130962 Resource 102302 102466 102466 1150333295256 1150333295256 Controlled The Small Enterprise Crosses the Chasm

Taking the step from off the shelf software to a serious system

In my role as a consultant I do everything in my power to help owners and managers of Small Enterprises manage their growth from an Information Technology standpoint. This blog is case in point. I admit that it's self serving to some degree, but I also happen to like writing and with any luck a prospect will find my posts before he or she finds me and I can give them some notion of what I'm all about. If nothing else they may leave with a slightly better idea of where they want to go next.It's not easy to educate the small enterprise owner about technology. First, I have a stake in the game so they do not always trust my objectivity, and second because I often have to walk a fine line between educating and sounding like a know-it-all. But technology can be a school of hard knocks, as most business owners will attest. Hopefully I can help to prevent some of the pain.Well, that's a long introduction to the topic that I want to get to this evening, which is what to look for in a system to replace the off the shelf software that you are currently using. First, the system must run on one of three databases: Oracle, IBM or MS SQL Server. Accept no substitutes. Anything else, including proprietary databases and especially Access, is a waste of time and if there is one thing in an entire system that can cause you enormous grief it's the database. If nothing else, the database that the system uses will tell you a lot about the company selling to you. A serious database means the company is serious about doing business and being in business. Access means that they took a shot to see what might happen and they're still not sure.Second, when the salesperson starts to talk about interfaces, or integration as they now brazenly call it, remember all of your other life experiences: Nothing that's cheap is ever easy, and nothing that's truly easy is ever cheap. Interfaces are difficult to do and a good one is expensive. There are not set rules in System Integration work, however an interface ought to be between two like systems, for example an e-commerce database with purchase transactions and an accounting system. Again, keep in mind your life experiences; you wouldn't mate a dog with a cat, so if they start talking about moving data from emails to your accounting system run for the hills - this is an alien life form on its way. Third, understand the basics before you purchase. Salespeople are sitting in front of you, perhaps with a technical person beside them, and many of them have a lot of experience. Frankly I have never had the owner of a small enterprise ask me "Why do they call them applications," but most people don't know why, and it's not simply a trivia question. When you understand the answer, that the machine has an operating system, the database sits on the operating system, the applications apply data to the database using a set of forms built specifically for the data model, you are way ahead of the game. Once you start to break down the system in this way you can start to see other things that will interest you and help you to ask further and better questions. Fourth, don't kid yourself, a serious system requires a serious approach. If you want to continue to focus on your business without having to spend further resources on IT staff then you had better find a way to outsource maintenance. On-demand software might be a really good idea. But if you plan to come in house with a serious system expect to have a full time IT staff on hand to manage it. Fifth, remember, you're changing systems because you know you business can be better - more efficient, faster to market, better customer service, better cash flow, more profitable - if you change in your system. But most companies that I see no sooner make the decision on a new system than they start to implement the same broken business processes and ball of spaghetti in the new system that they hated in the old system. You are changing, so change. For gosh sakes, you opened a business, you made payroll, you built the animal into something the market recognizes. You don't know fear and trepidation, you cause fear and trepidation. Move forward like you mean it in the new system and make some changes. Let the users cry a little, a little pain is good when you're getting in shape.Small and medium enterprises have a great opportunity today to take advantage of high end computing at a cost that was not possible just 5 years ago. But as in all major purchases the key is education. It's not enough to simply look a bunch of systems. This takes a lot of time and effort and will probably not bear good fruit. Instead ask yourself what values a new system must have in order to make your business better. Yes, values. Just like when you hire a new employee you want to try to ascertain what makes them tick. Skills are good but attitude is better and character is best. Same with systems. What are they made out of, what's their DNA, what's their target market, my business? Take some time and create a baseline: A system must have A through Z in order to meet our needs. Know you business processes and where you need to fix them or overhaul them. Know your people and who you can trust the new system to. This approach will bear good fruit 99 times out of a 100. 10 application/xml false crm erp integration interface small and medium enterprise total cost of ownership Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; T312461; YPC 3.0.1; (R1 1.5); .NET CLR 1.1.4322) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 tfoydel false true false false true 205861 false false true false false false true 102302 blog blogsite/SightLines/web