Coming,business,like,yours,amp business, insurance Coming to a business like yours: webware

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COMING TO A BUSINESS LIKE YOURS: WEBWARE!ByAlan CantonWhether you sell a product, a service, or a combination of both, those who are successful have one thing in common... an efficient back-office.But the “cost” of an efficient office has meant using complex accounting andorder-entry programs that are hard to learn and can require a computer expertto network many machines together.The software companies have not been standing still during the past two years. They have heard their customers complain and many of them are now coming out with what is often termed “webware” or web-services.Web services were first made popular by the on-line stock brokers likeAmeritrade. The concept spread to banking, then to payroll services likePayCycle and now to the full back-office such that all of the majororder-entry, billing, reporting, and financial functions of the office can bedone on-line with services like JAYA123 (www.jaya123.com) and the Oracle Small Businessservice.Instead of buying or downloading a large and complex software package that isnot only difficult to install but difficult to learn, vendors are nowoffering on-line services that you simply subscribe to and pay monthly, thesame way you pay your ISP or cable bill.While programs like QuickBooks and Great Plains won't disappear, a lot ofsmall and medium size business are switching to webware.The advantages of these services are many. First, there is nothing to buy, soyou don't end up laying out a chunk of change. Second, there is nothing toinstall because you access the software on the web using your browser. Third,you can use any kind of computer you wish.... as long as it has a browser.(Some services even run on a Palm Pilot-like device!) Fourth, there isnothing to backup or to crash. Fifth, you are not tied to any one machine...you can run your business from anywhere in the world.The word “security” comes up all the time. But most experts agree that thereis more hype than fact when it comes to Internet security. A well maintained“locked down” server that runs software designed to be a web-service is justas secure or more secure than the office desktop, that is easily compromisedby any employee who has access to it, or anyone who might just help it “walkaway.”And as for “up-time” how often has your desktop crashed compared to how oftenyour Internet connection has gone down or your ISPs server was not available?For most businesses, the answer is obvious.People have been doing their banking on-line for years. Same with payroll andtaxes. There are no known breaches. The back-office order-entry, inventory,etc., is simply a logical extension of what has been going on in othersectors.Should you switch? The answer depends on many factors. If you have many tensof thousands of customers, you are probably better off with a traditionaldesktop, multi-user, network system like QuickBooks or Great Plains. However,smaller businesses, especially those on a budget, will find back-office“webware” to be very attractive.Also, if you have remote offices or if you have vendors (like fulfillmenthouses) that might need access to your data, web services are the way to go.You can buy a “read-only” account and give that to outside vendors (oremployees) and they can use it (anywhere in the world) to view data, but notchange anything. Large firms have Virtual Private Networks to do all of this.The small business sector will now have the save advantage. The web is thenetwork!One of the best things about webware is that you can truly “try before youbuy” without having to download and install anything. The “demo” that you useon the vendor's web site is the same system that you will use “for real”when you subscribe.A lot of business people don't use the latest software products (or theydon't update the software they have) because they fear they will havetrouble installing it or learning how to use the new system.One of the advantages of webware is that everyone knows how to use a browser.Well-designed webware is intuitive by nature... just like the web. There ishardly any learning curve. Contrast that to learning how to use one of themore popular back-office desktop systems.There is no underestimating what a well-oiled office infrastructure can dofor your business. Being able to take orders, create invoices, account forthe money, keep track of customers, do your taxes, and create reports toshow you how you are doing are invaluable assets to anyone running a smallbusiness.With webware, it finally gets easier.