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Software for Your Company(Do you change your own oil?) |
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Before you can choose software for your company, you have to figure out what kind of business owner you are. You may be the kind of person that changes your own oil because (1) 5 quarts of oil cost $1.25, and (2) the filter is $4.75, so for $10.00 you can change your oil and, at the same time, see the condition of the engine, check the fan belts and look for any problems with tire wear and steering linkage. You personally know the condition of the car and you saved $14.00 instead of having a quick lube service change the oil. If this is a good description of you, then you want software that gives you total control over every step of the way, for example, Excel, Word or Access. These off-the-shelf products allow you to “roll your own” solution. You can control every step and check every issue so you know of any problems. You are in control.
If a new report is needed or you need to find out which customers generate the most sales, you can go into the files, find the right fields, and select and sort the results to create the list of your top customers the way you want it. By creating your own solution, you are in control, and you have saved hundreds or possibly thousands of dollars in the costs of buying a software package.
This do-it-yourself approach has helped make many business people successful, and if it is a good match for you, then trust your past experience. You have come to depend upon the process of doing the work to know how your business is running. A story I like to tell is about a business owner who sat at a desk at the entrance to his business. He would spend the day opening the mail and looking at the checks. In the room next to him, through an always-open door, were several office workers that would go through a manual card file and write invoices for any customer who needed one. They would write out the invoice, update the card file and put it back in the file. The owner judged the state of his business by how much money came in, and how many invoices were being written. He knew, by the sounds of office activities, if things were going well or if business was slowing down.
When his business was automated, each day the owner received a single report that listed receivables coming in and new sales and amounts of invoice activity. He then complained that he had spent all this money for automation, and the computers did not tell him anything about his business! All that money and effort was wasted.
The owner had learned to listen for the phone activity, talked to customers and saw the comings and goings of the employees. Over the years, these sounds and activities flagged him to changing business conditions. The reports were just sheets of papers and numbers. The reports were different tools than what he was use to using. To be of benefit, he would have to spend significant personal time and effort learning how to use the new tools.
For this business owner, the benefits of staying with his own methods and tools were that he was comfortable and able to run the business. The downside of this choice is that the business could not grow past his ability to manage it with these tools, nor could he (and his business) benefit from the extra time and freedom of having someone else change the oil.
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