The Personal Professional: Finding a Business Solution Suited to Your Needs

With so much competition in the marketplace today, two things are key to success. The first is to identify a unique slant or point of difference which can be exploited to give your business a competitive edge; one that will give clients and customers something that your competitors don’t have. The second is to stay abreast of constantly changing technology by providing your employees with fast, efficient yet easy to navigate business tools that will make it easy for them to perform at their best to deliver great results.

As the backbone of your business, an online accounting software package which provides instant quotes, invoicing and payment receipt, whilst providing clear and concise reporting, auditing and analytical tools can impact every area of your customer experience in a positive way.

From customers initial introduction to your product, through to payment and after sales service, a ‘one-stop’ accounting software package will provide a streamlined, seamless interaction between every facet of your business and will be a major boon to your bottom line.

Where to begin

Exceptional businesses begin with exceptional world class systems. This means that utilising business solutions which use Cloud-based software is crucial. The Cloud is the term used for storing information in a secure, central location which negates the need for local storage and cumbersome, onsite servers.

 

Having access online means employees can work from anywhere, record billable hours and still achieve business goals, and sales staff are no longer tied to their desks to access stock levels, build quotes and generate invoices. In fact, this can be done remotely from anywhere in the world using a permissions-based security protocol which allows you to dictate who can access each level of your finance system. This flexibility adds a new layer of freedom to the way businesses can operate globally.

The Cloud also offers increased levels of security – a major factor for businesses. The safe, remote storage of data means computer crashes or the loss of a laptop is now not the disaster it once was. Your computer has merely become a terminal rather than a storage facility.

Industry-specific solutions

Whether you are in a service based industry or a product based, one will greatly influence the approach to best manage your client interaction and accounting needs.

To pinpoint the software package which will be best able furnish you with the functionality you require, ask yourself a few pertinent questions about your operational requirements.

Do you require software which has the capacity to:

● Perform job costings?

● Manage inventory?

● Be e-commerce compatible with Point of Sale capabilities?

● Be client interactive with app integration?

● Manage freelancers and consultants with detailed job tracking?

● Perform payroll functions?

Software packages such as MYOB provide the ability to plug straight into tools, programs and platforms specific to your industry. As an example of this, there are literally hundreds of Apps and add-ons which have been custom designed to manage these types of business. Examples of the hundreds available are:

Healthcare – Surgical Partners, Easy Trace and Best Practice

Retail – Lightyear and Squirrel Street

Building and Construction – SmartTrade, Buildlogic and TimeSite Pro

Hospitality – Symphony, Timesheet Express and

Service based

Service invoices are labour or time specific and by using an online accounting package which can generate quotes and invoices in real-time whilst still on-site, a business has the power to retain customer interest, speed up the payment process and promote cash flow.

If you are in a service based industry whether you use consultants or tradesmen, you need an online accounting system which has the capacity to:

● Generate onsite quotes and invoices.

● Receipt payments by utilising a wide range of payment platforms such as BPAY and Paypal.

● Consolidate and integrate industry specific apps.

● Has enhanced reporting and intelligent forecasting.

● Live dashboard to show real-time cash-flow activity.

Product based

Selling online means utilising accounting software which is compatible with e-commerce. Cloud-based software allows staff to remotely access and work on your financial data, monitor and manage inventory, stock levels and online sales whilst providing a wider range of payment options.

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In the faced paced, ever-changing face of business, you need a business solution which will grow with you and offers the support, training and backing to help you succeed. A functional and flexible system can form the backbone of your business, and supply staff with a powerful tool to drive your bottom line.