Entrepreneur's Complete Guide To Software Paralyzed by all the software choices out there? You're not alone. How to choose the software your business really needs.
By Mie- Yun Lee
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
What? You don't have time to track all the latest developmentsin software? For an entrepreneur, researching changes ininfor-mation technology often takes a remote back seat to theday-to-day tasks of running a business. And that's probably theway it should be. But believe us-it pays to take a hard look at thesoftware your company is using.
In this year's "Entrepreneur's Complete Guide toSoftware," we've examined software products in 16different categories. Some of these products won't change theway you do business. If antivirus and utilities software programsare doing their jobs, for example, you shouldn't even noticethey're there. However, a number of these categories includesoftware that has the potential to improve client relationships,streamline finances, replace expensive hardware or revamp yourdata-handling. In short, these products are designed either to givea nice push to your company's productivity or just to save youmoney; in some cases, you'll get the best of both worlds.
Small companies have to make the most of their resources, andsometimes that means people have to focus on areas in which theyhave little knowledge. From accounting to Web site design, softwarepackages can eliminate the need for training or experience. Theright software could be your com-pany's best friend.
Exciting, isn't it? But before you rush off to buy a bundle ofsoftware, keep in mind that you have several factors to considerother than just the capabilities and costs of the software. Yourselections should be based on your company's size, industry,internal organization, computing environment, technical expertise,and, of course, the ever-important user interface. Even a -greatproduct can end up being a nuisance if it's not intuitive toyou as a user.
Mie-Yun Lee is the founder and editorial director ofBuyer Zone, the Internet purchasing hub for smallbusinesses.
Where Do I Start?
First, re-evaluate your company's staple software. For eachprogram, draw up a wish list of features or enhancements that wouldmake using the package easier. Often, the solution may be as simpleas an upgrade to the latest version available. If not, consider theoptions in our listing.
Second, take a good look at your business and pinpoint thoseactivities that take more time than you'd like-the ones thatmake you mutter to yourself "There must be somethingout there that can do this quicker than I can." No doubt,there probably is. For that matter, think about those activitiesyou never seem to have time to do. From tools for creating Websites to time-billing software, new products could providebrilliant solutions to problems you haven't yet resolved. Makesure, though, that the solutions are worth the money and timeyou'll have to spend to implement them successfully.
Then it's time to try and buy. Check out the Web sites for thesoftware companies we've listed on our software chart-often,they'll let you download demos that can help you better gaugehow easy their products are to use. If a demo version isn'tavailable, there's usually a detailed online tour that givesyou a lot more information than a paper-based brochure. And beforeyou buy the package outright, check with the software company tosee if it's bundled with other software or equipment that youmight be in the market to buy anyway.
Get ready to dive in-a host of products awaits you . . .
Good As Gold
To get something out of software, notes Lauren Leifer, president ofCompdisk Inc., you usually have -to put something in. But as Leiferknows, what usually needs putting in is time-a precious commodityfor any entrepreneur.
When Leifer realized the employees at her media replication,product fulfillment and distribution company needed a better way toshare client information, she definitely didn't want to suf-ferthrough a lengthy set-up process. -She picked GoldMine as hercontact-management software with that concern in mind. "Wecould jump right into it and use it the way it was," saysLeifer.
At Compdisk, a $4 million Chicago company, Leifer has everyone fromthe production crew and the sales -team to the technical staffusing Gold-Mine. "We use it for all our internal e-mail, andwe use it to e-mail out," says Leifer. "It links oure-mail to whatever documentation we want." Through GoldMine,Compdisk organizes all its documentation for clients and vendors inthe same file, maxi-mizing the com-pany's ability to share andlink information.
By now, Leifer has successfully encouraged her partner company inCanada and several of her client companies to purchase GoldMine aswell. Using the software's remote-synchronization features,Leifer and the companies she communicates with can share anyinformation stored on the system.
Leifer seems assured that she made the right choice. And whyshouldn't she? She's found that perfect balance betweenmaking the most of her software and making the most of hertime.
Add It Up
For years, Grace Jordan relied on bookkeepers to manage thefinances for her now-10-year-old firm, Sonic Image Ltd., a CarolStream, Illinois, manufacturer's representative for a companythat creates equipment to add audio to video products. When hermost recent bookkeeper moved to another state, a client gave hersome invaluable advice: "You should try MYOBAccounting."
Five years later, Jordan is delighted she listened to that advice.With the help of MYOB, the tasks that used to require a full-timeemployee now use up just a small fraction of Jordan's workday."MYOB doesn't leave any blanks," says Jordan. "Ifill in the amounts and it's done, it's down and it'sprinted."
