MSPNetworks Blog

Every business depends on some type of software, but some businesses seem to have an application for every single thing and it can be too much for employees or administrators to manage. So the question has to be asked: What is the right amount of software for your business? Today, we’ll discuss the types of software every business needs and how to determine what you need. 

Mandatory Software

Obviously, the choice to use certain pieces of software is dictated by your organization’s needs. For example, a manufacturer will need different software than a retail organization, but there are some applications that every business needs to simply run their operation. These titles include:

Accounting 

Managing your business’ finances is made infinitely easier by using software that is specifically designed to do so. Every business needs software that will allow them to keep their taxes in order, manage their payroll, and do general accounting. Let’s briefly go through the features of each application. 

Tax

The object of tax software is to properly track and manage your business’ tax liability so that you are able to pay your business taxes on time and in accordance with the law of the land. Since taxes are mandatory, having software that will allow you to know how much you owe over time is important.

Payroll

Your employees are at the center of everything you do. Ensuring they get their payment every pay period is important. A comprehensive payroll system will have payroll processing, direct deposit, tax filing, and compensation features that allow your HR department to do all that needs to be done in terms of payroll.

Bookkeeping

Keeping the books clean and clear of errors is essential to running a successful business. A good bookkeeping system will have invoicing options, asset amortization, bank reconciliation, and thorough report generation to ensure that your business can stay on top of its money. 

Time Tracking

Time is an asset you simply can’t get back, and for a lot of businesses managing time is the way they dictate efficiency and overall productivity. By being able to track all the time that every service or project takes, you can make critical decisions that will dictate how your business runs. 

Project Management

Project management software covers a lot of ground. Essentially you need a platform for your team to share files, communicate about projects, and give the project manager the ability to assign tasks and coordinate the different resources needed for project completion.

Productivity

Most businesses use word processing, spreadsheet platforms, and presentation tools as a part of doing business. Today, there are a few really useful cloud-hosted tools that provide these applications and more. 

CRM

Customer Relationship Management software allows customers a way to interact with your business and provides your workers a place to store and share information concerning those crucial customer relationships. It is an essential productivity tool for any service provider.

Security

All businesses will need to handle their operations securely. In terms of cybersecurity, there are a lot of digital tools that can be used. These include antivirus software, content filtering, and firewalls. 

That is just a fraction of the software that most businesses have. Here are some other applications that businesses use:

Communications

Being able to effectively communicate can make or break a business. Typically, businesses utilize a combination of mail, email, telephone, video conferencing, and online collaboration. Finding the right communications platform not only improves operational efficiency, it can do wonders for customer satisfaction as well.

Marketing

The right marketing and advertising can put your business in front of the type of people that are looking to buy your products or subscribe to your services. Today, there are many different applications that allow businesses to manage their social media, run campaigns, and target prospective customers.

Sales

Likewise, sales teams often have their own dedicated software to help them track leads, schedule appointments and keep track of their sales funnel. 

Miscellaneous

Most of the software your business uses will be listed under this moniker. Software like operating systems, networking software, and Internet browsers all need attention so as to not cause security problems for your business. 

We Can Help You Get the Tools You Need

With so many parts of your business having to be addressed with software, our knowledgeable technology experts can help you get the tools you need to effectively run your business. Give us a call at (516) 403-9001 to learn more. 

Unfortunately, technology is just a tool. It can do so much for your business, but there are times when your technology is getting older and it stymies the amount that you can produce. This degradation can have a stark effect on your organizational productivity from downtime, cost, and more. Let’s look at how you can identify variables that tell when your technology has to be replaced.

We know that implementing new technologies can be expensive and time consuming. It can hurt productivity in the short term and can be problematic for longer stretches if it isn’t remedied. This adds stress to an organization. This is why it is crucial that you know how to confront aging technology. 

How Can You Tell It’s Time for an Upgrade?

