Business Accounting Software is for Everyone

A recent study by the U.S. Bureau of the Census , Business Success: Factors Leading to Surviving and Closing Successfully by Brian Headd, Center for Economic Studies, found that:

"Major factors in a firm's remaining open include an ample supply of capital, the fact that a firm is large enough to have employees, the owner's education level, and the owner's reason for starting the firm in the first place, such as freedom for family life or wanting to be one's own boss."

Let's look at that second reason for remaining open, "large enough to have employees". By far, most business startups are because an individual has an idea, a belief in their abilities and a desire to be their own boss. They cobble together the resources they need and invest a generous portion of their own human capital. The business grows, customers are added, new products introduced and the next thing that new owner knows - its time to start hiring employees. Then the challenge begins.

The key differentiator of business management software solutions is the capability of the solution to be a true multi-user application.  There simply is no such thing as an enterprise class integrated business management and accounting solution that is not designed to be used simultaneously by multiple individual users. By far the leading accounting software package used by startup businesses is Quickbooks, mainly because its cheap and easy to use, but Quickbooks is not a multi-user application. (Yes, the Enterprise Edition is and by definition the online version is -sorta, but that's not the point of this post). "Sharing" an application is not the same as having multiple users.

In order to get the most out of your employees and resources it is critical that everyone is able to collaborate around common principles. One main objective of implementing business management software is to have an integrated solution where data is generally enter once, actions create further actions (think supply chain management) and processes are automated. In order to accomplish this objective your management solution must utilize a robust relational database which allows for many users to be accessing and updating information simultaneously while providing security and data integrity. Further the database and the application work hand in hand to manage users, privileges and transactions.

So when your business has grown and you realize its time to leverage technology to increase your business's efficiency and ability to service your customers - start you ERP search with those solutions that provide multiple user functionality as a fundamental concept.

Learn more about multi-user open source accounting and business management software at:
www.opensurge.com

Manufacturing Software from xTuple

Do you need a better solution for managing your manufacturing business? Looking for better manufacturing software or accounting software?

Take a look at the recent webinar with Wally Tonra on the manufacturing functionality in xTuple.

In this webinar, we took a closer look at the powerful tools available to manage your inventory, manufacturing, and distribution operations. This presentation is especially valuable for companies that have some degree of manufacturing / packaging / assembly in their business.

We focused on the tools and functionality available in all three xTuple product versions including our Free and Open Source edition, PostBooks. We also covered some of the more advanced functionality found in our Standard and Manufacturing Editions.




For more information or to schedule a demo, please visit the OpenSurge website.

www.opensurgegroup.com

Go Square to Take Mobile Payments and iPad Checkout

Do you have a mobile business? Do you sell trinkets and do-dads out of your car, your suitcase or have a little roadside stand?

Or are you a roadie for a rock band selling t-shirts and CD's- which is where I saw my first Square in action.? If you don't know anything about how to process credit cards and need to start taking credit cards in person or over the phone, then the Square is the way to go. Take a look at the video below from the Wall Street Journal and get started.



What about open source xTuple ERP?
xTuple allows you to process credit cards both as payment for standard invoices and using the point of sale functionality. Setup is pretty standard for this type of application. A payment gateway is required along with a merchant account -not the most difficult thing to do, but then there's the encryption key and mapping the general ledger accounts. Enterprise management solutions are designed to handle complex operations which at times means the configuration can be challenging for the casual PostBooks user.

I can see using the Square with an iPad application where we populate the item list, i.e. the catalog, from the xTuple item list, use the iPad remotely and then download the resulting transactions. The capability does not exist with the Square just yet - but it can't be far behind.

And at OpenSurge we can't wait to get started!  

Are you still using Quickbooks to manage your growing business?

Wondering if its finally time to move your business to the next level? Time to replace Quickbooks?

Here are 3 top reasons to switch to a true enterprise class business management solution:  

1. Collaboration - Growing companies reach a point where multiple people have to collaborate on financial processes, often from multiple business locations as well as from home and on the road. As multiple people become involved, everyone needs visibility into what is going on so they can make the right decisions and collaboration so they can all work together.

2. Business Growth - There are many growth-driven indicators - when multiple people need to have access to the financial system, when financial tasks need to be delegated, when dollar volumes become significant and when new offices are opened - it's time to think about graduating to a more powerful system. There are also brick walls that require you to graduate - when you need to operate in more than one currency, when you have more than one business entity, if you need to work effectively from multiple locations or when you need to deal with specialized requirements like revenue recognition or managing the profitability and utilization of billable services personnel.

3. Financial Accountability and Transaction Capability - Full audit trails, business reporting, double-entry accounting and automation are a must, no matter the size of your business. If you're growing, you need it now more than ever. And as your company gets bigger, you have more of everything: inventory, vendors, customers and customer requirements. You have a need for speed and greater transaction volumes. Don't be held back by an insufficient financial system.

So what replaces Quickbooks and how much does it cost?

PostBooks from xTuple is a full featured business management solution (accounting, sales, inventory, purchasing, CRM, etc.) that you will never outgrow. PostBooks is open-source so its free for anyone to use. But if you need help with installing, support or training - there's a world-wide community here to help. If you need additional features - multi-site, drop shipping, returns management, manufacturing scheduling, etc -  xTuple's paid version has all the functionality you would ever need.

Take a look our latest webinar on the advantages of moving your business to xTuple!

Open source ERP and business management solutions from OpenSurge.