As your business grows, your operation will become more complex. You'll work with more clients and provide more products and services. Growth means that every business task will be performed more often. To sustain your rate of growth and remain profitable, you must use technology to automate your business. Use these tips to successfully invest in technology.
Every business should write and maintain a procedures manual.
If you decide that technology can help you streamline your process, you can use enterprise software requirements gathering to determine what you need.
You have some variables that make your billing more complex. You offer a discount to customers who pay within 10 days. The discount has to be manually input when your accounting area creates the invoice. You also need to carefully track the dollar amount of purchases each customer orders each month. That information is used to offer a quantity discount, based on orders placed in a given month.
You need billing software with these features:
An investment in technology can streamline your business processes and generate big cost savings. If you think through your software requirements, you can make smart decisions about technology.
Deciding what you need
To make an intelligent decision about a software investment, you need to know exactly what you need. Specifically, you need to understand what your current process is and how you would like the process to look using technology.Every business should write and maintain a procedures manual.
The manual should address every routine task your business performs. Your manual documents the person who performs the task and where all the required documents are filed.
By creating a procedures manual, you eliminate any confusion about how the task should be performed. Your manual is also a great training document for your staff. It�s critical, however, that you update the manual for any changes in a particular procedure. That will ensure that everyone is using the correct procedures to perform the task.Your software requirements
Some businesses need a software solution for a task that is performed with several different computer applications. Other tasks may be performed manually with some computer use. In both cases, the company would operate more efficiently with a single software tool.If you decide that technology can help you streamline your process, you can use enterprise software requirements gathering to determine what you need.
A billing system
Say, for example, that your billing process has become difficult to manage. Your billing department takes some orders by phone and others by email. Each order is manually input into a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet is emailed to the accounting department, which generates an invoice in the accounting system. An invoice is emailed the customer and also included with your product shipment.You have some variables that make your billing more complex. You offer a discount to customers who pay within 10 days. The discount has to be manually input when your accounting area creates the invoice. You also need to carefully track the dollar amount of purchases each customer orders each month. That information is used to offer a quantity discount, based on orders placed in a given month.
You need billing software with these features:
- Order input, accounting entries: The system allows your staff to input each order into a system that is linked with your accounting software. The sale and the receivable amounts are posted to the accounting system automatically.
- Discount calculation: Your accounting area can use the software to set up discounts on invoices for timely payment.
- Quantity discounts: The software tracks the total dollar amount of products ordered by each customer. The system alerts the accounting area when a customer is eligible for a quantity discount. The discount can be calculated and posted to the invoice with a single click.
An investment in technology can streamline your business processes and generate big cost savings. If you think through your software requirements, you can make smart decisions about technology.
