Friday, May 30, 2008

Importance of small business software

The year is 1970. Mr. Miller from Tennessee has a set up a small business unit. There are 3 employees working under him. The business is functioning very well and the profits are on the rise. The three guys are experts at multitasking and handle most of the business tasks amongst themselves. 36 years later, Mr. Miller’s company has grown. There are about 350 employees working under him now.

But in the last few years, competition has eroded the performance of his business the way rust eats into the best of metals. He can’t figure out the reason. He still follows the best business policies. He sonly has reasonable expectations and more importantly, he still relies on manpower for most of his business related work. A meeting with a business consultant reveals the reason about the lackluster performance of his business within 5 minutes. He has hired too many people for tasks which can be automated by using business software. But he always thought that business software was useful only for large companies.

The current scenario

The above mentioned scenario is a real life case study that has been taken from one of the many small business surveys that happens around America. It is surprising, yet true that many small businesses still rely on manpower for tasks like accounting, contact management, sales management, lead generation and marketing. Even the companies who have shifted towards software are using a patchwork of applications that are nothing but a mere excuse for automation. This, at a time when small business software is available for just about any kind of business is not just surprising. It is alarming.

The SMB software market

2 Years after Mr. Miller shifted to using one of the leading small business software solutions; his business is back where it always was. He has reduced his expenses by almost 45% and the profits are on the rise. The business is more productive now and his team is working under one common platform that syncs all departments of his company. Are you like Mr. Miller and unaware of the benefits of using small business software?

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Small Business Accounting Software

If you believe in multitasking, then you are probably a result oriented and hardworking individual. But if you believe that multitasking means handling and managing several departments of your business single handedly, then you are not very smart. You must understand that you might very well be affecting the performance and the productivity of your business.

This is a common practice that I have seen in small businesses to be particular. One person acts as the CEO, the accountant, the marketing exec and the sales team. Sounds good but isn’t that effective.

This shouldn’t be an option to be considered at all now that there is specialized software in place for small businesses that automates most of the tasks that you would otherwise carry out yourself. Take small business accounting software for instance.

A brief glimpse

Most people are skeptical about managing their accounting and book keeping needs with software because they feel that it might be too tedious. But now there is accounting software that is modeled exactly on its paper counterparts.

Not only is it extremely easy to use but it is much more fast and effective. You can complete tasks like paying bills, generating reports, forecasting revenues etc with a few simple clicks. These are tasks that would otherwise consume a lot of your time.


Most of the accounting software has been designed with small businesses in mind. If you rely heavily on sales and orders via the internet, then you can look for accounting software that has built in e-commerce functionalities.

Seamless integration with existing tools and utilities, drag and drop features, free up gradation, quality customer support and cost effectiveness are other qualities that you need to look out for.

Tips for buyers

Many websites let you compare amongst the best accounting software in the market today. You can use these websites to gain a better understanding and compare various features of the software.