4 Steps to Upgrading Your Business Software
When it comes to choosing business software, most of us don’t have sufficient training or experience to ensure success. Software selection is not a subject thought in school nor is it something that most tangible-product-involved businesses deal with often. Perhaps this is why we hear horror stories of companies wasting thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on transitioning to an off-the-shelf software or develop their own propriety one, just to see it all fail. As an entrepreneur who grew up in the software world and has spent his entire adult life starting, growing, and working with businesses, I strongly believe that planning and the implementation of proper software research makes a critical difference in a company’s long-term growth path.
1 – Independent Research
The most important step and one that the majority of us happen to fail at is the development of a structure for their research. Remember, preparation makes all the difference. Here is a simple roadmap to get you started:
- Create a Company Profile: Start by creating a document about your company and its operations as they are today. This could include a paragraph about the company’s history and day-to-day processes. I’d also cover some of the important basics like products, services, customers, target market, number of locations, number of employees, business model, and current software programs used.
- Define Current Challenges: Now, write down the challenges you face and are hoping to address with this software upgrade. This could be anything from adding more automation to your procuring or sales team management to opening up more sales channels by offering online catalog and e-commerce options to your clients. The sky is the limit but here are some of the most typical ones I’ve come across in the ERP and eCommerce worlds:
- Better inventory tracking
- Adding barcode scanning to minimize staff-errors
- Optimizing the pick/pack/ship processes
- Improving the purchasing decisions
- Achieving efficiency
- Finding access to the company’s true numbers (Cost of Goods, A/P, A/R, etc)
- Minimizing Inventory Shrinkage
- Visibility and access to the vital product info for the inside/outside sales reps
- Integrating B2B or B2C eCommerce and/or marketplaces like Amazon and eBay
- Automating Quoting and Invoicing steps
- Define Must and Nice: Create an excel sheet and list all of the features and expectations you want to have, one per row. Make sure to separate them by must-haves vs nice-to-haves. It’s highly likely that you will not find an absolutely ideal solution that has everything you’re looking for feature-by-feature. The goal here is to get as close to it as possible. The must-haves are not to be compromised. That’s the rule!
- Talk to Your Professional Network: Hopefully, you have a community of other companies similar to yours. They don’t need to be a direct competitor; how similar their operations should be to yours is relative to how specialized of software you’re researching for. If you’re looking for an eCommerce solution, for example, most generic solutions might work for you, but if you’re looking for a business operations solution, well, you’re probably going to have to find ones that work best with your industry segment and business model. Talk to your community and pay attention to their success and failure stories; trust me you want to hear both!
- Approach the Internet Gods: Google is probably where you’ll have to start your online research. Bing is also becoming more popular but still has a long way to go to catch up to Google. Get specific with your keywords when searching the web. Of course, make sure it is broad enough to cover your must-have features. Create a list of your top five options by adding them to your excel sheet. Record their pricing, features, and the first impression you’ve got from them. Then, schedule demos or create trial accounts and evaluate the system. Be sure to write notes about your findings during this process.
2- Research Analysis
Once you have your top five and their feature-list, it is time for the elimination game. Most of the time, if you have an elaborate must-have list, you’ll find two or three of the programs to fall short and naturally eliminate themselves. The only appropriate step from here is to consider the next most important factor, which is the quality of the support you’ll receive during and after your implementation. Give this one a good and hard look. I like to give each contender a score between 1 and 10. If one falls below 6, it gets eliminated, unless of course, you’re sure you won’t need software training and support.
By this time, you’re most likely left with one or two options. If you have more than one option, try scoring them based on their nice-to-have features. Should you find yourself in a perfect competition between the last couple of software programs, you’re safe to use the pricing as your deciding factor.
3- Decision Making
Everything you’ve done so far was to bring you to this step. Go ahead, trust yourself. If you’ve taken the logical steps mentioned above, it’s highly likely that you have the right answer. As a businessperson, you’ve been prepared for this. Pull the trigger and start strong!
4- Implementation
In the software world, sadly, it is common for companies to invest thousands of dollars into new software only to put it aside and never fully implement it. The cause of implementation failure is twofold:
- Complex Implementation Process: Not every software is made the same and by the same definition, not every software’s implementation process is as smooth. If you’ve done your job right in the research and analysis steps, however, you’re not going to face this challenge.
