Author: Justin Hesser

Because small business owners typically operate on very tight budgets, they are more likely to settle for a cheaper product or service than large corporations that can afford to invest in better, more pricey ventures. Because of that, they may spend an extraneous amount of time trying to make things on their own or buy a product of lesser quality to make it fit into their financial limitations.

Some of these things, though, may actually turn out to be more costly due to wasted time and a weakened image, according to Susan Payton, president of internet marketing firm Egg Marketing & Communications. In an article for online publication Small Business Trends, Payton explained what investments are worth while for businesses working with a budget.

♦ Business cards – As Payton wrote, the whole reason that anyone hands out a business card is to be remembered and stand out. That said, why would it be in one's interest to have a card that was designed with a free template?

♦ Software – Cheap programs might not have a big price tag at first, but if your business is using spreadsheets to keep track of client information or financial data, you may end up paying for it in the end. On the other hand, database software can be customized to store specific information, and is not only much more secure than a spreadsheet, but it also has a cleaner presentation and can be linked with mobile applications for remote access.

♦ Website – Anyone can build their own website today at a very low cost, but just like the business cards, organizations need their online presence to stand out. There are more pricey website building programs available, but Payton suggested that it might suit you best to do some research and find an experienced web designer.

Businesses rely on technology a lot more than they may believe. That is, of course, until their main office loses power for a week and they don't have a backup plan in place. It doesn't even have to be that dramatic though. If data is only stored on one computer and the hard drive crashes, that data is lost. From tornadoes to short circuits, a company can buy all the insurance policies it wants, but there's no way to salvage data from unrepairable hardware or mend relationships with indignant customers.

In an article for Smart Business Network, Zack Schuler, CEO of Cal Net Technology Group, explained that there are a lot of different ways businesses can falter following a catastrophe. While there are plenty of good methods to stay prepared, there are some poor ones as well.

He referenced one company that had intelligently backed up its servers on tapes daily, which twere stored in the same facility. So when the building went up in flames, both the primary servers and their backups were destroyed, making the business's protective measures obsolete.

Schuler said that businesses can protect themselves from lengthy internet downtime, by having a backup connection in place. In other words, if the office connects primarily through a DSL provider, it should also have a cable connection in place that can be used as an alternate medium to access the web.

To prepare for a complete loss of access to the facility due to a natural disaster or even just a power outage, he suggests implementing a system where employees can communicate with each other and access databases off-site.

If you're worried about protecting your business's data when faced with a similar dilemma, talk to a FileMaker consultant who can explain how FileMaker database software can be optimized for remote access.

Large accounting firms and small retailers alike have learned about the problems with using spreadsheets for data storage the hard way. And, as more and more issues come to light, many organizations are starting to switch their information records to database software. But, are spreadsheets really that awful?

According to global business consulting firm Protiviti, research has shown that 94 percent of all spreadsheets contain errors.

"Not all of these errors will result in financial loss, but organizations won't know without investigating which errors could cause serious issues," Protiviti’s Director of IT Consulting Scott Bolderson said in a statement. "Regulators are starting to apply more pressure on organizations to address the issue, recognizing the level of dependence many organizations place on calculations in spreadsheets."

IT project management service Denizon laid out that some of these inaccuracies can be caused by accidental copy-and-pasting, unintentional cell, column, row or character deletion and omission of mathematical symbols.

In sum, yes, spreadsheets can definitely be more harmful than helpful. However, you can avoid these risks by having a FileMaker developer build a customized database, rather than asking an IT department create a spreadsheet-based log that is vulnerable to mistakes. It's rather simple to switch information from a program like Excel to database software, so there's no need to worry about losing data. In addition to having cleaner and more user-friendly aesthetics, a secure FileMaker-based program can be built to store all sorts of information from pictures to intricate financial records reliably.

Contact a FileMaker consultant that can share more information about the problems you may be experiencing due to inaccurate spreadsheets, and how a custom database can not only solve those issues, but prevent them from happening in the future.

More so than ever, advances in technology have been developing at an increasingly rapid pace. That means both good and bad things for businesses. On one hand, there are countless ways to streamline productivity with new software and devices, but on the other, these investments seem to become outdated quicker than they ever have before.

Because of this, it's important that business owners make wise decisions about the technology they introduce to their operations. To make sure your business takes advantage of technology that won't go out of style, here are some tips that tech writer John Brandon laid out in an article on Inc.com.

♦ Don't be cheap when choosing software. Speaking from experience, Brandon explained what a big mistake it was to opt for a free version of one program rather than well-known expensive alternative. This is a mistake often made by organizations that store information such as financial records in spreadsheets rather than using database software. Programs like Excel are prone to mistakes that result from attempting to manage its muddled interface and even flaws in the software. Databases are secure, easy to use and much more customizable than spreadsheets.

