The Shortlist

Software on the farm

In 2007 the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) in Queensland Australia published a report on farm software. This report was the culmination of research to identify and classify the range of product offerings available globally for the management of farms. It had been conducted by the department on behalf of primary producers across multiple areas of agriculture.

The study, led by JoAnn Resing's team over 18 months, aimed to raise awareness among farmers of the technology options that could help improve their operations.

Through this study the DPI identified over 600 software products, from vendors all over the world, to help farmers manage their operations. Often the products were developed as a direct response to farmers' specific needs within a sector, and then expanded out to meet broader needs. Yet despite the abundance of offerings. many farmers remain unaware of what is available or, if aware, do not know which fit their specific requirements. A key finding from the DPI study was that there is a clear need for a facility to assist farmers to select and compare relevant farm software.

The scope of farm software is diverse, covering livestock recordkeeping- cattle, dairy, sheep, horses, pigs, goats, alpacas; crop recordkeeping- vegetables, grapes, avocados, fruit orchards, nuts, turf, flowers, nurseries; farm budgeting & accounting; land/field mapping; feed management; quality management; weather & rainfall software; and the like. The breadth of products and diversity of features across this space clearly shows the importance of understanding requirements for each industry vertical and matching this against preferred solutions that meet these.

Recognising this need, the founders of Trigora decided to focus early attention on the agricultural sector- specifically farm management software- as a launch niche for their free online software recommendation facility, SoftwareShortlist.com. The team worked in collaboration with the DPI to better understand the issues farmers face when researching software options for their businesses.

As a result, farmers can now select and compare relevant livestock management and recordkeeping software via SoftwareShortlist.com. The website's agricultural offerings will expand to farm accounting, crop recordkeeping and farm/land mapping software in coming months.

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SMB boost from new software

Have you recently purchased software that has made a great impact on your business?  If so, we'd love to hear about it.  

To counter the doom and gloom about the global financial crisis, we plan to share some success stories in our upcoming newsletters about small to medium businesses (SMBs)  that are thriving as a result of clever use of software. Maybe you've cut the time you spend on tedious admin tasks? Re-engaged with your customers? Generated more leads? Gained better insight into your business?

The first case study in this series can be found below, entitled: "Blarney Stone's fresh take on invoicing". We also have some interesting stories for our next newsletter, including several on project management software... 

If you'd like to share your software success story, send us an email with details of what you did and how it has helped. We'll include the most interesting stories in future editions of The Shortlist.

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Case Study: Blarney Stone's fresh take on invoicing

Until six months ago, web designer Jim Stone used a manual invoicing process for his business Blarney Stone. HIs ever-reliable bookkeeper printed them from Quickbooks and sent them out via snail mail. As Jim puts it, this was a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

But when his bookkeeper took on an major new role elsewhere, Jim saw the opportunity to try a different approach: "as a web designer, my clients expect technology solutions from me. Yet I was sending out stamped mailed paper invoices"

Jim had tried several other invoicing systems in the past - but some were complex and cumbersome, and others too basic. What he needed was something that could handle recurring monthly and quarterly invoices, allow clients to check their own balances, and generate email reminders for slow payers. Eventually, through an internet forum, he came across an online invoicing system called Freshbooks which "provided most of the solutions I needed at a very affordable cost".

Now, all of Jim's clients now get invoices automatically emailed to them, plus a friendly reminder on the due date.  If they are 2 weeks late, a new reminder is sent. And if they delay for another 2 weeks, a payment demand notice is automatically generated and sent. According to Jim, "I have worded the reminders so clients know they are automatically generated so there is no personal affront... my automated system is reminding and then hounding -- I'm not."

The net result:  a big reduction in overdue invoices and 2-3 hours less bookkeeping per month.

Compared to his manual process of one year ago, Jim says that 31-90 day invoices have dropped from 26% of the total to only 12%, with the current 30 days balance going up accordingly. Jim saw no change in the over 90 days balance, which "tells me that the real slow payers are always going to be slow payers, but the marginal payers benefit from consistent emailed reminders".

So, if your business could do with improved cash flow, maybe it is time to implement automatic payment reminders (and consider moving to new software if necessary to enable the process).

(Note: SoftwareShortlist.com's free recommendation and comparison service does not currently include invoicing software ... but rest assured it is a software category we will cover in the future!)

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"Rent, don't buy": The rapid growth of SaaS timesheets

Software as a service (SaaS) is an increasingly popular way for businesses to buy software. Instead of thinking about software as a product that you buy, install, maintain and operate yourself, people are realizing that it is often more practical to rent access to the software as a service, and leave all the technical issues to the experts.  

SaaS also doubles as a financing method, allowing you to spread the costs across a longer period of time by just paying, for instance, a monthly subscription amount. And last but not least, it allows an organization to focus on those critical activities which it can perform distinctively well and not get distracted by other tasks or support activities.

These are particularly compelling arguments for small to medium businesses (SMBs). If you don't have the right technical staff, why take the risk of trying to manage it yourself?  And, from a cashflow perspective, why not defer most of the cost until benefits start flowing? And even if you have the staff and funds available, wouldn't they be better allocated to your core business?

Timesheets are a classic example. Many project based organisations and professional service firms use them to keep track of employee time against tasks for analysis and/or billing purposes. SaaS timesheet solutions (more commonly known as web timesheets or online timesheets) now make up a significant part of the total market for timesheet software.

Not only do they take away the hassles of managing a server and the associated software, web timesheets are often better suited to the needs of an increasingly mobile workforce. Employees at a client site, on the road, or working from home can easily complete and submit timesheets from anywhere - simply using a web browser on their laptop or even their mobile phone. 

Another key advantage of web or hosted timesheets is the ability for a business to get up and running on their new system very quickly. Forget about software projects taking weeks or months! Once you've made your choice, SaaS solutions can be up and running in only minutes or hours.

In a recession, the cost-effectiveness of hosted timesheet solutions is a real advantage. Businesses don't stop spending money when times are tough but they do look around for better value - and software-as-a-service timesheets can generate big benefits for very little investment.

However, the burgeoning growth of web timesheets does present a challenge for businesses - the choice can be overwhelming! One popular directory lists over 130 timesheet solutions, many of which are web timesheets. You may need some help to find the best timesheet for your business.

It is clear that software-as-a-service is here to stay, although the degree of adoption of the SaaS model varies across software categories. Some such as CRM are quite mature, with the likes of Salesforce.com being widely known. But elsewhere, such as for Accounting, software remains firmly tied to the desk ... although even there you will find online alternatives becoming more mainstream.

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