- Not Assigning an Implementation Champion: At the time of signing up, you should also assign a team-member or yourself to be in charge of and the main contact during the implementation. This person must know almost everything about the company’s day-to-day operations as far as it relates to the new program’s functions. He or she must also have the availability and the required skills to think critically and manage the project proactively.
If done right, a business software selection and launch can be exciting and rewarding for you and your company and colleagues. Remember, the goal of software programs is to improve our lives by eliminating repetitive work and streamlining operations. Follow the steps above and you’re likely to become a hero at your company. If you’re a wholesale or distribution company looking for an all-in-one solution to manage everything from your sales to fulfillment, go ahead and set up a free trial account here and find out what Zangerine can do to help take your company to the next level!
Europe Trip: A Thought Shaped Into Reality
Thought shaped a plan that then shaped action; this is how I have ended up writing this while sitting at a coffee shop in Padua, Italy.
Throughout my early adulthood, I have consciously been trying to decide what I want to do with my life and what I want to shape myself into. I chose to do something that enables me to travel and see the world.
My background in software development and a pinch of interest in business and entrepreneurship founding a small software company seemed like a straightforward path to achieving what I had set forward for myself.
I have to admit, it was not as straight of a path as I made it sound just now. I had two primary challenges to overcome:
1- A viable source of income through a software business that people were willing to pay for without confining me working to a specific location
2- Getting myself to get up and pack my bag; this one was a big one for me. I just didn’t know how much this second challenge was holding me down
After overcoming both of these through several years of self-development (which I found is an ongoing task), I have found myself filled with the joys of life traveling abroad. First with the two months in Thailand and now, an almost month-long trip around western Europe.
The trip started great. Laurel and I were both wondering what would happen if our flight from SLC to SFO gets delayed for too long and we miss our main flight … well, we got to SFO just fine and with time to spare (yay!!). And so, we were on our way!
Spain
Barcelona was awesome. I was told by a few people how much we were going to enjoy it, but I needed to experience it myself to really get it! Landed there Friday afternoon and after a quick nap, we decide to go on a stroll around La Rambla. One thing led to another and an hour later, we were drinking at a bar then dancing on the dance floor.
Around 1:30 am, the wristbands we’d bought took us on a longer-than-expected walk with about 30 other fellow tourists to a much much bigger club by the beach called Shoko.
Being the friendly-talkative people we are, we met our match when chatting with two amazing gals from the UK. And from there, so much excitement! The night we danced away! Laurel lost her phone to a pickpocket! We lost her as she tried to find the bathroom and so a super fun night almost turned into a super tough one.
An hour of desperate searching and I found her at the beach asking random people to let her message me from their phone.
So that’s how the father feels when he finally finds the lost son!!! By this time, I had become so protective, I just wanted to fight any of the male species. Just got lucky that I didn’t lol
Barcelona certainly didn’t disappoint. With the amazing food and unlimited variety of Tapas to the Pablo Picasso museum to more dance and parties and the creepy-styled bar with the barbie heads we randomly walked into, every moment was full of joy and laughter.
Also, English and Lithuanians people are amazing. Those two gals, not only stuck by me until I found Laurel, but made the rest of our time in Spain even more memorable (and fuzzy?).
Italy
Italy was the country I was most looking forward to. Primarily because I’ve always thought of Italy as the perfect place for me to spend a year in.
I have to be honest though, I was dumb-founded after spending a day in Rome. I didn’t know enough about the history and the ambiance I was getting into. I don’t know, maybe I wasn’t quite done with the party scenes of Barcelona, or maybe I just am not cultured enough. I think the scene was a bit too religious for my interest.
I did have one heck of time mesmerized by the arts all around the Vatican City and the Sistine Chapel. Even someone like me could appreciate the beauty and the work and skills that had gone into Michel Angelo and his peers’ artwork.
And of course, we moved on!
A 3-hour train ride (which we almost totally missed, we literally had a mad dash through the station), we were in Venice.
What a cool place. Did I say cool? I mean, it was hot as hell. Nothing more than a sleeveless shirt could wrap itself around me for more than 3-seconds (sorry babe).
On this trip, I met the most talkative human-being I’ve ever met. I can’t remember ever finding myself empty of any tolerance for someone’s voice to this level. I kid you not, this friendly girl we met in Venice talked for an actual 9 hours!! Yes, I literally had to stop her. Turns out, nine hours is what it takes to break me (:
Note to self: after telling a story or sharing a fact, end your sentence and pause. Allow others to share something. If you ever find yourself talking more than the rest of the group, THAT IS YOUR RED FLAG!!!!
