How to Choose Software for Your Company

I thought this was a excellent article about software for companies by Derek Both and I wanted to share it here, with you.

Because you need everything you can get your hands on to make your business a success, enterprise resourcing planning software may be helpful to you and your business. There is a type of software that you can use for almost everything; schedules, phone calls, purchase, invoice, shipping/receiving, employees, customer contact information, billing information and more.

You need to have easy access to all of this without downloading several programmes onto your computer which means that valuable space will not be taken up. Because the demand is different for every business your needs for a software may not be the same need of another. That is why you need to consider this software.

Because this software is great to provide all the above features you need software that will be personalised depending on your business. You don't want to waste your computer space on a program that you don't need. To make this software work for you, the business needs to be simplified and easy to maintain. When you use this software you can be sure that this software is right for you.

If you have more than one warehouse to control you may need to know the shipping, number of invoices, return stock, employees, trucks and other important features that make your job difficult when you need to call everyone and get the details.

How can enterprise resourcing planning software help your business? That is an easy question to answer. No one has the time to do all the personal details that it takes to keep track of everything. If we could find a system that could take care of that wouldn't it be more interesting to you to get the software and upgrade?

Enterprise resourcing planning software is one of the fewest software programmes that you can find to handle everything that you need. It would be nice if you had the time to sit around and call everyone in every different department and ask them about the information that you need to know about. That is why the software will do that for you. It doesn't make calls but it does work to duplicate all the information that is available.

Because enterprise resourcing planning software will work with any business, small or large you may want to go ahead and order it for all your business and home needs. There is no easier way to handle all your business information but thorough the enterprise resourcing planning software.

Plan for Profit in 2008 - Here’s an Easy 5 Step Method

This is a great blog I wanted to share with you by Kevin Stirtz the "Smart Marketing Guy" you can read more of his work by CLICKING HERE.

This time of year business owners, executives and consultants are (or should be) spending time looking ahead. We should be thinking what we want for our businesses in 2008.
But we all know many people fail to plan. There are as many reasons for this as there are (or used to be) hairs on my head. I used to think the biggest reason was time. Not anymore. I think the biggest reason people fail to plan is they’re not sure how.
Whatever you call it, strategic planning, business planning, year-end planning, it sounds important. It also sounds like a lot of work. It looms large as a big, complicated responsibility that a lot of people are not sure how to do.
So, to help you get started and have a successful planning session this year, here is an easy yet effective system you can use.
It’s focused on getting and keeping your customers. Some people might think this is too narrow. I think it’s perfect because if you’re focused on getting and keeping customers then everything else will fall into place. Your customers drive your business so they should also drive your planning.
1. Clarify your mission.
What does your business do for you (how does it make your life better)? What does it do for your customers (how does it help them get what they want)? What business are you in (product, service, industry or profession)? And finally, what are your measurable objectives for the next 12 months? (Revenue, net profit, growth?)
2. Identify your best market
Your best market is people who want what you do AND whom you can serve better than anyone else. It’s not enough to know who wants what you do. You need to focus on those you can serve best based on the resources and competitive advantages of your business. That enables you to serve them so well they come back and they tell others.
3. Create your message
How do you tell your market what you do for them? What can you say that they will want to listen to? Make it about them not you. Without a good clear message it will be much harder to attract enough customers to have a sustainable business.
4. Commit resources
Decide how much you will invest in helping your business meet the objective(s) in step #1. Measure this in time as well as money. Make it realistic but make it a stretch too. You don’t grow a business without making an investment.
5. Make it happen
Pick three ways you can deliver your message to your market based on the resources you’ve committed to investing. Then implement them religiously. Focus and concentrate your message on a group small enough so you can connect with them multiple times throughout the year. Track what you are doing and monitor the results. Build a process so you can see what actions (inputs) helps you achieve your objectives (outcomes).
Then follow Kevin’s Golden Rule: Do more of what works and less of what doesn't.

10 Rules for Writing Your Strategic Plan

Over the years, while perfecting my personal method of strategic planning, the method that became QuickPlanner Plus, I observed several rules that, when followed, achieved a better sense of success for me and those who followed them.

This information is excerpted from Bonus Report #1, which is available only to registered users QuickPlanner Plus.

But, in a truncated nutshell, I am sharing the first 5 of these rules here with you, today...

1. Define your Vision first. Yes, even for QuickPlanner Plus users, you must define your Vision
first. Not your objective or your mission or your strategy... no. What is your vision? When you close your eyes, or gaze up at the night starts, what do you see one year, two years, five years from now? When everything comes together for you, when your program is completed, what ideal world do you see?

This is your vision. Only when you have defined what you are wishing for, can you then define your objectives.

2. Objectives must be quantitative. Objectives must have quantitative values. It is great to say that you want to be the #1 Hot Dog Cart on 116th street, but that is not a true numerical
objective. So how do you define your objectives? Simple... just decide how MANY hot dogs you would have to sell to become the #1 Cart on 116th Street. That is your objective and it is much easier to measure and understand.

3. Share your objectives. Of any part of the plan, objectives are the easiest for others to relate to. Most companies see the mission statement or the vision as the catalyst for unity among the employees or the magic words that will create the "warm and fuzzy" among the VCs. But a mission statement cannot translate into dollars. Telling your employees that our goal is $50000 in sales in 3Q07 is much more motivational then just sharing the mission statement.

So share your objectives, early and often.

4. Keep the mission statement simple. Defining your mission statement is easy, if you followed rule number 1. What is a mission statement? It is a short term view of your vision. If you are a brand new company and your vision is "to be a global company with 20,000 employees serving 3,000,000 customers world-wide", your short term mission may be to "establish company
product and name as a reliable alternative to the competition with the best customer service".

See the difference? What is your purpose in the next 1, 3, 6, 12 month(s)? If your objectives are to sell 3000 widgets in 3 months. Then your mission may be "to guide customers through known and as yet unknown barriers to purchase widgets."

5. Keep it Simple Stupid! Yes, this rule works for strategic programs to. There is no need to pay
consultants hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend months and months to developing a short or long term plan. In reality, in this day and age of Fast Company
economics, plans must be living, breathing and flexible documents. Long term strategic planning is dead. Short term, simple visions, are what the future of planning is about.

By following these simple rules, your strategic plan will be well on its way to being a well defined plan for success.