The changing face of business software

/21 Comments/in /by

If you started a new business a few years ago you would probably have bought an office suite to help you run it. This would contain a word processor, a spreadsheet application, a presentations tool and maybe a drawing package and database program too.

Then you’d spend time setting up these applications to suit your business. That meant creating templates for documents, using spreadsheets as invoices and building presentations for clients. Office suites usually didn’t include an accounting package, so you’d have had to buy that separately, along with any specialist software.
This all worked quite well, but there were some major problems.

Five reasons why traditional software doesn’t work
1. Jack of all trades but master of none
These suites were designed for every business, which meant you were paying for features that you might never use. They also used a lot of computing power because they were so big and bloated.

2. Upgrade delays
Most software suites were updated once every year or 18 months, so you’d have to wait a long time for a new feature you really needed. And bugs took a long time to fix, too.

3. Poor integration
Connections between the software packages in the suite were reasonably good, so you could import spreadsheet data into your word processor, for example. But connecting to other applications, such as accounting software, was much more tricky. Sometimes it might work, sometimes not.

4. Expensive to use
Office suites have never been cheap, especially the ones from big software companies. For a small business on a budget, the cost could be a real problem.

5. Licensing issues per user
Office suites were usually sold on a per-user basis. You often had to decide how many licences you’d need and pay for them up-front. Not ideal for a growing business.
Things have changed, and now there’s a better way to get the right product for your company.e one-size-fits-all package is no longer the ideal option.

The new world of business software
Office suites are still available today, and many companies find them useful. They’re especially popular in larger organisations, where in-house IT teams can configure them in bulk to suit their users.
But for smaller businesses, the one-size-fits-all package is no longer the ideal option. The explosion of apps in the past few years has given small businesses much greater choice.
Now you don’t need to buy an entire office suite just to use ten percent of its features. Instead you can buy individual apps that provide everything your business needs, often at a much lower price.
Many of these new apps connect together almost like building blocks, sharing data with ease. And since they are often cloud-based, they can be accessed from anywhere, not tied to a single desktop computer.

Seven ways to make custom business software work for you
So how do these apps work, and what are the benefits? We’ve compiled seven of the main points here.

1. Pick and mix the software you need
Maybe you need a CRM application but not a word processor, or an accounting package but not a spreadsheet. That’s easy – pick and choose what you need, not what a software company thinks you need.

2. Find specialised software for your business
Plenty of software products are written by small development companies to solve specific problems. Chances are, one of them has written an app that does exactly what you need – and if they haven’t, you could ask someone to write it. Search the software marketplace and see what turns up.

3. Get fast upgrades and bug-fixes
Small, nimble development companies can upgrade their software much faster than big software houses. That’s because they’re only working on a tiny fraction of the code. It’s much easier to update a time-tracking app than an entire spreadsheet application, for example. So you get faster updates.

4. Join it all together
Business products should be designed to be easily integrated together. Some of the best can connect to more than 300 other add-on applications or software products. So you instantly have access to 300+ extra features that could be ideal for your business. You can build a solution that suits you perfectly.

5. Scale it up easily
If business is booming and you’re taking on more staff, no problem. It should be easy to add more users to cloud-based business software – and the best accounting software allows you to add unlimited users for free so that your business can grow with you.

6. Benefit from a fast-changing market
It’s a great time to be a user of business applications, because the market is changing so fast. Thousands of developers are competing for your business, trying to create the best software for you to use. No other software market offers such a wide range of business tools, and it’s growing all the time.

7. Access your software anywhere, anytime
Many of the better products are cloud-based, which means you can access them from your laptop, desktop computer, tablet or smartphone. This lets you keep up to date with your business wherever you happen to be, any time of the day or night.

Make custom business software work for you
So the key benefit of cloud-connected products is that you can shape the software around your business – instead of trying to shape your business around the software.

With a little thought and planning you’ll be able to buy the tools you need to manage different parts of your business. Then you can join them together easily so they share data with each other.
Why buy an off-the-shelf suite when you can buy individually-crafted product instead? Scalable, connected and regularly updated – cloud applications offer a better way to run your business.

Call us today to see how we can help to make custom cloud business software work for you.

Specialising in Xero bookkeeping, Notch Above is a Brisbane bookkeeper and BAS Agent located in Alderley that offers Xero setup, as well as training and ongoing support. Notch Above can take care of all the bookkeeping tasks you would rather not do, like bank reconciliations, supplier payments, payroll services, debtor control and BAS returns.

Thanks for Xero for providing this article

Xero Quick Tip – Multiple Emails, One Invoice.

/in /by

[dt_sc_one_half first]

[/dt_sc_one_half]

[dt_sc_one_half]
Here is a quick Xero tip for today. How to add multiple invoices to a contact to enable the invoice to be sent to all email addresses. Take two minutes to learn this time saving tip.

Specialising in Xero bookkeeping, Notch Above is a Brisbane bookkeeper and BAS Agent located in Alderley that offers Xero setup, as well as training and ongoing support. Notch Above can take care of all the bookkeeping tasks you would rather not do, like bank reconciliations, supplier payments, payroll services, debtor control and BAS returns.
[/dt_sc_one_half]

Lost in Venice: How Software Support Helps You Navigate a New Application

/in , /by

Have you visited Venice? Rising out of the Venetian Lagoon like a dream, Venice is a tangle of enchanting laneways and canals lined with Renaissance-era palaces and churches. It is beautiful to behold and ranks as one of Europe’s most celebrated destinations. In Venice, there are no cars, tooting Vespas, or even bicycles. Visitors to Venice explore the city on foot or by water taxi or gondola.