I have sooooo much to tell, but I’m getting hungry. Next time, I’ll be writing about how Munich and the rest of Germany have turned out. I can’t wait for what’s coming!!
Cheers
One Tale of 63 Stories
It may have been hubris that gave us the impression that we would make it from our hotel to the State Tower in under an hour. One of the things we had learned is how often and heavy the rush hour traffic is in Bangkok. Spending the day exploring the city and preparing for dinner, it was more difficult than anticipated to find a taxi willing to brave traffic.
In a lucky stroke, we found the best man for the job. Weaving through traffic at breakneck speed, we arrived at the State Tower with a half hour to spare.
The smooth receiving line for the entrance gently ushered us into the lobby and towards the elevators where a small line was already queued with a not small crowd, all fashionably dressed. It was a pleasant surprise to see how quickly the line moved to the lift.
When it was our turn, we were comfortably shifted inside the small elevator and 63 stories up … to the roof.
The first sight from the top is breathtaking. Millions of lights glitter against the night sky and cast a glow on the river far below. A gentle breeze drifted over as we enjoyed the view. The welcoming wait staff asked if we’d like to have some photos taken, and gently couched us as they brought out lights and took as many photos as we could have wanted.
Taking in the moment, we moved over to the champagne lounge where live jazz music floated around us. The staff was courteous to our every need and came in and around just as we needed them.
The fine dining restaurant at the top of State Tower is the Sirocco. As we descended the elegant stairs to our dinner table, our waiter guided us with care through the soft lighting. He made sure to show us every tricky step as he seated us.
Looking through the menu was a treat in and of itself. Every item was exquisite, and we finally decided on a pork belly with greens and lobster tail linguine with sauce while we sipped on our champagne. The mood was relaxed in a way that is nearly impossible to describe. It filled the soul with peace, as I heard the gentle music and enjoyed the beautiful sights.
The food arrived shortly after a warm towel service, each dish plated especially to highlight the food. The meat melted away on the tongue and everything was flavored to perfection. We took our time, to say it shortly, and enjoyed every bite.
As we ate, we talked about how special this moment was. The elegant setting was perfect mostly due to the company we shared with each other. We commented on the fact that neither one of us could imagine being there alone.
The evening wouldn’t be complete without stepping over to the Sky Bar resting over the edge of the roof to soak in the view one more time while we mingled with the other patrons.
Squeezing onto the bar area, it was a gentle push to get to the actual railing and overlook the city. The warm breeze kept calling us to stay and enjoy the view just a little bit longer.
In that very moment, I saw it all. I saw how all the sacrifices and hard work, all the sleepless nights and struggling sales calls, and all the non-stop effort I had put in as a full-time entrepreneur had led to this moment.
.
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And, it was worth it.
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This moment will be my motivation to even more focus and dedication in life.
Moving on …
Not sure why exactly, but it seems like humanity is designed, or perhaps has designed themselves to, be rigid to change. In my professional life, I often work with companies who wouldn’t click the “launch” or “switch” button on a new project simply because they or their staff is not comfortable with the idea of a change of process. In almost all of these instances, the company and high-level executes, who are the real decision makers, know the change is positive, yet are afraid of it. It takes lots of motivation and courage for a manager to take charge and do the hard thing.
We can find the same pattern of behaviors in our personal lives. We often learn and accept that certain actions or choices are harmful or offer a greater level risk than reward, yet once we find ourselves in the ring, face-to-face, with the temptation, we make the easy choice. It appears as if having a logical and reasoning mind does not correlate with our will power. We order our favorite peace of apple pie for desert on a Tuesday despite the fact that we had decided to cut out carbs. We stay in a drink a beer on Thursday evening when we had promised ourselves to hit the gym after work. We keep on dating or obsess over a man or woman even when we simply know it is time to move on.
Our Limited Will Power
While there are several different theories about will power, I personally categorize it as a rechargeable energy. An individual with a strong will power can give into a temptation if his power has been draining all day on other challenges. I like to think of will power as a muscle in my body. When overused by physical work, it will tend to give up at a point. When I push myself at the gym, I often find the muscle in focus give up after several sets. All my sets have a preset number of rep I should fulfill with the exception of my last one. My last set is often called “to faturala.” On this set, I continue until the muscle in question completely give us and almost goes numb. This helps me ensure I am pushing my limits and that my body is truly getting stronger.
