What do we really mean when we talk about management software systems? Even a fairly streamlined business has to be able to do accounting, purchasing, billing and customer relationship management.
That’s really quite the list. And there are a few companies out there who claim to be able to cover off all of these needs in one single package, but a bit of skepticism is called for. Is it really possible for a single business systems and software suite to combine the strengths of the most widely-used single-purpose solutions out there?
For example, Quickbooks may be great for accountants, but it can’t integrate into most point-of-sale systems or handle multiple warehouse locations. On the other hand a comprehensive business software package like ManageMore can’t give the user the kind of upgrade and add-on options, or the support commitment, that a company like Microsoft is in a position to guarantee.
Single-vendor solutions have a few major advantages. First, they can be more easily customized to match your industry, since they tend to be modular – they almost have to be. Second, they make it easier for staff to learn different parts of the system, since it should look and feel the same as what they’ve already been trained on.
However, single-solution vendors realistically can’t invest the same amount of effort into their business management software system as, for instance, Kronos is able to invest into their single, specialized product. All-in-ones who customize by sector don’t necessarily offer the same user base or face the same competition pressure that pushes specialist organizations to develop add-ons and bother with incremental improvements and updates.
Often, though, employees wastes a lot of time, in terms of dollars, just moving information from one place to another, because many software systems just are not compatible with each other. Either the data is vastly different, or it is not worth a company’s time to connect with a disprate product in another industry. A one-stop-shop might also make collaboration between departments easier, since it is able to record every transaction from end to end. You might actually shell out less on a single management software solution in the long run simply through economization of work.
Now we get to the real question: cost. Single-system solutions aren’t cheap. But when you actually throw together all of the one-off medium-sized business management solutions you need to acquire, licensing might approach tens of thousands of dollars, even for a relatively modest package. Going with multiple vendors for all of your purchasing, inventory control, marketing, and management needs represents a large chunk of a company’s operating costs.
Single-solution vendors might be able to economize using a modular design, but training costs will be much higher due to the proprietary nature of the system – there are more manuals out there on Microsoft Project than there are on the project-management module in the education version of BizAutomation!
Once you commit to a single-solution business software vendor, you’re pretty much stuck with them unless you hire a team of engineers to get your data back out for you, in a format that’s compatible with other software platforms.
If most of your data and employee face-time is going into using only one of a few business systems and software suites, like Microsoft Office or Quicken, you’re likely going to be better off throwing in with them. Analyze closely your business’s day-to-day operations. If you have staff that are spending as much time in the warehouse as they are writing contracts, it’s definitely worth at least giving a single-source vendor a try. Just be sure that it uses industry-standard compatible formats: all information should be compatible, off-the-shelf, with the comparable standalone software suites that the system is replacing.