the effectiveness of employees, so design and technology should be used to build a more efficient environment, rather than act as barriers to success.

Your office is more than just a backdrop to the work taking place. It's a primary contributor to the success of your business. Proactively managing the physical layout and the implementation of needed technology will help support organizational goals and attract better employees.

People can work anywhere; however they're more inclined to want to work together. Different settings with different features allow people to work the way they need to. It's important to have individual workspaces, as well as shared home bases, group spaces, up-to-date technology, networks, and environmental control.

Instead of each person having their own all-purpose workstation, fax, computer, printer and storage and perhaps a small meeting area, each of these things is located inter-dependently.

In addition to public spaces like libraries, conference rooms, shared storage, a kitchen and shared equipment space, private spaces should be provided within an organization for employees to separate themselves from their workgroup when needed.

Depending on your type of business, number of employees, office space and work habitats, your design and technology needs will vary.

When approaching the design of an office, ask yourself these questions: Is this space for an individual or for a group? Is this a dedicated or shared space? Is this space open or closed? Bottom line: What is the space used for?

What can be done in terms of design is directly related to the available resources and how much can be invested to make the improvements. However, if you understand the people and information flow of the business, you are well on your way to understanding how to create maximum efficiency.

Even the most minor and affordable changes can make a difference. It worked for us in our franchise business, and it can work for you. As small business owners, we wear many hats. One of those hats is acting as your company's IT manager when new technology is needed.

Before our makeover, I didn't realize the bevy of technology options available to small businesses. Now, I realize things like color printing and document management software are actually affordable.

It's all about finding the right mix of technology and making sure solutions are scaled to the size of your office. When this is done, it can mean big boosts in productivity for small businesses.

Easy access to the right technology is one of the most critical factors impacting workplace quality. In order to optimize IT, businesses need to focus on the information the technology is managing. It's the information - moving in and out of organizations in documents - that generates new ideas and drives decisions.

However, the costs that lie in the production, distribution and use of documents are often a hidden, overlooked and misunderstood aspect of business cost and productivity. Businesses that improve the way they work with documents improve the way they do business - resulting in additional benefits to the bottom line.

Not all businesses are the same, yet all should consider the following if they want to achieve greater productivity:

Don't Assume, Assess: People spend up to 40% of their workday creating and looking for information in documents. Take the time to assess how your people create, share, store and access documents.

Working with Xerox we were able to identify thousands of dollars worth of direct and indirect costs associated with document output, as well as uncover hidden opportunities to cut those costs and eliminate wasteful steps.

We were spending so much time and money outsourcing documents to copy shops, we immediately realized the benefits of owning a multifunction system in-house to meet our copying, printing, faxing and scanning needs. In our first month with the MFP, we printed and copied upwards of 15,000 pages. It has changed the way work flows through our operation.

Remember the People: So much money is spent on technology without considering the impact it will have on employees. To ensure new technology is deployed most effectively, consider work habits that will be affected, and train employees so they understand how the implementation will integrate with your current processes.

The most important thing to do is to use your imagination. Creating an office environment that supports the way people and teams actually work should be viewed as an opportunity, not a challenge. Making even small changes in design and technology can result in big improvements in productivity, worker performance and collaboration.