What feeds the fire of every start-up is an inspiration of what the company can be and what it can do better than any other on the market. But nothing douses that fire like drowning in inefficiency and tedious administrative processes.
Today’s accounting software packages provide automation and efficiency across a full range of financial management tasks. Invoicing, bookkeeping, managing payments, payroll–you name it. The right software will deliver the one asset you need more than any other: time. And it’s time that you must have to ensure you’re doing everything you can to nurture your company’s unique value proposition and turn it into the success you know it’s destined to become.
Start-up software buyers face tough questions, though. Should we purchase now or later? How do we afford capable software? How do we carve out time to review and implement software? Do we invest for our current or future needs?
The answers to these questions can seem clouded by the variety of different options available, but there are four specific things I’ve found over the last decade working with software buyers that every start-up entrepreneur should know about when purchasing software.
1. You don’t have to pay right away.
Capital is tight for every start-up. There are countless demands on it and only so much to go around. The good news is that start-ups enjoy an advantage that was hard to come by just a decade ago: an abundance of subscription based software options. Software as a service options are extremely popular. They offer a great way to immediately access strong functionality, while spreading costs out over time.
2. It’s never too soon to find the right software.
The purpose of great business software is to help you work both smarter and faster which is never more important than during the launch of a business. Many of the start-up problems you face can benefit from strong software aid. Project management tools will help development efforts. Budgeting software will let you easily create projections to share with investors – even before you have started generating revenue.
3. You don’t have to do it all by yourself.
It takes time to implement software. In order to save time on the implementation and shorten the learning curve, consider the value of working with the software provider to provide implementation assistance. Utilizing software provider assistance not only shortens the time that it takes to get software up and running, it helps ensure you are using it to its full capabilities.
4. You get one chance to start completely fresh.
Is that intimidating? Don’t let it be! You have a golden opportunity your competitors wish they had. Without existing systems in place, you have none of the integration challenges and issues with disconnected systems that plague many companies. Finding a program that will meet your immediate needs and continue to scale with your company is your first step toward to ensuring you have the technology resources to not only help you get your company of the ground, but to succeed over the long haul.
Author Bio:
Adam Bluemner is the Project Specialist Manager for Find Accounting Software, a service providing free software selection assistance. Over the last decade Adam has spoken with over 10,000 companies, helping them achieve business success through intelligent software investment. Adam writes extensively on ERP and business software.
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