Top 4 Business Challenges for 2011 and Ways for Meeting Them with Accpac Solutions

There is no doubt that 2011 will be another challenging year. While there are some clear signs of economic improvement we are certainly not out of the woods yet.

So what are the biggest challenges that small to midsize businesses face in 2011? The truth is they are the same challenges we have faced every year, it just has become much more important to meet these challenges head on in new and innovative ways.

Whether you like our current President or not, there is truth in his words that “our success in this new and changing world will require reform, responsibility and innovation.” This does not only apply to us as a nation, but to our own businesses as well.

It is more important than ever to use technology to your full advantage. The good news is that today there is better, less expensive and easier to use products available for use in your office in the “cloud”.

Our contribution to this will be in the coming weeks and months as we bring you more educational material on these solutions.

Here are some of the challenges we see and some of the solutions we will be introducing to you.

The Problems with Cutting and Controlling Operating Costs

In a desperate effort to survive, many businesses have engaged in wholesale cost cutting. Then they discover that as the economy gets better they have cut out expenditures that are essential to business operations. Many of us have learned the hard way that random cost cutting or budget freezes don’t really work. At the same time business operating costs must be contained. An effective remedy to this is eProcurement. If you would like to learn more, register for our webinar February 16, 2pm ET.

Another big drain of company resources and thus very fertile ground for sensible ways to cut operating costs is Document Management or shall I say Document Mismanagement. I suppose you will think I am exaggerating when I say that most companies waste tens of thousands of dollars every year storing and then retrieving, or recreating lost documents when this expense could be averted. There is an answer.

Both of these solutions have a clear ROI and are very much worth looking into.

It’s Harder than ever to Build Lasting Relationships with your Customers

Retaining customers has been harder than ever. Not only do they expect better prices, but better service as well, and yet much to my surprise most of our clients have not implemented a good CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System. Businesses who have CRM now know how many problems a system like this can solve. It is time to look at this again, especially if you are on Accpac 5.5 or higher, since you have been given the Sage CRM Server software and user license for free. We would like to tell you about the CRM and AR Collection Tools that are available to you.

The difficulties with Being Nimble and Adapting to Changing Business Trends

What is the biggest reason that business owners and managers have trouble guiding there business to success? It is different for everyone but one of the biggest problems that we see is that you just can’t get accurate, usable business data fast enough.

You have a smart phone right? Would you like to be able to run your business from your phone? Ever heard of KnowledgeSync? No? Well have we got something great for you.

The Hard Part about Managing Labor Costs

This is a challenge for everyone and I have two suggestions. Seriously consider employee training and productivity tools. As your business begins to grow – while it is too soon to hire new people, but you need to increase productivity – consider employee skills training and adopting systems that will let your staff be more efficient. Second, take time and at least look at the HR system offered by Sage. I know this maybe the last place you may want to spend money now, but at least give it a real look and consider the benefits. Check out our HR Webinar Series for topics of interest.