Thursday, November 30, 2006

User Designed Applications An Evolution in the Business Software Industry has Arrived

Over the past few years, businesses have clearly increased their expectations toward the software industry. According to a recent study by McKinsey & Company and the Sand Hill Group business professionals have come to expect the functionalities of software to fit their unique processes. This is a shift from the past, in which the consensus was that software was not adaptable, meaning the end user must adjust to a set of provided functionalities. Since all software was hard coded and finalized as one product to be used by a diverse multitude of people, it was not expected to fit the exact needs of any particular organization perfectly.

The cost of developing software was also once too high for most companies to fathom designing custom applications. Lately, it has become a more realistic option. Research indicates companies have increased their spending on internal development projects relative to packaged purchases over the past five years. Businesses want more control over their applications, and are willing to spend a lot of money to get that control.

Nevertheless, custom-built applications still have their own set of limitations. Unlike off-the-shelf software it is not readily available. The design process typically takes months, and is then followed by a lengthy implementation process and about a year of working all the bugs out of the newly-developed system. This poses a problem for companies searching for a time-tested, reliable system or a system that can be available in a short time frame.

After much trial and error in the software industry it is now apparent that what is really needed is a reliable, flexible, powerful and user-friendly platform for building custom business software. Business professionals demand functionalities that diverge from typical project management inquiries. They are presented with unique needs in the application process flow, user interface, forms, business rules, workflow and access control of the application. Often times, companies have a well-developed, proprietary business process, best practice or methodology providing a competitive edge, and seek to maintain and enhance it with custom business software.

Business professionals must control their applications' capabilities, evolution and lifecycle. This cannot be achieved with custom software developed by outsourcing, or even an IT Department. There is an enormous loss of knowledge when it is communicated from a business-minded individual to a developer. Industry journals are full of horror stories of failed custom development projects. It is too common to hear of a solution delivered much later than promised, and systems that do not fit the business users' needs. It is difficult for technical-savvy software developers to truly understand the needs of a business mind.

Over half a decade ago work began on the first platform to allow business users to fully customize and build powerful, fully-functional business applications. Today, Interneer Intellect fills the business user's need for control. Its Instant Application Framework empowers the business user to generate applications instantly, without programming. Just as DELL pioneered PC sales by providing mass customization by the end user, Interneer, Inc. allows even those with the most basic technical skills to create custom, changeable business software solutions. Developers refer to the concept behind business software platforms such as Interneer Intellect as the "Holy Grail" of software development: placing the power of the developer in the fingertips of the business user. We are witnessing a true evolution in the business software industry.

Public instant messengers are not safe for business

Efficient communication is one of the key components of the overall success of any company, be it a small family shop or a humongous multinational with thousands of employees. Proper communication models save time and resources, and make for faster business cycles, thus improving the performance indices of your enterprise and, therefore, increasing the revenue. Businesses of various scales often overlook specialized corporate LAN communication suites and opt for the widely available instant messaging software, such as MSN, ICQ, AOL and Yahoo IM's. Although it may be the most apparent approach to building a large-scale corporate communication system, it contains quite a lot of flaws and potential dangers that are not to be underestimated. First and foremost, Internet IM's are exposed to virus and hacker attacks that jeopardize the security of the internal company data sent and received through these messengers. Another negative aspect of regular public IM software is that these applications use servers to exchange messages between users, therefore your employees depend on their stability and may not be able to use the services when one or all servers are down due to technical issues, which is unacceptable for business applications. Other inconveniences of using standard IM software may include, but are not limited to, the necessity to open additional corporate firewall ports (which may affect the security of the corporate network), the absence of data encryption, unavailability of adequate technical support, the presence of ad banners and spam messages accompanying almost all free IM applications. Finally, the temptation to chat with people outside the corporate network is something that many employees cannot resist.

If you can relate to that and are looking for efficient communication software that would meet you corporate requirements, we recommend taking a close look at Softros LAN Messenger. This software was specifically designed to accommodate the needs of corporate users seeking rock-stable, easy-to-use messaging and file-transfer applications with advanced security features. System administrators will be delighted to find out that they can automatically deploy Softros LAN Messenger on all network computers using domain group policies and remotely restrict Softros LAN Messenger features for regular users. Softros LAN messenger supports Microsoft/Citrix terminal services, so you can launch an individual instance of Softros LAN Messenger for each terminal user. And this is just the beginning! The scalability of this program allows it run equally efficiently both in a small office environment and in large enterprise networks. Softros LAN messenger encrypts all incoming and outgoing data and archives it at the same time, so you messages will never be lost, stolen or viewed by anybody else without your authorization. You can also divide your employees into groups to dispatch department-specific notifications by making just a few mouse clicks.

Finding the Right Survey Software

More and more businesses are using survey software to keep of track of what is happening with their customers and clients. If you're one of the many online businesses that need to keep your e-mail addresses, and other client data, in precise order you'll want to think about using survey software to get the job done for you.

