Choosing the right Small Business Software is one of the primary tasks for a small business. Every small business, and industry has specific business processes, and needs from a business software. There is nothing as perfect or best small business software, there is the right software for your business.
Identify Your Business Processes
Your first step is to identify the business processes. Start with making a very basic list of the processes. I will give an example from a small ecommerce business which sells tangible goods.
- Ordering from suppliers
- Receiving the goods to the warehouse
- Entering the goods into the inventory system (barcoding, data entry, physical storage, etc.)
- Photographing the goods, and digital editing
- Listing the items to the website
- Online Marketing, Promotion
- Customer Relationship Management “CRM”
- Sale occurs
- Email Management/Notifications (also newsletter management)
- Packaging and Shipping
This is a preliminary draft of business processes which occur at a small ecommerce business environment.
Core features of a small business software :
- Contact Management
- Sales Force Automation
- Inventory Management
- Purchasing and Vendor Management
- Productivity Tools
- Payroll and Employee Management
- Financial Management
- Time and Billing
- Fully integrated Web Store
- Order Management and Fulfillment
- Customer and Vendor Center
- Shipping Module
- Customization
Purchasing an all-in-one software is always a smarter choice for small businesses. After starting to use the software, it is harder and more costly to integrate new modules to the system, as well as training your staff.
Above is a core list of features for a small business software. But your business may need specific features/modules. Therefore you may be looking for an industry specific software, or customizations for your small business software, and on top of that, you also need to invest in quality computer hardware desktops.