♦ Keep track of your customers. Brandon said that recording detailed client contact information is imperative. "The more information you have about sales contacts, complaints and even former customers the better," he wrote.

♦ Take risks. While storing sales slips and client information in a file cabinet may seem sufficient, they can only be accessed in person from one place. Cloud-based servers that can be accessed anywhere on a computer, iPad, iPhone or iPod touch are easy to implement into an office with help from a FileMaker developer.

Businesses from all walks of life can benefit from custom application development. Every operation has to keep records of valuable information from warehouse inventory or client data, but many organizations still use outdated means of storing it. Using FileMaker database software, one company was able to turn a very time consuming niche service into a thriving business.

PMD Promotion, a window poster advertising company, was able to get a nearly instant return on investment after it ditched inefficient manual data entry for a custom FileMaker-based iPod touch application.

"Our display representatives are our 'feet on the street' so to speak, installing the displays in more than 35,000 storefronts nationwide," Dean Stallone, PMD's chief executive officer said for an article on FileMaker's website. "They work to exacting standards, remove the poster displays when they are out of date and coordinate all activities with the establishment owners."

PMD creates client-specific 200-page PDF reports that include upward of 500 pictures and information about the advertising campaigns they've been hired to carry out. In the article, Stallone explained that the representatives had previously recorded and composed these reports with clipboards, paper and personal digital cameras.

"Now, on a simple mobile device, [PMD's reps] have a richer, more convenient experience – and all the information they send and receive is centralized in one database," he added.

The company's CEO estimated that they'll save $40,000 a year using the application. Reporting time was lowered by 80 percent thanks to improved speed and accuracy of data entry and a more organized way to match photos with that information.

If you believe you could streamline your business's everyday operations in a similar way, talk to a FileMaker consultant who can work with you to develop custom software with a user-friendly interface that can increase productivity and possibly even save a lot of money.

Productivity is essential for any business's success. Bosses and managers can only push their employees so far to produce quality work in as little time as possible. But, sometimes, that's not enough.

Hiring more staffers is one option, but in the end, adding more salary expenditures to the budget may not be worth increased efficiency. If expanding your workforce and continually hounding your workers aren't viable solutions to your problem, improving your business's technology may be the cost-effective answer you're looking for.

Dave Stevens, a managing director at a technical solutions firm called Brennan IT, provided several tips for businesses to increase productivity using IT in an article for SmartCompany.com.au, a news outlet for Australian entrepreneurs.

♦ Automate operations. As Stevens wrote, "…it doesn't cost much if a machine is doing [a task] for you." Computers are better at crunching numbers than humans, and database software is better at storing, organizing and recognizing patterns than spreadsheets. Automation doesn't necessarily have to mean replacing human labor with computers. Using modern, customized software rather than outdated programs can save a lot of time while improving data precision without adding or cutting employees.

♦ Get your team on the same page. Business owners and managers should be able to communicate with their employees and access figures easily and effectively. When operational information is available in real-time from one place, discrepancies that arise from miscommunication and merging data from multiple sources can be avoided.

♦ Put your business in a cloud. Stevens said that companies that are taking advantage of mobility have seen "sizeable productivity gains." With custom application development, businesses can use programs like FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Go to make their databases of information such as inventory or sales details accessible on employee iPhones and iPads from one main server.

There are still quite a few businesses that use programs like Excel to organize their information. While spreadsheets can compute complex equations and create charts and graphs, they aren’t necessarily the best option for accessing, updating and analyzing important data.

Many spreadsheet functions require intricate formula entry, which doesn’t lend itself to specialized, yet simple tasks. As a result, the features of spreadsheet programs that may make them more appealing than database software go unused, author Dan Brody wrote in a piece for Entrepreneur.com.

While spreadsheets are limited to storing numerical values, databases made with programs like FileMaker can store text, codes and images by monitoring patterns based on certain sets of rules. An IT specialist may be able to manipulate a spreadsheet optimized for specific functions, but as Brody explained, the resulting make-shift program will be masked by a sea of numbers that stretch across hundreds of rows and columns. Database software, on the other hand, can be customized by a FileMaker developer to have a user-friendly interface that allows for simple modification and review.

In addition to the aforementioned flaws of spreadsheet-based organization, Brody explained there are a few other ways to tell if your business needs to switch to database storage. In the same way a message is communicated in the game of telephone, passing spreadsheet documents on from person to person creates an enormous risk of inaccuracy. Databases can be accessed from a single source, which as Brody wrote, creates a “single version of the truth.”