Survey software will allow you to use graphs, charts, unique groupings, and trend analysis to give you the information that you need be increase the volume of successful business that you do on the Internet.

When it comes to survey software you have two choices:
(1) you can buy the software and do the work yourself, or
(2) you can use software hosting online, letting someone else take care of the details for you. Both choices will give you the results that you need, however when you buy and install the software on your own computer you'll need to have some idea of how to use software packages and you'll need to have the time compute the results.

Your survey software will generally be fairly easy to install if you decide that you'd rather not use a hosting service. You'll be able to find solutions for all your marketing and sales problems by tracking what is happening with your business. Survey software won't require any additional programming of any kind: all you need to do is install and take the tutorial so you learn how to use it.

Most software will come with the option of plug-ins with more features for you to use. You'll also be able to adjust the settings to your own personal preferences. Any survey software that you buy will come with a support line both on and off the Internet so that you can get help at any time and have your questions answered. This is particularly helpful when you first install the software and are learning how to use it.

Business Software Adding Efficiency To Business

Business software generally means software programs that can be used by business and companies to carry out business activities, or to increase or measure their business productivity. Business software solution is tailor made software for specific business purposes such as railway and airline ticketing system, billing and inventory control system for department stores etc. Business software can do away with any type of business activity such as cash transactions, receipts, issues, returns, rejections, interests, and depreciation, which entail final accounts, profit and loss accounts, balance-sheet etc.

A computer machine and business software are interdependent, with computer technology becoming more advanced with each new software addition. Nowadays even a tiny business entity tends to use small business software for its easy to handle and ready to use features. Many of the business software are plug and play type for which no special computer knowledge is essential. However, for complex calculations, tedious programming and special technical training, business software with learning tools is exceptionally helpful. IT companies on the other hand sometimes use business software for training purposes, enabling modern technologies like medical transcription.

The business software market is a billion dollar industry today and any one with a sound knowledge of the system can make his or her own earnings very easily. Business software has acquired an important position in the economy of developed and developing countries. Software developing countries like India are doing good business by exporting business software to developed countries. The sprawling BPO sector is providing business software solution to many MNCs and domestic companies.

Small business software markets throughout the globe and has captured a substantial part of the software market in recent times. Small business software may include toy and game software, audio-visual software, accounting software etc. Electronic spreadsheet software, a business software solution, has engaged itself successfully in the vast use of microcomputers.

There are standard softwares available for business such as Microsoft Excel, Word, Access, and Outlook etc., which cater to the everyday needs of most businesses. However custom business softwares have many advantages over standard business software. The custom business software can customize the functions and features in a manner required by the customer, be they automatic generation of letters, automatic sending of emails, deadline reminders, printing of receipts and bills, tracking of customers and orders. Many business softwares use operational research methods and algorithms for optimum utilization of resources, maximizing profits and minimizing costs. Business software has the potential to maximize the efficiency of businesses, systematize the way business is done and keep the business under control.

Affiliate Software and Program Tips

An affiliate program is an online business strategy where the internet merchant, a company or an online store, hires the affiliates or the commission agents to sell the products. These affiliates run the business of the merchant via various internet links that takes customers to the target website and thus to the target products. The merchant gives commission to the affiliates for the amount of sales generated by the affiliates' links.

The process is quite simplified with the advent of affiliate software program. A successful affiliate program requires tracking of management, affiliates as well as the customers. Many companies have tasted the online ripe fruit.

Affiliate software is sometimes enabled with features that track and maintain a record of the whole affiliate business process. This can involve a large number of affiliate partners so whenever a customer enters your website to buy a product, the software tracks the customer behavior. The software determines through which affiliate the customer has come to know about the product in your site. You can see the degree of involvement of your affiliates and then pay commissions to them accordingly.

Whenever a customer purchases a product from an online business site, you immediately get notified about the sale made and the affiliate link via email.

The software keeps a tab on every aspect of the affiliate program. Affiliate business is widespread so the software is also enabled to track the activities of the various affiliates. The software even detects any sort of irregularity, if any, in the business process.

Affiliate program deals with the business owner and the affiliates that advertise the owner's products by placing the various links on the web. Affiliate program software is used by the affiliates and the business owners to track the online links and the performance of these links. The main aim of these affiliates is to gather visitors to the owner's website and then, turn them to the buyers of the products displayed on the site. They act as the main business link between the customer and the product company.

These programs are quite popular in the present age of online marketing. If you are running an online business, it helps you to boost up your business with the aid of business associates who are working on the set commissions.

Basically, an affiliate program is a system of online partners that brings business to your website by referring the products and site to other visitors. The marketing strategy must be strong enough to attract customers and the written script in the site should be attractive to call the customers. These are some of the things that need to be kept in mind by the affiliates while carrying out their work.