If will power does indeed work in a similar way, then the more you exercise it, the stronger it develops to be. And by the same metaphor, it can very well get exhausted and fail us if being challenged more than its capacity. The solution, therefore, would be to give your mind enough rest after a major and hard decision to regroup and recharge your will power muscle again.
One of the daily managerial mistakes made by most of us is not focusing on one task and jumping from one to another. Multi-tasking is over-rated, especially when you’re a knowledge worker. When finding yourself unable to implement a project or act on an important personal decision, clean up your whiteboard, your desk, your inbox, and focus on One Thing. Get it done, and move on the next. This is how you conquer the world!
The Focusing Question
I just finished listening to the power of thinking big audio book. The main point the author finished the book with was to stop running away from quite times. It mentioned that one of the features that successful and bold people have/had is to spend time in solitude. To the contrary, regular people avoid being by themselves, so they constantly hanging out with others, and when that is not an option, they refuge to TV, YouTube and other similar entertainment channels. All and all to run away from their own thoughts instead of embracing them.
Checking myself, I can see that this weakness also applies to me. As a personal goal, I have decided to spend half an hour per day in solitude thinking, imagining, writing, and examining myself and my thought.
I have a feeling this new habit is going to create an effective depth to my life that would last for eternity.
The book “The One Thing” uses a note worthy example early in the book. Life goals are like domino pieces. Based in basic physics laws, each domino piece can knock down another piece 150% larger than itself, going back to the goals and achievements as dominoes metaphor, you may say that the large and the largest domino is your ultimate goal, one should focus on creating, conditioning, and finding that first and smallest domino. If the right goal is focused on, it will be accomplished and it’d set off the next pieces of the domino and greater accomplishment will be achieved more automatically and naturally.
The question to ask yourself now is: “ What is the one thing, I can do that would make everything else easier or unnecessary?”
2.5 Rejection in 24 Hours
Today, something interesting happened. I got rejected once, then got rejected again, and then faced a counter-offer I was not ready for to count for 50% rejection of the day. I have to be honest, it bothered me. I don’t think it was mainly because of the potential object/value I lost by each rejection, but the actual concept of “feeling rejected.”
As a person who always tried to handle things smart and not let useless negative feelings affect him, I tried hard to ignore it and focus on my work and keep a positive energy flow. Throughout the years, I have actively trained myself to be emotionally intelligent. But now, I found myself weak in the middle of the ring. For the first hour, I tried distracting myself. That didn’t do the trick. I was dealing with a bigger monster this time.
You might wonder why I would make such a big deal about overpowering my negative feelings. Around my teenage years
8 Questions to Ask Before Making a Major Business Decision
Throughout the life of your business, and your business life for that matter, you will be faced with major decisions that can potentially have a high impact on your company’s positioning and future. This decision could be something like changing the material or ingredient of an existing product, introducing a new product, focusing on a new target market, bringing in new partners, moving to a new location, opening a new office, running a new marketing campaign, introducing a new sales strategy, etc.
Consider Your Mission Statement
Before you take this major decision under our 8-question microscope, you should first ensure that you have a clear and strong mission statement. I am not talking about
How to Optimize eCommerce Product Pages & Rank High on Google
Improve your SEO using these guidelines
Improving your websites SEO is not always an easy task but if you use the following guidelines you can be sure to rise in ranks. Your biggest hurdle is optimizing your product page to include intricate details that google deems useful when a potential customer is perusing the web for similar products.
Optimize Product Names
To properly optimize your product page be sure to include a good title with a primary focus being the product name. Include part numbers, manufacturer name, and product type. These are the most
Product Packaging Design
So, you have a brand new and innovative product or you are simply manufacturing an “everyday product.” It is time to create a packaging for your product. You look at a few competitors and some of your favorite product packagings out there, scramble together a product package and move on. Months later, you start wondering why your products are not bought online and/or on shelves by new customers as often, you do some research on your potential customers and find out that it just didn’t “feel right” or that they couldn’t “trust” the new product. Well, guess what? Your packaging has a remarkable effect on your buyers. The product packaging is a first impression and should symbolize the quality the customer would receive once the cover is stripped naked!
With that in mind, here are some of the most important on your Product Packaging Design Checklist:
1- Simplicity
I feel like the Rule of Simplicity can apply to almost anything these days; simple website designs, simple decoration, simple goals, simple lifestyle, and now Simple product packaging design. Well, it’s not the new of a rule, but it is interesting how so many companies and marketing managers still fail to keep their packaging nice, simple, and clear.
