How to Choose the Right Accounting Software for Your BusinessWritten by Brandon Hall
With any good luck and a good amount of hard work, you're having same problem many business owners today are facing. Your business is growing rapidly and you're having problems controlling your finances. Time and time again, that Microsoft Excel spreadsheet you've been using just isn't getting job done for you.So, you’ve decided that you’re ready to take next step, and buy a full-featured accounting software program. Many options are available to choose from, but I believe best solutions to be Quicken Premier Home and Business by Intuit, QuickBooks Pro also by Intuit, and Peachtree Accounting by Sage. In order to decide on right package for you, you need define type of business that you operate. With rise of self-employment (businesses with one or more owners but no paid employees) a need has arisen to manage business and personal finances on one platform. Intuit has released Quicken 2005 Premier Home and Business to fill this need. This software is perfect for small business owner who receives income from investments, real estate, and/or internet marketing. Also, Quicken 2005 Premier Home and Business is well priced at only $89.95. For more typical brick-and-mortar business owners, you will usually need a more robust solution like QuickBooks Pro or Peachtree Accounting for functions like payroll reporting and check producing. Each piece of software has its advantages, but don't forget that QuickBooks has been standard in business accounting software for many years now. As for features and basic operations, both applications will provide you same functionality and convenience for your business.
| | What You Need to Know About Business IntelligenceWritten by David McKeegin
Every business wants to be successful. That success always comes from growth. With most businesses, growth comes from customer retention and gaining new customers. “Business Intelligence” can help a company gain new customers and retain old customers. Business intelligence can be abbreviated BI. A formal definition of business intelligence is that it is a process of collecting information in area of business. In BI, data collected is enhanced into information and then into knowledge. Business Intelligence can give any business an accurate idea of its customers’ needs. Businesses that have large amounts of information about their customers can act upon that information. Businesses utilizing BI gain knowledge and understanding of a customer’s needs, customer’s decision-making process, and economic, cultural, and technological trends. When using businesses intelligence, businesses select either short term or long goals. BI helps a company reach those goals.Business Intelligence History The idea of business intelligence goes back to Sun Tzu’s “Art of War.” Tzu believed that in order to win a war, you must have complete knowledge of your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as strengths and weaknesses of your enemy. This is central idea in present-day business intelligence. Companies must know themselves better than their competitors, and they must know their competitors better. War and business are a lot alike considering that with BI, one must sift through heaps of data (both external and internal) for management to then make strategies for where to take business and marketing. Warfare involves strategic plans as well. BI is process of gaining information about every element of your market. Simply understanding customer is not enough; a business must understand its competitors, and itself. KPI, Key Performance Indicators The present state of business is assed by use of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in business intelligence. As more companies implement KPI, data is becoming available to business faster and more efficiently. Data used to be available for business only after one or two months. This untimely availability did not help business adjust their strategies. More recently, banks have tried to make data available sooner and with shorter intervals. Banks do this especially for businesses that have higher credit/operational risk loading. This allows many companies to get new data weekly, and adjust their strategies faster than ever before, leading to increased customer satisfaction and retention.
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