Affiliate program software is required to track the visitors on your website and calculate the commission of affiliates on the basis of those visitors. In this way you will be able to judge the performance of your affiliates. In fact, an affiliate program that utilizes the special software has the ability to increase your sales within a short period of time.

Keyword Research Tools for Your Internet Business

The role of words is a part of Internet business that is often overlooked. Words fill your web pages with information, lead your customers to your site, and make or break each sale. The success of your Internet business depends almost entirely on knowing the right words to use.

For those who are new to cyberspace, keywords are words or phrases that summarize a topic. They play a crucial role in the operation of cyberspace, allowing web surfers to find websites and websites to find customers. Your potential customers use keywords to search the Internet for their topic, so your site must use them to draw your customers to your site.

The difficulty is in finding the right keywords to use, those magic words that will select potential customers from the crowd of web surfers. And even if you do light on an effective keyword, its success is severely limited by the number of competitors who also use it. The more websites on a search engine list, the smaller your chances will be of being seen by potential customers. Selecting top keywords may not seem difficult, but finding those few powerful keywords that your competitors haven't already clogged with Internet traffic can be a time consuming task.

Fortunately, keyword tools are available to help you located top keywords for your website content. Keyword software provides online entrepreneurs with all the top keywords they need to operate a successful Internet business. Keyword tools also include a variety of different features, everything from extensive information on top keywords to step by step instructions for a successful Internet business. Using keyword software can help entrepreneurs maximize their profits and success, while minimizing the time required in maintaining the business.

When choosing keyword software, consider your top priorities, as there are many choices available. For the savvy buyer and entrepreneur, Instant Keyword Research provides the user with an extensive keyword list that includes related keyword lists, the frequency with which each keyword is searched, and the Cost Per Click that each keyword commands, all for a low, one time fee. If you prefer to always have the latest news, keyword tools such as Wordtracker provide information on keyword searches performed within the last 90 days, and although a continued membership is pricier than a one time fee, some entrepreneurs may consider the cost worthwhile. For competitive markets, keyword tools such as Keyword Elite often includes features for spying on competing websites. Even beginners can capitalize on the marketing opportunities and income available, with keyword software such as Click Ad Equalizer, which guides the user through the entire process.

As with any online product or service, never make a purchase that you don't feel comfortable with. Review sites and consumer based communities such as Review Place, which feature the opinions and review of other consumers, allow you to make an informed decision about any keyword software you are considering, while services such as the Better Business Bureau and RipoffReport.com allow you to double check the credibility of a company or product. Once you select the keyword software that meets the needs of you and your business, you will be well on your way to increasing your website's traffic as well as your income.

3 Reasons why Your Small Business Office Needs Microsoft Excel Training

If your office staff isn't utilizing the full functionality of the Microsoft Office suite of products, you might be missing out on the true power of your data. Though your organization may be collecting large amounts of strategic data, without an innovative way to organize it to serve your custom business needs, the data itself is irrelevant.

By making maximum use of their collected data, Amazon was able to dominate the marketplace through highly intuitive product recommendations. While every online or physical store keeps sales records, it was Amazon's creative organization of their data that made all the difference. In this article, you'll find 3 ways that Excel training can improve your office productivity and bring new potential to your old data through custom built spreadsheet tools.

Excel Training Benefit #1: Pivot Tables:
Every business has a great deal of information to keep organized. With so many different types of data, a single spreadsheet of information can become extremely cumbersome and downright confusing. Perhaps one of most beneficial skills your team will learn in Excel training is how to use pivot tables to organize information into manageable chunks and to access and compare data instantly.

After learning about pivot tables in Excel training, awkward rows and columns of data become information powerhouses. The great benefit of pivot tables is that they allow you to enter the information once but can return the data countless ways. After some Excel training, your team will be using pivot tables to quickly learn which products are hot sellers during specific time periods, which customers are buying what, understand patterns in buyer demographics, and much more.

Excel Training Benefit #2: Sales Tracking Tools:

Great sales people have three main motivations: cash, competition, and recognition. If you create an office environment of friendly competition and offer attractive incentives, you've got a winning formula for growth. After just a few days of Excel training, you'll learn how to use the Excel graphing functions in ways you may have never thought possible like to build an all inclusive sales dashboard. Excel is the ideal medium for creating custom sales tracking tools because every business has its own particular statistics to track in terms of sales.

With the advanced graphing knowledge learned in Excel training, sales managers can create an Excel document for your sales team to document their vital sale statistics such as number of inquiries, number of sales, sales by product, etc. You'll learn how to link this data to power a whole series of graphs and charts that instantly visually displays productivity, sales percentages by product, percentage of leads that become sales, and even equate the current sales to bonus dollars earned. With instant, up to the minute graphical data, sales associates can easily identify their strengths and weaknesses and compete with themselves and others to drive more sales.

