Why Computerize My Business? Part 4b – Other Benefits of Computerizing
In this series, we have already discussed some major ways that computerizing will improve your business, such as helping to track information, control inventory, and growing your profit margins. This last part of the series will touch on a few other benefits of using a computer system, such as controlling expenses and increasing efficiency.
Controlling Expenses
Computers assist in controlling expenses as well as inventory. Here are several examples:
Accounting software may help reduce the amount of time your accountant spends figuring your profits and calculating your taxes.
Payroll software can greatly reduce the time spent calculating payroll taxes and complying with Federal and State laws, and make it easy to generate W2s.
Employee productivity reports provide sales and profits by employee. This makes it simple to calculate commissions and to find out which of your employees are most productive.
The outstanding “Accounts receivable” are reduced by use of reports and statements that make follow-up less time consuming. At a computerized company it can take just 1 minute to produce a report of customers whose accounts are more than 30 days old. Typically, it will take just minutes to produce statements to mail to those customers. Staying on top of clients who owe you money will help your collections as well as cash flow. It also provides your company with a professional appearance. Clients are less likely to dispute a computerized statement and invoices.
Accounts-payable and check-writing software help monitor expenses and automate the tedious job of writing checks.
Increasing Efficiency
A business owner’s time is invaluable and usually in short supply. If you can reduce the time you spend on day-to-day tasks, imagine the possibilities! As well as providing you with more information, a computer will help eliminate mundane tasks such as counting inventory; addressing postcards; filling out forms; preparing account statements; writing purchase orders; retyping or proofreading letters; adding numbers; and calculating commissions, sales, profits, and taxes.
Conclusion
If you have followed this series, you should have a pretty good idea by now of how a computer or “Point-of-Sale” system can revolutionize your business. All of the valuable details of every business transaction are automatically collected and stored and are available to you to use in a variety of ways. Your valuable time can be spent using that information to make smart decisions on how to save money, increase your efficiency, and increase your profit.