The benefits go beyond internal affairs though. He said that businesses wouldn’t ask a customer to provide information by filling in a spreadsheet, but they probably would be inclined to ask clients to fill out a form online, which can be set up with a database.

If your company has all of its important data stored in spreadsheets, talk to a FileMaker consultant. Typically, spreadsheets can be easily imported to a database.

Every business needs to be organized. Though that sounds like a no-brainer, there are plenty of operations that are far from efficient and have done nothing about it.

While taking the time to actually get your business's data in order is important, it might suit you best to take the time to figure out the actual purpose of organizing your work, according to an article for INC.com by John Baldoni, president of executive coaching firm Baldoni Consulting.

Some business leaders can immediately explain the reasoning behind their organization, but he said that's because they have a clear vision, mission and value set.

Through his research, he found that it's those three elements that lead to effective business structure. In his piece, Baldoni laid out how management should go about reflecting on those three fundamentals before they come up with a final plan.

♦ In order to figure out what the business's vision should be, it's important to know exactly what it would like to see itself eventually become. "Vision emerges from the sense of purpose," he wrote. "It forms the why, but it also embraces the future as in 'to become' the best, the most noted, the highest quality, or the most trusted."

♦ The mission should be simple to figure out, since that's exactly the service a business is providing. Balboni said, for example, a hospital's mission is to care for and help ill patients.

♦ Values, however, are the backbone of the entire business. He wrote that the vision and mission couldn't be carried out if they aren't held together with a strong set of morals.

Once you've figured out these three rudiments, you can then figure out how to effectively organize your business. If your business's productivity was lagging because of old, hard-to-use databases, it would be smart to discuss your newly discovered purposes for organization with a FileMaker consultant. Based on your specific needs, a FileMaker developer may be able to build custom database software that's easy to access and update, and could streamline your operation.

FileMaker and FileMaker Go have become particularly popular thanks to the endless customization possibilities they provide. Businesses can host a server of databases on their main system that can be accessed by employees and update those databases using their iPhones or iPads. With a new extension for FileMaker Go, users can draw on any photo or image.

GoDraw 1.0 was announced today by geist interactive, a California-based software developing company, in a press release. The new add-on allows FileMaker Go app users to write with their finger or a stylus for carrying out tasks that involve quick note taking or picture markups. Considering the many different functions FileMaker Go can be optimized for, GoDraw only makes the already versatile app more valuable for certain operations.

For example, home inspectors that are examining properties equipped with an iPad and FileMaker Go can take pictures of specific problem areas within the house, and then draw on the photos with GoDraw to highlight the area of concern, according to the release. From there, they can save the photos as PDFs and email them to their clients. And, if there's no internet available, the functions of the add-on can still be utilized.

Last November, geist released a FileMaker Go extension that improved the app's capabilities to accept written signatures on mobile devices.

If you believe your business or organization could benefit from custom application development, but you don't currently have a database software solution in place, contact a FileMaker developer and explain your operation's needs. They can show you how others have streamlined their production with the help of custom software, and build a program specific to your establishment's needs.

Jeff Moore, the City of Austin database administrator, was responsible for maintaining information about more than 170 events at the Austin Convention Center with just a three-ring binder, according to the TabTimes, a website devoted to news about tablet computers. In a building that spans six city blocks, it was nearly impossible for Moore and his team to organize and manage an event when the only form of data storage was paper.

At the MacIT Conference in San Francisco on January 26, Moore made a presentation called "Quick iPad Apps Developed with Innovative Software Tools" that outlined how he was able to gain an estimated 200 percent return on investment after he switched to a custom database program optimized for iPads.

Using a main FileMaker database as a single point of access, Moore had four complementing FileMaker Go-based apps developed to keep track of event documents, utility workorders, technical workorders and floor audits, according to the website. 

"About 10 percent of all orders take place on the show floor, and we estimate saving $12,000 annually because we don't have to travel back to the service desk to fulfill them," Joe Gonzalez, IT Services Manager for the center told the FileMaker website. "We also save about five hours per event by having booth diagrams right on hand. That translates to another $10,000 in annual savings, conservatively."

Looking forward, TabTimes reports that Moore intends to equip 90 percent of the event staff with iPads by the fourth quarter of 2012, and develop four more apps customized for room configuration lists, security incident reports, purchase manager receiving and credit card transactions for on-the-spot orders.

Businesses that operate in a single office or countries worldwide alike can benefit from custom application development. Discuss your business's needs with a FileMaker developer who can build a program using database software that can save your company money and increase productivity.