Excel Training Benefit #3: Interactive Web Spreadsheets:

Interactive tools such as loan calculators, bulk sales calculators, and investment growth prediction calculators that instantly update based on variables entered, attract visitors to your website and keep them interested once they are there. After just 3 days of Microsoft Excel training, you'll have all of the knowledge to create interactive web spreadsheets keep visitors coming back to your website.

The more users can interact with your website and extract quality information through tools like interactive calculators, the longer they will stay on your website. Just like in a physical environment, the longer a potential customer stays, the more likely they are to purchase your product or service. In terms of search engine ranking, interactive tools are priceless. Informative, interactive spreadsheet tools naturally encourage other sites to link to yours. The more sites that link to yours, the higher your site rises on the search engine results page.

If you weren't aware of one or more of these uses for Excel, you're likely to be blown away by what you'll learn in Excel training. The knowledge you'll gain in Excel training can encourage your small business team to create custom applications to better organize their data. When the individuals on your team have a mastery of their own data, innovation and growth are certain to follow.

How to Give your Small Business a Professional Makeover

While the vast majority of businesses in the UK are small businesses, it is the larger businesses that attract most of the customers and make most of the strategic partnerships. The reason that many small businesses don't attract the customers and partners they hope for is because their presentation lacks the confidence and professionalism of a more serious competitor. The good news is that just about everything you need to give your business a professional makeover can be found in the software you already own; it only takes Microsoft Office training to unlock the potential.

Microsoft Office training explains much more than just the basics of Word, Excel, and Outlook. The Office suite of products is an extremely robust set of tools that gives even the smallest businesses the ability to create web sites, proposals, project plans, sales presentations -and much more- that have a professional look, like big business material. The full range of programs covered in Microsoft Office training includes Visio, Front Page, Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, Project, and PowerPoint. If you're not utilizing all of these programs to the fullest extent, a few weeks of Microsoft Office training can start you on the path of completely rebuilding your professional image.

Building a Professional Website:
There's no need for you to spend thousands of dollars on a professional looking website or make do with a bland template site when you can build your own with Microsoft Front Page. An important piece of Microsoft Office training, Front Page training provides you with everything you need to know to build and update a website.

Just having a website isn't enough to stay competitive on the web today. In order to achieve a site that ranks high in search engine results, the content on the site must be updated regularly and in order to gain customer interest, that content must be fresh and relevant. With this piece of Microsoft Office training, growing your website can be a simple part of your daily or weekly tasks.

Winning Big Contracts:
In order to win the important contracts or receive serious funding, it's essential that your business documents be detailed, thorough, and ultra-professional. Many business owners feel hindered by these documents and believe that if they could just pitch the proposal in person they could convey the message more clearly. Through Microsoft Office training, you'll find plenty of ways to step out from behind the two dimensional words of a basic Word document and learn to incorporate visual imagery created with Visio or Excel into your proposals and business plans.

Powerpoint presentations are another way you can present big ideas as a stand alone presentation or as an enhancement to an in-person presentation. Through Microsoft Office training, you'll quickly learn what many of your competitors don't know: that Powerpoint is capable of much more than just basic slideshows laden with gimmicky clipart. With Powerpoint you can embed video and audio files, import high quality imagery, incorporate advanced special effects, and more for a highly professional business presentation.

Success in business greatly hinges on your ability to exude confidence and professionalism. While most of your small business competitors are making due with the knowledge they have to create their business image, through Microsoft Office training your team can create an image that rivals that of even your biggest competitor.

Guard and Lock Your Files Making them Invisible

Today, the computer plays a very crucial role in all types of business and official settings. A computer is now used to store all sorts of information including highly sensitive details such as financial and personal information.

Quite a major portion of this information is often of a highly personal nature or includes certain amount of sensitive details, which are not meant for everyone using that particular computer.

What is the need to lock files?

Invariably, in all work areas, there are multiple users using a single computer. Even at home, there are a number of family members using the same computer at any given point of time.

There is a dire necessity to be able to lock certain files in your office as these might contain certain business information, which you might not want to share with your colleagues. Besides, you also might want to save some sensitive facts regarding your workplace, which are not meant for public view.

More important, in the home settings, you might not want your children or other family members to view some of the files, photographs or videos you have saved on to your computer.

It is in such situations that you require some effective privacy protection software. This will enable you to guard and lock your selected files and folders from the eyes of your colleagues or other family members.

Custom Software Development

The Custom Software Development process uses a technical methodology design to sustain through various project risks and available development time. This serves the purpose to fulfill the business goals of an Organization.

Be it any new application, the Custom Software Development should match with exact requirement of your new or existing projects including the requirements gathering, analysis, design, coding and testing and implementation phases.

