Entrepreneur's Complete Guide To Software

To get something out of software, notes Lauren Leifer, president of Compdisk Inc., you usually have -to put something in. But as Leifer knows, what usually needs putting in is time-a precious commodity for any entrepreneur.

When Leifer realized the employees at her media replication, product fulfillment and distribution company needed a better way to share client information, she definitely didn't want to suf-fer through a lengthy set-up process. -She picked GoldMine as her contact-management software with that concern in mind. "We could jump right into it and use it the way it was," says Leifer.

At Compdisk, a $4 million Chicago company, Leifer has everyone from the production crew and the sales -team to the technical staff using Gold-Mine. "We use it for all our internal e-mail, and we use it to e-mail out," says Leifer. "It links our e-mail to whatever documentation we want." Through GoldMine, Compdisk organizes all its documentation for clients and vendors in the same file, maxi-mizing the com-pany's ability to share and link information.

By now, Leifer has successfully encouraged her partner company in Canada and several of her client companies to purchase GoldMine as well. Using the software's remote-synchronization features, Leifer and the companies she communicates with can share any information stored on the system.

Leifer seems assured that she made the right choice. And why shouldn't she? She's found that perfect balance between making the most of her software and making the most of her time.

This article was originally published in the November 1998 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Entrepreneur's Complete Guide To Software.