If you can lovingly call your small- or medium-sized business IT department "scrappy"--maybe you're both company president and network administrator--the right tools can make the most of your resources. Inventory auditing software can keep track of company hardware and software without taking your time from other tasks. You'll be able to keep track of assets, plus you'll gain valuable troubleshooting clues, such as an always-current list of software version numbers.

Who's gambling on big technology investments in this down economy? At first glance, you might not guess that it would be the Las Vegas Sands Company, the owner of the Venetian and Palazzo Resorts in Las Vegas and the Sands Macau in China.