The Custom Software Development starts with the gathering of information from the clients that is applicable to the business goals and proceeds to the analysis phase to frame the business principles and in designing the flow diagrams. The scope and estimation schedules are validated in this phase. The design phase deals with various architectural, entity relationship, dataflow and deployment diagrams. A user interface prototype is developed to validate the Custom Software to meet the client’s requirements. The development phase includes coding and testing wherein the application software code is tested according to the test plan. In the implementation of the Custom Software Development, the developed application is deployed on the Client server.

All these actions in Custom Software are repeated through until the final deliverable is completed. A detailed project schedule is usually prepared in accordance with the above deliverables and this ensures the responsibility of both the client and the developer to submit their deliverables on time.

The Key Elements of Project Management Software

A good management software has a number of uses not least of these is the ability to help staff to handle large projects efficiently and successfully. The software works in such a way that the task is often completed more thoroughly than that completed by people without the software. It will tell you what needs to be done and when it needs to be done, as well as exactly how long it should take. All businesses looking to increase their operating efficiency should have some form of this software.

Many businesses suffer from missed deadlines or else some important element of the finished project is missing. With this software, however, it is virtually impossible to miss deadlines as the software will let you know what needs to be done and when it needs to be done. This means that you know exactly what stage you are at in a project and this can be potentially invaluable when it comes to client retention.

The software enables you to schedule tasks more effectively, making sure that important tasks are completed first, and only then moving on to those of lesser importance.

This type of software is readily available online. You will find a huge selection and you can surf to your heart's content in order to get the best deals, too. This software is an essential tool for all businesses that handle large projects on a regular basis.

Summary:

Project Management Software is an essential tool for all businesses involved with large projects. It helps set deadlines for certain tasks, schedules them and informs those involved with the project what they should be doing. It is more efficient than other systems, or relying on memory and it therefore picks up on things that might otherwise have been missed.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Business Accounting Software

Accounting is a system of collecting, summarizing, analyzing and reporting, in monetary terms, information about an organization. The end product of business accounting software is the financial statements consisting of the balance sheet, profit and loss account, and statement of changes in financial position. These statements are, therefore, the source of information on the basis of which conclusions can be drawn regarding the operations of a firm. The analysis and interpretation of financial statements would depend upon the nature and type of information available.

When talking about business accounting software, the balance sheet is a significant financial statement of a firm. In fact, it is called a fundamental accounting report. Other terms to describe this financial statement are statement of financial position or position statement. As the name suggests, the balance sheet provides information about the financial standing/ position of a firm at a particular point of time. It can be visualized as a snapshot of the financial status of a company. The financial position of the company is valid for only one day- the reference day. On a preceding or following day, it is bound to be different.

The financial position of a firm as disclosed by the balance sheet refers to its resources and obligations and the interest of its owners in the business. In operational terms, the balance sheet contains information in respect of assets, liabilities and shareholders equity. It can be presented in either of two forms: account form or report form. It is usually presented in account form. In the report form a step-wise balance sheet is prepared, listings asset at the top followed by liabilities and owners equity. The contents of the balance sheet, in whatever form presented, consist of assets of the firm and the means, by which they have been financed, that is, liabilities and owners equity.

Free Small Business Accounting Software

Free small business accounting software primarily focuses on assets. Assets may be described as valuable resources owned by a business, which were acquired at a measurable money cost. As an economic resource, they satisfy three requirements. In the first place, the resource must be valuable. A resource is valuable if it is cash/ convertible into cash; or it can provide future benefits to the operations of the firm. Secondly, the resource must be owned. Mere possession or control of a resource would not constitute an asset; it must be owned in the legal sense of the term. Finally, the resource must be acquired at a measurable money cost. In cases in which an asset is not acquired for cash or a promise to pay cash, the question is what it would have cost had cash been paid for it.

The assets in the balance sheet are listed either in order of liquidity- promptness with which they are expected to be converted into cash- or in reverse order, that is, fixity or listing of the least liquid (fixed) first followed by others. All assets are grouped into categories; that is, assets with similar characteristics are put in one category. The assets included in one category are different from those in other categories. The standard classification of assets divides them into fixed assets, current assets, investments and other assets.

Fixed assets are fixed in the sense that they are acquired to be retained in business on a long-term basis to produce goods and services are not for resale. In contrast to fixed assets, current assets are short-term in nature. They refer to assets/resources, which are either held in the form of cash or are expected to be realized in cash within the accounting period or the normal operating cycle of the business. Investments represent investment of funds in the securities of another company.

Small Business Accounting Software Reviews

Small business accounting software reviews mainly focus on contents of profit and loss account. It is also known by several other titles such as income statement, statement of earnings, statement of operations and profit and loss statement. While the balance sheet, as a stock/position statement, reveals the financial condition of a business at a particular point of time, the profit and loss account portrays, as a flow statement, the operations over/during a particular period of time. The period of time is an accounting period.