If you don’t know how to tell it's time for an upgrade, look for the following signs: 

Your Systems Slow Down

One of the telltale signs that you are going to need to buck up and invest in new technology is when your current systems start slowing. Applications might take longer to load, or they might just fail. Programs may not install and system resources may be eaten up by seemingly small processes. 

You Are Dealing with Significant Downtime

Everyone knows that downtime is costly. It’s worse than that I’m afraid. It’s extraordinarily costly and serves to keep employees disengaged with their work. If downtime is causing massive swaths of waste for your business, it is already past time to start shopping for new technology. 

Too Much Inefficiency

Even if your computing systems aren’t critically failing, they can be inefficient. If you can’t deploy new communication and collaboration tools, or the ones you have sputter and give employees a hard time, you probably need to start thinking about refreshing your technology. 

New Software is Incompatible

Software developers are always working on new updates, features, and patches to ensure that their products work for businesses. If you are using hardware that doesn’t run a certain type of upgraded software, or if you are using legacy software for things, you need a plan to upgrade. 

Your Customers Are Questioning Their Commitment to Your Product

No sign is more telling that you need to make some changes than an obvious loss of revenue. Obviously technology isn’t the only reason customers will fail to continue to do business with your company, but a lack of innovation is often cited by consumers as reasons to go shopping. One study found that 9-out-of-10 customers would consider shopping around if the company they traditionally did business with had poor technology. 

Let Go of Old Technology

If you would like to learn more about getting a much-needed technology upgrade at a price that you can afford, give the IT professionals at MSPNetworks a call today at (516) 403-9001.

Software makes business run: that is an undeniable statement. From the operations software that allows your business to manage and pay its people to the CRM that provides a pathway to communicate efficiently with customers, to all of the applications that it takes to conduct business in earnest, software plays a crucial role in your business’ success. 

A lot of software is developed for business purposes, but very few are developed with the small business in mind. This is logical because the more licenses of a software can be sold, the more money the developer will make. More than that, the software developed for use by a large organization will have the features that can help an organization cover more ground. 

Some of the differences between the two include:

• Audience - Obviously, enterprise software is developed for a large organization to be deployed by one. Since most large companies have a hierarchical structure, the software that is developed for them is going to address the needs of the groups involved. 
• Options - The software that is built for enterprise business will need to have more options than a stand-alone application will.
• Storage - Since enterprise software is dealing with a lot of sensitive data, alternative storage considerations have to be made. Today, more and more businesses are utilizing cloud computing because of the flexible amount of storage that is available. Enterprise businesses can scale up and back without having to count every penny, a luxury many small organizations don’t have. 
• Different process - While the creation of software is relatively the same, enterprise software carries with it a lot of customization as it needs to fix specific problems the enterprise has. This whole process includes integration and interoperability that is necessary to be a viable solution for enterprise business. 
• Scalability - Any good business expects some semblance of growth or redirection of company objectives. In software, that means being able to scale to the new reality of a business quickly. It’s the only way for the seamless operations and thorough reporting that enterprise demands. 

Using Enterprise Software for an SMB

This is where the whole thing gets tricky for the small business. Do you purchase an enterprise-level software and parse it down to fit your needs; or, do you make due with the consumer versions of the software needed?

It depends on a few factors:

1. If you plan on deploying software in the cloud, you may be able to get the best version of a software and kind of make it fit your business. Typically, these massive software platforms like Professional Services Automation (PSA) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) have all the functions that your SMB needs. 
2. You need to consider the cost. What is the cost to purchase the software, the licenses, the underlying hardware needed to run it, and all the other considerations that go into making technology decisions for your business. 
3. The differences between enterprise software and regular software may be noticeable but they are shrinking. Most organizations that use Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms are getting robust software as part of their monthly agreement. 

While a smaller business might not want to overspend or get something that is overkill, there are long term benefits in being able to grow and scale into more robust options instead of fumbling along and upgrading when you can’t take it anymore. Software is important so having the perspective of experienced IT professionals can help you get the tools your business needs to be successful. Give us a call today at (516) 403-9001.