This is a guest post by Carolyn on essential softwares to run a business. You can read the guidelines for guest posting at our guest posting guidelines page.
Software’s primary purpose is to make doing business easier and more accurate and efficient. The last 20 years have really changed the way the world works and it’s important to keep up with those changes because they are only getting greater and more necessary. Every day tons of businesses lose unfortunate amounts of money because they aren’t using the proper software to help them out. Time has a monetary value and no matter what kind of business you do, if you’re using the wrong kind of software you are throwing both time and money away.
If you are running an ecommerce business, here are a few kinds of software that can help streamline your business process, increase your efficiency and therefore increase your profit margin quickly and easily.
Inventory Management Software
There are still companies out there that count everything by hand and then tally up the numbers. The wrong kind of software can be just as bad, so if you have inventory ask yourself these questions when you’re in the market for inventory management software:
- How tech savvy are you and your staff?
- How many ecommerce sites and/or how many warehouses do you operate out of?
- What is your expansion rate per annum?
- How customizable do you need the software to be?
Answers to these questions can help you decide what kind of software suits your business.
Logistics Software
Shipping, especially globally, is a complex bit of business and can easily be mucked up in the shuffle. Logistics software can help you keep track of and organize transfers for 3rd party shippers that include ground, air and sea transport.
If something goes wrong you need to know where the goods are at all time and who is in charge of them.
In the event of a complex shipping arrangement you need to be able to make sure everything goes smoothly and the right kind of software can help you do just that.
If you have to calculate complex shipping rates for things like hazard shipping or palate shipping this kind of software can make sure that you are charging the proper rates.
Supply Chain Management Software
Channel partners are all of the different business that you work with to supply goods and services to generate your final product. In some businesses this network can be very complex and it is necessary to have complex software that is up to the task of keeping track of the mining and productions stages of every partner.
If one partner is delayed that can delay everything on your end, but it’s better to know about the delay sooner rather than later so you can take proper measures to handle the situation.
Ecommerce Software
Of course it depends on the size and needs of you business, but an overall ecommerce software can help you manage multiple websites that you operate for business. You need to ask yourself the following:
- How many websites are you operating?
- What is your expected growth rate?
- How do you want your website to navigate?
- Do you want to be able to write code into the program?
- Or would you rather customize it based on available selections?
Certain software providers are moving into cloud computing for database storage. Make sure you pick a software that is on the forward moving path of the industry and not going to be stuck in their ways as things transition in the future.
There are review websites that can show you the features of multiple software brands so that you can make the best decision to fit your company’s needs for both the short and long term solutions.
About the Author:
Carolyn is a guest post blogger who writes about Big commerce, SEO, Ecommerce and other business and software related trends and news.