Since the purpose of every business firm is to earn profit, the operations of a firm in a given period of time will truly be reflected in the profit earned by it. Thus, the income statement/profit and loss account of a firm reports the results of operations in terms of income/net profit in a year. The profit and loss account can be presented broadly in two forms: the usual account form and step form.

In operational terms, the accounting report that summarizes the revenue items, the expense items and the difference between them (net income) for an accounting period is called the income statement. There are three contents of the profit and loss account: revenues, expenses and net income/profit/loss.

Revenues can be defined as the income that accrues to the firm by the sale of goods/services/assets or by the supply of the firm’s resources to others. Alternatively, revenues mean the value that a firm receives from its customers. The value/income can arise from three sources: sale of products/goods/services, supply of firm resources to others, and sale of assets like production plants, investments, and so on. The cost of earning revenue is called expenses. An important item of expense appearing in the profit and loss account is the cost of goods sold. The difference between revenues and expenses is net profit. The profit and loss account may also show the appropriation of the net profits between dividends paid to the shareholders and retained earnings/ amount transferred to reserves and surplus.

Best Business Accounting Software

When talking about the best business accounting software, you must first know the relationship between finance and accounting. Conceptually speaking, they are closely related to the extent that accounting is an important input in financial decision making and there are key differences in viewpoints between them. Accounting is a necessary input into finance. That is, accounting is a sub-function of finance.

Accounting generates information or data relating to the operations or activities of the firm. The end-product of accounting constitutes financial statements such as the balance sheet, the income statement (profit and loss account) and the statement of changes in financial position (sources and uses of funds statement). The information contained in these statements and reports assists financial managers in assessing the past performance and future directions of the firm and in meeting certain legal obligations, such as payment of taxes and so on. Thus, accounting and finance are functionally closely related.

But there are key differences between finance and accounting. The first difference relates to the treatment of funds while the second relates to decision making. The viewpoint of accounting relating to the funds of the firm is different from that of finance. The measurement of funds (income and expenses) in accounting is based on the accrual system. For instance, revenue is recognized at the point of sale and not when collected. Similarly, expenses are recognized when they are incurred rather than when actually paid. The accrual-based accounting data do not reflect fully the financial circumstances of the firm. The viewpoint of finance relating to the treatment of funds is based on cashflows. The revenues are recognized only when actually received in cash (i.e. cash inflow) and expenses are recognized on actual payment (i.e. cash outflow).

Finance and accounting also differ in respect to their purposes. The purpose of accounting is collection and presentation of financial data. It provides consistently developed and easily interpreted data on the past, present and future operations of the firm. On the other hand, financial manager’s major responsibility relates to financial planning, controlling and decision making. Thus, in a sense, finance begins where accounting ends.

Ebusiness Software

Businesses are not limited to widely available commercial products. Other options can be a better choice in certain situations, especially where the software needs of a company are quite specialized or trade-specific, or commercial products simply fail to offer the required features even when using the programming facilities offered by database, spreadsheet and other office-suite products.

Businesses then have two options. They can look for a trade-specific package that is designed specifically for the kind of work they do, or they can have software developed to order. The big advantage of trade-specific packages is that they speak the same language as your business, and are in theory written by people who understand how that business should be run.

Nonetheless, with this kind of software, it is best to check that it really does do what you want it to. No software should ever be bought on the spur of the moment after a short demonstration. For trade-specific packages that are quite complex, you should spend anywhere from half a day to a day having the software demonstrated to you. If you plan to hand it over to your staff rather than use it directly, then at least one staff member should come with you.

After the demonstration it is very useful to go away and allow some time to consider how the software may be able to help your business, and try to find problems or tasks with which it will not be able to help. It may be worth producing a formal, written specification for the kinds of work for which you would like to use the software, in order to see if any essential features are missing. At this stage, queries and misgivings should become obvious, and the software is only worth considering seriously if the supplier can set your mind at rest about it.

Booting A New Business On The Software Development Highway

Background

Those amongst us, who were born at least before 1970, must have witnessed the dotcom boom of the late 1990s, as well as seen and been affected by the bust that followed soon enough. When the boom began, the media was inundated, day in and day out, with news of dream tie-ups between venture capitalists and just-out-of-college, still-wet-behind-the-ears young twenty-something boys and girls. The entire dream was woven around what the internet could do for folks like you and me. And when the boom busted, boy! How it busted! A quick review of the top ten dotcom businesses that gobbled up millions of VC dollars and took them down the drain really makes interesting, if introspective, reading.

