Business Startup Software

Jul 28, ’11 11:13 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Startup

Thinking about starting a business? You may also wonder about what software to use, Microsoft Office (now even available online), accounting software and so on – but is that really the software you need right now?

Starting a business is a process in itself – I don’t want to scare anyone here, but getting this part right will increase your chances of business success by over 20%! Business Start-up Software should help you through the business start-up process, which means you want to set yourself goals, plan your cash-flow and do a SWOT (Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threads) analysis.

These tools will help you to think ABOUT your business and not IN your business – working out if and how you can succeed is what business start-up software does!

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I’m the CEO, Sorry!

Jul 6, ’11 9:17 PM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Psychology

It’s a funny old world sometimes – I usually spend several hours per day doing online customer support. Instinctively I always introduce myself just as “Stefan” and do not elaborate on who I am or what I do.

Today however I had two people ask me if I was the CEO of the business and truthfully I said yes! One of my conversation partners was obviously quite disturbed about this fact and I asked why? She said that she did not realize that we were such a small business, that the CEO of the business had to make customer care calls! I must admit I always felt a change in the conversations atmosphere, when people realized that I was WinWeb’s CEO – but this was shocking in a way.

Instead of being happy to speak to me – I felt as if I had to apologize for offering customer care to the most important people in my business, my customers. It took me about 30 minutes to explain that this had nothing to do with the size of WinWeb, but instead how important my time with my customers is for me, in order to understand my customers needs, see how our products and services are received, where we can do better, etc., etc.

I think there is something wrong, when CEOs hide behind their colleagues from their customers – but what is really shocking to me is that at least some of my clients seem to agree with those CEOs.

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Shell LiveWIRE Awards Supported By WinWeb.com

Jul 5, ’11 3:34 PM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Funding

WinWeb have today announced it’s support for the Shell LiveWIRE Awards and Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, by sponsoring each applicant with it’s online cloud-based WinWeb Business Planning Software for 12 months free of charge.

Read more on this story on the WinWeb Businessblog or on the Shell LiveWIRE Site or even better why not apply for the awards and win one of the 5x£1000 awarded monthly.

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Top 5 Tips for Small Business Mobile Websites

Jun 20, ’11 7:00 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Business Checklists, Mobile Website

The weekly top 5 tips post is always full of helpful hints and advice for small, home and micro business owners.

1. The number of people with smartphones is growing exponentially. Consumers increasingly expect to be able to access company websites from their mobile devices, so a mobile-friendly version is important.

2. You need to make sure that the mobile version of your website is compatible with all of the major smartphones. This can be difficult, as many of them use different operating systems.

3. Try to distill your most useful website features so that they are usable on the small screen of a smartphone. Things like instant order updates or stock checking are great for people on the move.

4. Ensure that all of the text on your site is readable on a mobile devices and that images or other content will display correctly. Navigation is also a big issue for mobile devices.

5. It is advisable that you delegate the construction of your mobile website to someone with experience of building them. WinWeb offer a great bundle that will allow you to get a business website and mobile website for one low price.

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Cloud Based Accounting Software

Jun 18, ’11 3:14 PM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Accounting Software

Accounting is most certainly not the the most favorite entrepreneurial occupation – rightly so. Let’s face it accounting is all about the past, at a time when we all need to look to the future to navigate these perilous financial times.

But, accounting software will help us to manage the past, improve our cash-flow and make better informed decisions for the future. The problem is that most accounting software products are just about accounting and not about managing your businesses finances with a forward looking emphases.

What are the accounting software features you will need to manage your business better for the future? Here are some to look out for:

■ Cloud Computing – will help you to manage your work-time better, automate data back-up, allow access from anywhere & anytime and allow you to collaborate easily with others.

■ Cash-Flow Integration – taking control of your cash-flow is vital for your businesses survival, a automatic 30 day cash-flow forecast will keep you on track.

■ CRM Integration – How much credit are you going to give your client? If you have no client history, you are stabbing in the dark and put your business at risk.

■ Sales Integration – selling online or off-line, both needs to be connected to your accounting software, this will save you time & money, while keeping you up-to-date. An invoicing function is not enough to provide you with what you need.

■ Software Integration – many vendors will talk about APIs, to connect to other software vendors for some or all of the above software modules. Don’t be fooled, your data is being shared and distributed to different vendors, the API is going to fail and you the customer will be suffering – always look for an integrated solution, ie. everything from one vendor.

These are just some of the considerations you need to keep in mind when choosing you next accounting software.

Share your comments with me on Facebook.

