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 suffer 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 salesteam to the technical staff using GoldMine. "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 Gold-Mine, Compdisk organizes all its documentation for clients and vendors in the same file, maximizing the company'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 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: <i>Entrepreneur</i>'s Complete Guide to Software.