A few years down the line, and the next generation of entrepreneurs and businessmen are ready, yet again, to take the software highway. This time around, however, they have the power of hindsight with them. All the dotcom stories are now neatly chronicled in the form of case studies and enshrined in the libraries of business schools and available on the web to browse through and draw lessons from. Internet, the backbone which dotcom businesses based their strength upon, has quietly gone from strength to strength since the boom/bust. Newer technologies and newer hardware have made the internet more robust, more reliant, and more user-friendly than ever before. Software companies, most notably Microsoft, Yahoo, Google and their ilk, have realigned their manpower and restructured their products, rejigged their business model to make internet their center of gravity, and have come up with far better ways to both transact and seek pleasure on the web than ever before. Blogs, RSS, Merchant Accounts, dropshipping, podcasting, adsense, online local advertising, are terms that have found coinage as a result of some creative footwork by technocrats and savvy businessmen and women like you and me. Marketing channels and consumer strategies are creatively tapping into the newfound interest in computers and the web, generated by the convenience that they bring to day-to-day life. Entrepreneurs are veering once again towards Internet in general; and software development in particular, as a possible option around which to build a business and career.

Bridging Entrepreneur gung-ho With Software

Yet, despite all the promise of business success and prosperity that Software Business holds out, there are still quite a few who find it beyond their reach. The moment you mention S o f t w a r e, the mind immediately visualizes a group of nerds who are furiously banging out some gobbledygook on their keyboard. Some entrepreneurs simply fail to make the connect between their wealth-creating ability and software. Which is a pity, actually.

People who come to me for counseling on new businesses are invariably people with a lot of entrepreneurial vision and grit. They are people with an ingrained perseverance and stamina to withstand the rough and tumble of lean days that a career as businessperson invariably involves. They are people who don't mind dirtying their hands and feet in the trenches, so that they understand the nitty-gritty of their business. These are the guys and gals for whom the golden cage of a cushy, nine-to-five job holds no meaning, and they yearn to fly the skies and test the limits of endurance of their wings. The breed of entrepreneurs is a breed apart. And yet, whenever I would broach the subject of this exciting new opportunity to them, they would baulk at the idea. "But, Software Business, Sanjay? Isn't it supposed to be so damn technical? Can't you suggest something that is more conventional? Something that is within my limits? Something that does not involve a steep learning curve, and where I can invest my time and money and begin to see results in the fastest possible time? Huh?"

Sigh. Here is one exciting opportunity - Software Business. At the time of writing this article, Microsoft is on the verge of launching its most awaited operating system, the Vista, E-commerce is elevating to the next higher level of operations, more and more customers are getting hooked up to computers and the internet, with even mom-and-pop stores looking for a piece of the cake .... And here are these entrepreneurs, the people who can make things happen - the people who have the ability to change the world. And they say - "Tell me about a more conventional business"!

There are so many things that you can do with a computer. The machine that sits on your desktop is like a monster that needs forever more work to do - and it is within the grasp of your ingenuity and creativity to think up things that you can make it do for you. When these "things" are something that positively affect the lives of thousands and millions of ordinary folk - boy, will they flock at your door on all fours! Such a mouth-watering thought! But - this Business of Software development; this programming; this gobbledygook - how does one come to terms with this monster? Heck, I am an entrepreneur, not a programmer!

It was this quest to bridge the gap between a software-illiterate entrepreneur and the exciting, moolah-rich Business of Software, that made me scour the net. And scour I did. Quite a few of the solutions on offer were downright imbecile and premature, and quite a few others I dismissed as thoroughly impractical.

Insights From Ben Prater's Book

It is a book written in 2001. And it was crafted by someone who is already into the thick of the business of developing and selling software, and is willing to share his insights with the rest of the world. This man is Benjamin Prater. His sales page on the web actually begins with a blunt and hyped-up statement - "How to Create Hot Software - Even if you've never touched a line of code!" Marketing spiel, eh? The price tag said USD 97, and I bought it online.

The content has hype in its pages, which is something that I can forgive Mr. Prater for (he has to sell his book, after all). But once he settles down to the core content, the book begins to unveil, layer by layer, all that it takes to set up a neat business in the domain of software. Right from idea inception, through to developing the software, setting up a website, down to selling it and maintaining / upgrading it: in short, the entire works. And best of all, the entire content is presented in a very lucid style, without introducing any business management mumbo-jumbo.

Test Your Entrepreneurial Skills

Which of the entrepreneurs who come to me will I recommend this book? As I mentally shortlist the probables, I think I am looking at the following qualities:

- You must really, _really_ want to build a career in software business, for you really, _really_ see the potential that this domain has in the years to come. Remember, the book acts as a guide. You are being shown the way; but it is you who has to do the walking!

- You must have the openness of mind to absorb new techniques of doing business. If you are used to your established methods of dealing with people and handling transactions, to the point that the thought of trying out something new gives you the goose bumps, then what to talk about software business, any new venture with its own model might be difficult for you to consider. I know I am putting it bluntly, but it *is* a cruel world out there.

Small Business Software

Small business software is a booming industry. Nowadays, every type of business needs to manage its movements and record every action using computer software. Business software is designed to help with the administration and maintenance of a business. Of course, small businesses are no exception to the rule.

