by Mark W. Pemburn
Today, nearly every small business in the United States has at least one computer and quite often several
of them. Frequently, the computers are purchased without a clear idea of how they will help the business
with its day-to-day operations, just a strong feeling that it's important to be "computerized".
In this article, we'll explore some typical office automation scenarios to give you a better grasp of how to
choose what's right for you.
Beyond the Spreadsheet
When business owners want to get a handle on "the numbers", they will often set up a spreadsheet
using a program like Microsoft Excel or Lotus 1-2-3. This is a marvelous tool to layout a quick overview
of things and, once you see their usefulness, it's tempting to use spreadsheets for every aspect of your
business. It brings to mind the adage, "When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem looks
like a nail." As useful as it can be, the spreadsheet is only a beginning.
Three Approaches
There are three basic approaches to automating your business:
- Using off-the-shelf software
- Purchasing a vertical market application designed for your type of business
- Having custom software written specifically for your company
Each approach has its strengths and weaknesses and it entirely possible to create a mix of two or three of the
elements. Let's look at each in detail:
Off-The-ShelfMany of the problems of
business can be adequately addressed with off-the-shelf (or "shrink wrapped") software.
Packages such as Microsoft Office - which provides word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software -
are nearly universal and can cover a variety of common needs. If you have someone in your office with
a good grasp of the Office suite, it's quite possible to craft a completely usable system to cover your most
common tasks. The liability to this approach is that you can be left in the lurch if that person
leaves - or even if they are out sick at a crucial time. If you feel you can get away with using
off-the-shelf software, make sure you have available at least one other person who understands the systems
for such emergencies.
Vertical Market Applications
Since the beginning of the PC revolution, software companies have sought to address the specific needs of a
variety of businesses. The typical vertical market (VM) application starts life as a custom program for
a single business that the programmer then expands to address the similar needs of all businesses in that
same line. There are, for example, programs for restaurant management, doctor and dentist practices,
landscaping, the funeral business and on and on. Under the best circumstances, a vertical market application will match your business model exactly. In the majority of cases, some tweaking is necessary, either to the software or to your way of doing things. A well-designed software system has enough flexibility to accommodate the minor (and sometimes not so minor) differences that exist even between companies in exactly the same line of work. Curiously, at the very highest end of business software (e.g., SAS or PeopleSoft), businesses are required to change their modes of operation to conform to the software. Often, vertical market software is designed to share information directly with major accounting programs. This is a big plus because it ensures that the numbers will match in every place you track your transactions.
A less attractive aspect of VM applications is the cost. While overall software prices have dropped in
recent years, it's not unusual to find a VM package that costs over $1000 per seat. That is to say, you
must pay a fee for each computer you install the software on. On top of this, most software companies
have come to the view that it's no longer feasible to offer free help when problems occur so you must either
sign up for a yearly "maintenance contract" or pay-as-you-go when you have difficulties.
Custom Software
Originally, custom software was all that existed. By the time PC's became popular in the late 1980's,
the bulk of all software was off-the-shelf and most PC early users accepted this as the new way of the
world. But even from the earliest days, PC users found ways of harnessing the primitive programming
tools that came with DOS (BASIC and "batch" commands) to create usable business applications.
As time went on, more sophisticated programming languages became available and a whole industry of custom
application development grew up around them. It is now quite possible for even the smallest business
to have a custom program that meets their exact needs without breaking the bank. And, because of the
techniques of "rapid application development" (RAD), you can work with the programmer to develop
your project a piece at a time until it does what you need it to do.
Of course, not all programmers are created equal. Many PC programmers are self-taught and, while there is
nothing wrong with this per se, they often lack the discipline that trained programmers can bring to bear
on a project. Although the end user of a program has no way of knowing this, the "hidden" parts of
a program (the source code) could look like anything from a Swiss watch to a bowl of spaghetti. The spaghetti
model might work exactly the way you need it to for years but come the day you need changes or upgrades, the
software that holds the keys to your business could turn out to be impossible for even the original creator to
untangle. You are left with a mess of cold noodles.
How to Decide?
Even armed with a knowledge of what software is available, it can be a grueling task to sort out the options
and pick a solution that you will be able to live with for many years. Your best ally in this can be
an independent consultant. He or she must be able to understand enough about your business to do
well-informed research into what is available and then translate the results into terms you can grasp.
The consultant should not try to steer you into the choice they think is best but rather, to listen and
learn what choice is best for you.
It's also important to remember that your problems are not
over once you have that shiny new software installed on your machines. Each software package, no
matter how "intuitive" has it own learning curve, its frustrating idiosyncrasies and, occasionally,
serious bugs. If you have employees who will be using the software, they will need training but more
importantly, they will need to "buy in" to the idea of changing their habits to accommodate the new
way of doing things. Here again, a competent and experienced consultant can smooth the transition and
take the pressure off you.
I hope this article has taken some of the mystery out the notion of automating your business. While
it's impossible to treat the specifics of the process in this context, I invite you to contact me to
discuss your needs and what might be done to meet them.
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