Improving workflow and customer relationships with custom software

If your company operates like most businesses you use spreadsheets and paper forms to obtain and track customer and important business information. This method works great for many things, but as your company grows you can start to see problems arise.

Spreadsheets: A spreadsheet can only be worked on by one employee at a time. So as your company gets larger this becomes a glaring problem. Time is wasted as employees take their turns with the file and ultimately information is often neglected or incorrect because of these reasons.

Paper forms and applications: Paper forms are inefficient and inaccurate because they require an employee to re-enter their data into whatever program that you use to store the information.

As inefficiencies and inaccuracies arise it can hurt your relationships with your customers. This is where custom software comes in to play. Custom software can centralize common tasks, keep records organized, run reports, and rid your company of repetitive spreadsheets and paper forms. Most importantly, it helps your business run smoothly -- the way you want it to.

Should I consider custom software?

First ask yourself the following questions:

1. Are there time consuming daily tasks that could be automated?
2. Is my business relying on spreadsheets for day-to-day operations?
3. Does my business have customers fill out paper forms or applications regularly?
4. Would real-time reporting help my business?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then you may want to look into investing in custom software.

So what exactly is custom software?

First ask yourself the following questions:

Custom software can be many things, in short it can be:

1. Online forms
2. Data management
3. Custom reporting
4. Time management and tracking
5. Automated document creation
6. Internet toolbar
7. MS Office plug-ins

Examples: Custom software can be a website where your customers can login and fill out important forms securely and easily. It can be software that hooks into your accounting system and helps you maintain your customer data. It can also be a system that allows you and your customers to share files online.

Custom software adds value

Unlike prepackaged software solutions that may be able to do 80% of what you are looking for, custom software can be modeled after the way your business works. This means there is little training needed and it can be modified as your business grows. Custom software simply mimics how you do business so it is more efficient.

The bottom line is that custom software is whatever you want it to be. To find out more about how Tekniq can help you get started with your custom software, contact us today.

Created 06/16/09. Copyright © 2009 Tekniq Data Corp.