Computerize your Business

Someone asked me how I go about compuerizing a business, this was my reply:

There are several ways; all have their pluses and minuses like everything. 

One way is to start looking at your business processes and tailor them to fit on an A4 sheet of paper. If a task is complicated involving several/many stages, then use a master A4 sheet to control the individual steps.

This method is very handy if you have several people working in different areas, as even if you do not computerize your business, you at least develop a formal business process for each area which is transferable to someone else.

For example:
a) in the event someone leaves the business
b) business increases and you need to train up other people to do similar tasks.
c) a turnkey business is much easier to sell, and in your case franchise.

The idea is that the A4 sheet will become the computer screen layout, giving the computer programmer a good idea of what you want, and giving your employees a familiar interface when you eventually move on to the computer.

Another way as I already mentioned is to find a package that does much of what you desire, you may need to use more than one package, however I think you can see that “off the shelf” will give you a good idea of what you don't want, and makes it much easier to communicate with a programmer.

One of my USP phrases is that I am primarily a businessman that can program; this gives me a distinct advantage in the design stage.

The most formal method is to draw up a specification, this method involves a considerable cost on just developing the specification; however you have the advantage of having a specification that you can offer around several companies and get competitive prices for the development.

My preferred method is to work alongside you, and, or, your staff “doing the job” where possible, as this is the best way to develop the computer system to work in the most natural way, the most supportive way for you and your staff.

As you can see, some of these methods you can tackle yourself, or appoint a member of staff to take responsibility for.

The most important thing is to start thinking about what’s involved, make notes where you can, just by making one or two short notes every day eventually builds up into a considerable document which will be very useful for you or anyone tasked to computerise your business.