Venice is a maze of anonymous streets. Very few streets have names, making most maps essentially useless. One of the great pleasures of Venice is to toss away the map and simply lose oneself in this magical labyrinth. But if you are trying to find your way back to your hotel at night or trying to find your hotel fresh off a train from the mainland, Venice’s no-name streets can prove frustrating.

Navigating a new software application can feel a lot like being lost in Venice: lots of beautiful dazzling features, but when you are trying to get from point A to point B and encountering dead ends at every turn, things start to lose their lustre.

Every software application comes with its own bible to study: a veritable paper storm of how-tos and FAQs. There are online forums, hours and hours of instructable videos, and detailed infographics. It is the equivalent of navigating Venice using an unwieldy folding map and a Lonely Planet guide book that could moonlight as a doorstop.

A dinky-di Venetian, does not need a map to navigate his or her city and neither does a visitor. Getting to grips with a new software application does not mean slavishly committing to memory  every command and process. It is simply a matter of unlocking the logic that underpins the software’s design.

The logic that underpins the layout of Venice is simple to grasp and once you do the city is actually easier to navigate than a metropolis with street names.

Venetian addresses are different in that they do not locate a business or residence on a street but in one of Venice’s six districts, called sestieri. For example if the address of your hotel is 5609 Cannaregio, then your hotel is located in the district called Cannaregio, not Cannaregio Street–it doesn’t exist.

Using a starting point like a bridge or a water taxi stop at the edge of a particular district, it is simply a matter of noting how the numbers above the doorways change. Simply follow the increasing or decreasing numbers to find your hotel. A big change in the number, means you may have crossed into another neighborhood. Simply turn around and go back the way you’ve come.

The path to unlocking the power of a software application is revealing the underlying logic that informs how it is laid out. And to do that you need access to expert users who spend their days navigating the software.

Notch Above offers new Xero users as well as more experienced users valuable insights into how Xero works. Sign up for your personal training session with one of our Xero experts.  You can answer questions specific to your business one on one with us from the comfort of your office.  You will come to know Xero the way a local knows his or her hometown.

If you run into a dead end in Xero, we will turn you around and put you on the right course again. Think of us like a hotel concierge providing you with directions you need to explore the highlights of a foreign capital.

Specialising in Xero bookkeeping, Notch Above is a Brisbane bookkeeper and BAS Agent located in Alderley that offers Xero setup, as well as training and ongoing support.  Notch Above can take care of all the bookkeeping tasks you would rather not do, like bank reconciliations, supplier payments, payroll services, debtor control and BAS returns. 

Is My Data Really Secure with Xero?

/in /by

Given recent global events in which sensitive financial data was stolen, it’s no surprise that people are more aware than ever about the privacy and security of their information. One of the most commonly asked questions about the use of Xero for business bookkeeping is how risky is it. Believe it or not, using Xero is not only secure, but it can actually be safer than standard outsourced business bookkeeping practices. Here’s how.

Access and Password Protection – One of the things that makes Xero more secure than traditional outsourced bookkeeping is the way data is accessed. Rather than sending sensitive content via email, where it could be intercepted and stolen, your accounting professional can simply log into Xero via a secure password to view and work with all necessary data.

Data Encryption – On those occasions where data must be transferred, either between users or from the business into the programme, Xero uses the same high level of data encryption that is used for online banking.

Multiple Layers of Firewall Protection – We’ve all heard about the devastating results of hackers gaining access to millions of consumers’ financial information in recent months. Xero uses multiple levels of firewalls to protect against external access, proactively preventing this from happening to any of the data stored on their servers.

Server Security – With customer data stored on external servers, it’s critical that these servers be protected with the highest level of security. All of Xero’s servers are located in enterprise-grade hosting facilities, which are guarded by onsite security guards, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

Regular Data Backups – Xero is constantly backing up all the data stored on its servers, including database backups every 10 minutes. This means your information can be quickly and easily restored in the event of a service interruption. These interruptions are rare, however with Xero boasting an availability rating of 99.99%.

Xero is Actually Safer…

You may still be asking yourself: wouldn’t it be safer to keep all of my financial information in-house on my own server? Isn’t turning over sensitive data to the cloud inherently risky? To the contrary, it’s actually a much wiser business decision to store your information in the cloud.  Provided that data is kept secure, which Xero takes very seriously, it’s also protected from loss due to technical problems, accidents or natural disasters.

Think about it. If you’ve got all of your critical financial data stored in your office on desktop software, what will happen to that data should your server crash or become physically destroyed by a fire or flood? When your files are stored with Xero, they’ll remain safe and secure no matter what happens in your office.

Now, more than ever, we are able to rely on cloud technology to help us do our jobs more efficiently and effectively. We use this technology on a daily basis, from surfing the web on our smartphones to streaming videos through our computers, tablets and even our televisions. Yet, when it comes to harnessing this incredible tool for business accounting, it’s only natural to be hesitant. The good news is if you choose to work with an accounting professional that uses a reputable service, like Xero, you can use the cloud to handle even the most sensitive of data securely.