Small businesses and corporations can use general purpose software, a custom implementation that meets their specific needs, or a hybrid that combines both elements. The choice of which approach to use depends on the type of business as well as the size of the economic budget that is going to be spent on organization via computer software.

One of the simplest ways for a business to start operating using computer software would be to use the free Open Office suite of applications, which is similar to MS Office. The difference is that Open Office is free while MS Office (Microsoft Office) costs a considerable amount of money for a small business.

Except for the two alternatives just described, a business can choose to hire a developer to "craft" software that meets the corporation's very specific needs. This approach is the most costly one since the development cost of the application is going to be covered only by the corporation who ordered it.

Finally, small businesses can go about using ready-to-use applications as well as a few very specific custom ones that are developed specifically for the exact needs of the corporation. This approach is located somewhere between the first (less expensive) and the second (most expensive) choices.

Business Card Software

Business card software is software aimed at creation of business cards. Usually this type of software has many built-in features such as business cards, address labels, mailing labels, shipping labels, postcards envelopes, CD covers, and virtually any type of card that a business might require.

There are many different brands that produce business card software. Each one provides its very own easy to use interface as well as a vast number of features. Usually, this type of software comes as an “all-in-one pack”. This means that you buy a software pack that can be used for all your card/label creation needs.

In order to raise the flexibility and availability of alternatives, corporations that produce this software make it available in different packs or versions (Basic, Silver, Gold, Deluxe, etc.). Based on the number and quality of the features that are included in each pack, the price differs as well. The Basic packs usually provide the most basic features while the Deluxe/Prime/Plus packs contain the most advanced features.

There is a very large variety of this type of software available, and the buyer can consider many alternatives before settling down to a specific decision. Print Designer GOLD, Business Card Designer Plus, Label Designer Plus DELUXE, Business Card Composer, Business Card Creator, and Small Business Publisher are just a few.

The price of this software ranges from freeware up to a few hundred dollars. This type of software can usually be purchased online, and there are always free trial versions with restricted features.

The potential buyer has the ability to test the software using a trial version, and if he likes it, he can purchase it online and activate it using a code provided by the online seller.

Business Plan Software

Business plan software is computer applications that are aimed at helping the manager of a business to evaluate his marketing strategies, test his ideas, and set up his business plans. Additionally, this type of software comes together with books, manuals, and articles about the correct management of a corporation/business.

Business plan software tackles many aspects of business management. First of all, it provides guidance on how to write down a flawless business plan. For example, the business manager does have a general picture of what he is trying to achieve but may have difficulties writing everything down on paper. This is where business plan software comes into play. The software helps by using implementations of rules by experts in the field of business plans.

This type of software also helps those who are just starting their business. It provides the user with the various fundamental and crucial steps that need to be taken when starting a new business. Usually, articles and advice from widely recognized businessmen are provided too.

For businesses that want to expand or simply get advice on what movements to make, business plan software comes into play once again. It can help in marketing and advertising, expanding business, e-business management, legal information, business purchasing, and much more.

Finally, business plan software provides guidance and tips on the potential of buying another business or merging two corporations into one. This is a procedure that every buyer has to consider before proceeding into any further action. Usually, help on such topics is also achieved with online communication with experts on the subject. This is a service that comes together with the business plan software package and comes free of charge (in most cases).

Popular business plan software programs, among others, are Business Plan Pro and PlanMagics’s Business Plan Software.

Business Software

Business software has become an essential part of every business and corporation that operates under a big, competitive economic environment. Nowadays, there is no serious business that doesn’t employ computer software, and this is definitely a clear proof that business software is a must for every business.

Business software can have many types and forms; however, the purpose remains the same: to help the administration maintain and control the business. The above goals can be achieved through the use of business software. Every piece of software is linked to another in a custom way. The route of cooperation between the different file formats and strategies that each program uses is analyzed and arranged by the IT (Information Technology) chief of the corporation or the suppliers of the software.

In order to avoid the above custom routes, corporations often choose to implement their business management using general, business-oriented packs. A well-known example of general, yet business-oriented software is MS Office, specifically Excel. Excel is a business program that is used by millions of corporations worldwide. Excel’s popularity is mainly due to the fact that it is very flexible and modifiable.

Of course, the possibilities are endless and a corporation can choose to go about building its very own custom software. In this case, the corporation has to cooperate with the developer of the software and specify the way the software is supposed to be used. The development cycle of the software tends to be long and costly. The advantage of custom software is that it is designed from scratch for the operation purposes of the specific business. This approach guarantees lack of unwanted features as well as existence of preferred ones.

In conclusion, business software is a must for all corporations today. The choices regarding what type of software to use are numerous, and the corporation can never feel restricted because it can arrange the development of custom software that includes all features that need to be implemented.