When it comes to technology, change is an ongoing process. You can never stay with just one type of computer/software or you’ll just get gobbled up by your more technologically updated competition. Therefore, should the time come for you to change accounting software, you should treat it more as an investment and not just as an expense. Below are some tips to help you maximise returns, minimise cost and make the change as easy and as beneficial as possible for everyone concerned.

Before anything else, you should first find out the needs of your company or your organisation. This is perhaps the most important step in the entire process of preparing your organisation for a change in accounting software because it will determine the type of the accounting software you’ll get and the kind of functionality and scope you’re looking for.

This step will just carry over from the previous step [Assess Your Needs]. Make sure that your goals are realistic too. If you’ll be changing your software on a very limited budget, don’t aim to find one that does every single step of the accounting process. If it looks like you can’t afford the latest and most sophisticated software, look for one that will satisfy several or most of the steps of the accounting process in your organisation.

While you’ll most probably be talking to your organisation’s accountants about the entire change, it’s also a good idea to coordinate with your IT personnel. Because your new software will necessarily run on a computer, you have to ask them whether it can be integrated into your organisation’s current system and, if the new software won’t, what modifications will have to be done. Also, ask whether the change will allow your organisation to comply with industry standards.

Of course you’ll be creating a panel to screen your new software prospects. But instead of the usual mix of top-level bosses and management heads, throw in some of your accountants and some of your computer systems people. Aside from cost considerations, you should also take note of their input because they’d be the ones to notice certain aspects of the prospective software like usability and scalability – important factors that your managers might not notice or, even worse, not even know about.

The size of your organisation doesn’t matter. Whether you’re going to ask for a quote or are soliciting a bid, be as formal as possible when corresponding with a prospective software provider. When they know that they’re dealing with an actual and legitimate business, they’re more likely to give you the business edition software and not just the usual consumer level stuff. When you’re talking about software that your organisation will be using across several computers for the next several years, that sort of consideration will matter.

Employers have come to realise that one of the best things they can do for their business is to get feedback from their own people.  While listening to customers’ suggestions and complaints is important, soliciting the input and ideas of employees can be priceless. 

What You Learn from Listening 

Your employees are your “contact people” as they are the ones who directly deal and interact with your customers.  If your employees are dissatisfied with their working conditions, they are unlikely to pass on a good vibe to your customers.  They cannot serve with a smile if they have nothing to smile about.

When employees are dissatisfied, moreover, they will not stay long.  Employee turnover rates would be high and this can not be good for your people’s morale – why be friends with your office mates when you or they’d be gone soon, anyway?  With high turnover rates, moreover, you’d be forced to devote a lot of time (and company resources) on hiring and training new employees so you’ll have little or no time to growing your business.  You’d be dealing with the employee learning curve again and again.  Inexperienced employees also means more mistakes.

Employees, moreover, are not machines.  When they work, they think and they usually have an opinion about the way things are being handled, the company policies and how the business operates.  Your employees are therefore good sources of ideas for your business’ overall improvement.

Imagine, then, what mere listening to employees can do and give you.  If you listen to your employees, you will LEARN a lot of things.  You will learn what your employees think about the way you run the business, what company policies are hindering your company’s growth and what needs improving on your product or service.  If you listen to your employees, you will know what pleases and bothers them so you can introduce programs that will improve your employees’ satisfaction with their jobs.  By so doing, you will retain more of your employees.  This, in turn, means better and more experienced employees dealing with customers (this means greater customer satisfaction), satisfied and happy employees (motivated employees who have the good of the company in mind) and less time/effort/money wasted on training new hires (efficient use of company resources).

Overall, if your listen to your employees, your company can improve for the better.

Listening to Your Employees 

How do you listen to employees?  There are many ways.

Survey:  You can do an employee survey; you can formulate a questionnaire and distribute it to your employees.  To make sure you’re capturing the information that you need, you can ask professional researchers to make the questionnaire for you.

Meeting:  You can also set a meeting with your employees and directly ask them what for their feedback.  You must be careful here; you don’t want to offend people by shooting down their ideas just because you personally think such ideas have no merit.  During the meeting, just listen and take down notes.  Then, you can analyse the information you have gleaned on your own.

Discussions:  You can meet with each of your employees for a more in-depth and personal discussion.  This will give you the privacy that you need so you can get useful suggestions without being wary of embarrassing your employees.

Starting on the path of business is hard and choosing the specific path is even harder.  Nevertheless, no matter what path you choose, there will always be risks that you’ll have to take when starting a business.  Going into business, though, doesn’t always have to be a leap of faith.  Although there will always be an element of risk involved, you can considerably lessen the risks by buying an existing business.

1. Facts vs. theories:  You will have a great deal more facts to work with.  Some of these facts are the average revenue per month, the inventory turnover, the number of new customers, average profit per month, etc.  More facts mean fewer theories and less guesswork.

2. Existing system vs. experience:  With an existing business, all you have to do is to improve on the systems and infrastructure that are already in place.  If these were working right before you bought it, then there will be less chance of making the expensive start-up mistakes that entrepreneurs always charge to experience.

3. Shorter ROI time:  Typically, ROI timeframe is shorter.  You don’t have to spend as much time building the business; operations can commence the day after you sign the papers.  You do away with the development stage and go right to the production stage.

4. New vs. second-hand:  Most (if not all) of the equipment, furniture and other assets are second-hand.  This represents considerable negotiating leverage when it comes to the business selling price.  Second-hand assets are always cheaper than new ones although they are not always inferior in quality.

5. Existing customers:  When buying an existing business, you get the business’ existing customers as well.  This means you don’t have to go through nerve wracking months of hoping for customers to stumble in.

6. Experienced employees:  You also get the business’ experienced employees.  This means less training costs, fewer mistakes and fewer aspirins on your part.  But then of course, the task of breaking bad habits falls upon you as well.

7. Better financing options:  When you buy a business that is at least two years old or more, you also get to buy the financial options that come with the track record.  Banks are ‘friendlier’ to businesses that have been up and running for at least two years.  This gives you the option to take out a loan to augment the business capability or to upgrade the operations.

8. Known vs. unknown:  An existing business would also have (for good or bad) an established place and identity in the market.  This means that you don’t have to fight hard for a place in your target niche.

9. Having a mentor plus flexibility:  When you buy an existing business, you also get a mentor (the seller) who can help you learn the business thoroughly.  This is almost as good as going into business as a franchisee.  Unlike a franchisee though, you will have more options, more flexibility and total control when it comes to making crucial decisions about your business.

10. Less risk:  From all of the above reasons, buying an existing business means less risk.  Of course, this also depends upon the care you have taken to make sure that you have chosen the right business to buy.  Good luck and good hunting!