Software is the Answer

Thirty or so years ago the emergence of the micro processor and the disc operating system brought computing to small business and to ordinary people. I remember my first IBM-PC like it was yesterday. Computers and software applications have come a long way since then. I now have more computing power in my Blackberry than it took to send Neil Armstrong to the moon.
For three decades I made a career of selling computer systems and application software to small businesses. It was a great career.

Software is Good Business

The way I figure it, I sold well over one thousand systems in a thirty year run. The reason businesses gave me money was that I showed them how buying software from me would solve business problems for them. Buy software from me (the computer hardware came with it most of the time) and solve a business problem, gain efficiency and save money. Nice.

An Easy Sale...Every Time

In the early 80’s I sold a lot of systems because accounting software modules were integrated. It went down something like this: The scene is a business office. A handful of accountants were at their desks with columnar pads, adding machines, desk lamps, pocket protectors, pencil sharpeners and green shaded visors on their heads. Their job was doing the “books”. The process was labor intense and mistake prone (thus the pencils).

Me: “If you write checks using my software they will print on a computer printer.”
Her: “Huh…what about my typewriter? I just got a case of ribbons.”
Me: “And, the check will automatically post to the General Ledger.”
Her: “What? Get out. You are kidding. No way. Louise, come over here and see this. You won’t believe it. What will they think of next? How can we get this? When can we have it?”

And so I did my part to extinguish the use of typewriters, columnar pads, desk lamps, shaded visors, and pocket protectors and made a great living while doing so.

No Looking Back

Software revolutionized the accounting profession and a lot of others. There was some thought in 1999 that we would have to go back to the old manual systems because of the millennium and two digit dates, but we made it through that scare and haven't looked back since. Those of you that know me will remember that I stocked up on food, water, wood and ammo. I just wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to take the chance that the power grid or other essential systems would fail. Anyway, except for the ammo, everything got consumed eventually. It’s really hard to use up bullets and shells.

What Did We Miss?

You would think that after all of these years and all of the applications that were developed that the software revolution would slow down. After all, every possible software application has been created and deployed. There is nothing left to automate. Not true. Not even close to being true.

And Then Came the Clouds

A while ago we added the Internet to the mix (thanks Al) and a whole new world of software applications from way up there in the clouds arrived to keep solving problems for us and to continue to make us happier.

Buy Software - Save Money

For instance, I have a friend who has software that can monitor your UPS and Federal Express bill to find out when and how you were overcharged. He saves his customers about 5% on their bill every week. There is some real tangible value in that code.

Buy Software - Save Time (Which is Also Money)

Another associate provides software as a service that scans the Internet for information on topics of great interest to you, packages it up in concise e-mail format and delivers it to you at pre-determined intervals. This software does a better job of searching for relevant content than you can and, of course, then you don’t have to spend your time searching endlessly for haystack needles of information in the big old world wide web. That software delivers value.

Problem Fixer

What business problem is bothering you? Is there some process that just isn’t working right at your place? If so, I can say with certainty that there is some software out there that will solve your problem(s).

Software is Good For You

I know that we’re in a recession. I know that you aren’t in a spending mood, but consider my proposition. A strategic software purchase can make things better, shrink processes and deliver efficiencies. Now as much as ever, software can make your organization stronger and better equipped to beat back the effects of the current economic climate. Think it over.

Software is the Answer.