A rather blasé approach to accounting for someone who'snever even taken a book-keeping course. In fact, Jordan, who spentalmost 40 years working in advertising before moving on to theaudio industry, didn't even need training to figure out how tocustomize the MYOB software to her needs. The product'sfeatures allow her to do such accounting tasks as billing clients,tracking sales, doing year-end taxes and paying bills with--outmuch hassle at all. "The -computer does the thinking forme," she notes. "Now I can get on with doing what makesme money."
It seems Jordan is doing just that: Her company's sales are nowat approximately $6 million, and showing no signs of slowing down."For the record," Jordan adds, "I've got a lotto learn-and I'm enjoying every minute of it."
It's A Print
When Cliff Carle heard his friend's hilarious homemadeanswering machine message back in 1983, he decided to one-up himand create a funny message of his own. The competition that ensuedended only when Carle and his friend decided to turn theirmessaging fun into a collection-and to start a company to publishit. CCC Publications was born in Chatsworth, -California, when itprinted its first book: No Hang-Ups: Funny Answering MachineMessages.
No Hang-Ups met with nationwide popularity, and Carle andhis partners decided to expand the company. CCC now publishes 30titles a year, mostly humor books.
For covers and interiors to the books CCC publishes, Carle worksclosely with graphic designers. And the key to those relationshipsis flexibility-which Print Shop Pro, Broder-bund's desktoppublishing software, affords him in spades.
"I need to be able to make instant changes-larger images,smaller images, different colors, take something out, put it backin," Carle says. Print Shop Pro gives him the speed to makehis changes in a flash, but not at the expense of advanced imagingcapabilities. "The easy-to-use gradient tool lets me createimages that seem three-dimensional."
Print Shop Pro can print right to film format, so Carle doesn'thave to fuss with a complicated process. The former stand-upcomedian would rather be finding the next book to make peoplelaugh.
Automation For The Business
Mike Buzzie is all about automa-tion: "If I have to dosomething twice, I want the computer to do it." As presidentand founder of Northern Computers Ltd., a computer hardware storein Thunder Bay, Ontario, Buzzie knows computers like the back ofhis hand-and he knows what he wants from them.
After 10 years of kindly doling out morsels of advice to those whosought his technical expertise, Buzzie decided to open his owncomputer hardware store in 1993. He tried a number of products tomanage his data, but none met his expectations for power and easeof use. Finally, he discovered Corel's Paradox.
"I found I could get up and moving on it very quickly,"he says. "I can bring up a form, go to the next, and do alook-up without having to write any code." The user-friendlyinterface was crucial for the product that would be the backbone ofBuzzie's company. "The database is probably our number-onetool," he says. "It's crucial for the day-to-dayoperations of our business."
Northern Computers has used Paradox throughout the firm'sexpansion over the past few years. Now heading up a team of 15,Buzzie attributes his success to two main factors: an exclusivefocus on computer hardware and an exhaustive attention to customerservice.
He plans to continue using Paradox. "I can grow withParadox," he says. "Whatever I want to do on a higherlevel, I'm able to do." And given what Buzzie expects fromhis software, that's no small feat.
With This Site . . .
Mike Budowski and his wife, Susan, run a Web-based company thatdreams are made of. OurBeginning.com, an Orlando, Florida, firmthat sells wedding stationery, took the Budowskis only seven weeksto launch and is look-ing at projected sales of $7 million in itsfirst year.
Mike has no qualms about giving due credit to the product thatfa-cilitated the site's quick development."Net-Object's Fusion has tremendous power," he says.Our-Beginning.com's development team selected Fusion afterevaluating the the company's projected timeline. "Fusionintegrated extremely well with Lotus Domino-giving us bothscalability and performance."
Every one of OurBeginning.com's several hundred pages wasgenerated with Fusion, which includes e-commerce enabling as partof its features. "The site speaks for itself," Mikeasserts. "It's high-end e-commerce. We were either goingto do it right or not at all."
It certainly seems they're doing it right. The friendlyinterface, which allows users to preview stationery options, isconstantly expanding. By year-end, OurBeginning.com even plans tooffer its site in several languages. The Budowskis will continue torely on Fusion as their business grows. This is, after all, onlythe beginning.
Contact Sources
CCC Publications, (800) 248-5233, cliffcarle@earthlink.net
Compdisk Inc., (800) 752-4371, http://www.compdiskinc.com
Northern Computers Ltd., (807) 623-7771, northern@tbaytel.net
OurBeginning.com, http://www.ourbeginning.com,mike.budowski@ourbeginning.com