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Micro Business vs Job

Jun 15, ’11 5:27 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories How to ..., Micro Business, start-up in business

Job security is a thing of the past, no ifs & buts, it is. Why then are still so many hell bend on getting a job in a company?

Here are a couple of things to consider when considering your future:

☺ Income Security: You lose your job, you lost it all. You lose a client you still have the others left.

☺ Job Satisfaction: Plan you business well, do the things you enjoy and you will be good at what you do, bringing you even more clients thru word of mouth.

☺ Travel Time: Work from home, or use co-working spaces near by – cutting you unproductive time every day of your life and helping the environment.

☺ Life Balance: Be the master of your time, work when you want, play when you want – be part of your family.

☺ Higher Earnings: You will most likely earn more money when you have more than only one “client” (employer).

☺ Collaborate: Work with other micro business, freelancers and build your own eco-system for new orders, new clients, bigger orders and so on. Your micro-business co-workers recommend you as you recommend them for work in your or their specialized fields.

While I know it seems a scary prospect for many to run your own business – large or small – I’m sure it’ll be the best thing you have ever done.

If you are reading this, you are thinking about it – good for you.

Share your stories & comments with us on our facebook page!

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iCloud for Business?

Jun 7, ’11 8:21 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Micro Business

Yesterday saw Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveil iCloud, Apple’s new cloud computing offering for end-users. Question is what is in it for small business or even micro business?

Is there any professional accounting software, invoicing software, customer relationship management software, project, help-desk & service desk software, business planning software or any other small or micro business app? Is there anunlimited data storage and data back-up service for business?

The long or short answer is NOTHING! While Apple will undoubtedly announce that the new iWork App is for small business, or the 5GB data storage is for business, the truth is that none of this represents real business software or any benefit for micro business.

WinWeb’s Small & Micro Business Software Apps are also in the cloud and they are for business – iCloud For Business. You get everything in one place to run your small or micro business.

Running your business in the cloud is a multi-user affair, otherwise it would be quite pointless. You certainly do not want to have to share login details with others.

I see no functionality like that in Apple’s iCloud.

If you really want to run your small business or micro business in the cloud here are all the applications you are going to need, fully integrated and as Steve Jobs would put it:

“It just works!”

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Quality of Service – QoS

May 31, ’11 9:41 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Customer Service, How to ..., be successful

These days a I buy my computers from Apple – that used to be very different years ago, I’d buy a PC and compare prices. You may ask why, since Apple Macs are so much more expensive.

“

Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten!
~ Gucci Slogan

Expensive, for me, is a long term measurement. It does not stop with the buying process, it has to do with the number of re-installs, down time, ease of use and many more aspects of the product or service I have purchased. Take all that into account and Apple Macs are cheap!

What is more I’m not even interested in comparing products on that level anymore, for me the only question is which of the Apple Macs I’m going to upgrade to next.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had customers like that for your products or services?

Easy – just make sure your quality is up there and then you will find loyal customers. Combine that with great customer care and you have customers for life.

What is your Quality of Service like?

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Small Businesses Need The Cloud

Apr 8, ’11 10:03 AM

Author Stefan Töpfer (Editor) Categories Cloud Computing

Cloud_Computing

Cloud Computing has been back in the headlines once again this week here in the UK, largely due to comments made by the transport minister Norman Baker. His aim is to reduce congestion in the capital not by introducing new traffic measures, but by calling on businesses to fundamentally change the way in which they work.

Baker wants to encourage companies to allow employees to work from home or at later times of the day. The transport minister described the current situation where everyone all travels to work in the city aiming to get on the same few buses and trains as being “crazy” and I am inclined to agree with him on this.

His proposals have been given extra urgency by the upcoming Olympics that will take place in London next summer. The influx of additional people who will be using the (already stretched too far) transport system over this period is likely to make it very difficult for the people who live and work in the capital.

Small businesses are being advised to start making alternative working arrangements for the Olympic period as soon as possible, as it simply will not be possible to carry on as usual during that time.

Cloud computing is not just something that should be considered as a solution to a temporary problem. Baker also mentioned the damage to the British economy every winter due to missed working days and the failure of the transport infrastructure to cope with the extra strain. He stressed the need for business and government to continue without the need to travel during these periods, something that will only occur if small businesses and the public sector start to put more faith in cloud solutions.

Statistics released this week by Unit4 suggest that global public sector organisations are switching to ‘back office’ adoption of the Cloud just as quickly as the private sector. The UK Government is still consulting on its position on public sector use of the Cloud and the results are not due for another six months.

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