Image via BusinessWeek
As a green business owner, you’re committed to making your business as successful as possible. However, with an abundance of possible ways to enhance a business, it can be difficult to decide exactly how to increase business performance. One useful way to acquire more clarity on the subject is to think of your business as an integration of numerous processes. Consequently, streamlining your business processes enable everything in your company to work faster and better.
Although this project may seem like a herculean undertaking, the work of figuring out how to make every aspect of your business run better has already been done for you. All you have to do is select the right software for the job. Your business will make a huge leap forward when you use applications specifically designed to improve business functions.
No doubt your business is already using business applications, but are your staff members still performing some tasks with old-fashioned paper processes, or doing work that could be better organized and automated with software? Or, perhaps you’re using more than enough software to run your business, but better alternatives are available. You’ll know you’re using the best business applications for a job if you can increase productivity, accuracy or quality.
Identifying Business-Critical Software
When it comes to business software, some are useful, while others are applications that today’s businesses simply can’t do without. This is especially true for larger businesses. Included in the list of business-critical software are field force management software, software for customer management and relations, HR software and accounting software.
- Field force management software
Field service management (FSM) is highly useful if you run a B2B business that installs, repairs or services specialized equipment, or a B2C business that services a particular brand of appliances. It enables you to better organize the work that your service technicians are rendering for your customers. Since the needs and demands of this type of work are constantly changing, software serves to keep things organized and running smoothly. Consequently, the primary advantage of this software is that it’ll increase overall productivity. Naturally, when you can provide faster, more effective service, your business will increase its profitability. By optimizing your field service operations, you’ll control labor costs, empower service technicians to order parts quickly and invoice customers in a timely manner.
- Software for customer management and relations
While sales, of course, is all about face-to-face interaction or communicating via a telephone conversation or email, the use of a business application can help nurture customer relationships.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software covers a wide set of features, and it can help your sales team interact with customers access relevant customer or business information, as well as automate the sales process as much as possible. This software makes it easier to improve customer relationships, increase cross-selling opportunities and enhance collaboration between the sales manager and sales reps.
By improving how efficiently your business serves its customers, it’ll provide a higher level of satisfaction and reduce client attrition. In short, it’ll make it easier for your business to increase revenue, decrease costs and make more profits.
- HR software
Having a robust Human Resource Management System or a Human Resource Information System in place ensures that daily human resource processes get done in a timely manner, because it makes it easy for HR staff to access employee data, their schedules, payroll and benefits. In short, it can enhance the productivity of the HR department. Additionally, HR software can automate a large number of functions that used to be time-consuming, paper-based processes, such as taking care of payroll or administering benefits.
- Accounting software
When it comes to managing your business finances, money moving in and out of your business has to be routinely recorded and processed. Consequently, every business, regardless of its size or business model, needs a dependable accounting system. Computerized accounting software offers many advantages over hand-written ledgers or accounts based on spreadsheets, simplifying many tedious tasks and providing a higher level of accuracy.
Accounting software is an accounting information system organized along familiar accounting categories; for instance, it offers modules for:
- · Accounts Payable
- · Accounts Receivable
- · General Ledger
- · Payroll
- · Trial balance
In closing, using the right business applications for your business can automate tedious tasks, cut costs, make your staff more efficient by measuring their productivity, streamline all of your business processes and increase communication with your partners, suppliers and customers.
