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ENTREPRENEUR GUIDE

Increasing Productivity With Business Software

In the days before computers were a common tool in the operation of a business, business owners and managers spent a big portion of their time with paperwork. Computers and business software have significantly reduced this time, allowing business owners and managers to spend their time dealing with other aspects of the business, enabling the business to be run more efficiently with higher productivity.

The most important software for any business is accounting software. This software may be chosen based on what your accountant needs you to have in order to transfer financial information back and forth. Your accounting software should be powerful. It should have the ability to print checks, print invoices, handle payroll, handle multiple accounts, cover both accounts payable and receivable, and offer various financial reports, such as financial statements. Talk with your accountant to find out what accounting software is needed for your business.

If your accounting software doesn't automatically track inventory, you may want inventory tracking software as well. This will help you keep on top of the inventory that you have on hand, what inventory needs to be ordered, what inventory has been ordered, and more, depending on the power of the software. Again, you should work with your accountant to choose inventory tracking software.

Employee management software is also very effective for increasing productivity. This will allow you to print schedules, quotas, and track your employees performance in general. This software can also be used to clock employees in and out at the various computer terminals located throughout your business.

A contact manager is essential. This can be used to keep track of contact information for both suppliers and customers. These software programs are usually powerful enough to keep additional notes for each contact as well.

Printing and labeling software can also come in handy. This will allow you to print sales flyers and brochures, as well as mailing labels. Word processing software will also come in handy, with its ability to help you create text documents such as sales letters and other business papers efficiently and professionally.

There may be other types of business software that are specific to your business that will further increase productivity. By looking at all of the different jobs associated with running your business, you will be able to talk to software salesmen about programs that can make those jobs easier and less time consuming.

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