Chapter 10: Technology And your Small Business
Small Business Software You'll Probably Need
Computers Are Nothing But Paperweight Without Software:
 Without software, your computer won't do anything. There are two main types of software; systems software and applications software. Systems software often comes with the computer already installed.
Applications Software are programs that perform work for you and therefore it is important to learn about three main types of software programs: word processing, spreadsheets, and accounting.
Word Processing Software
Word processing is using your computer to create, edit, and print documents. This is the most used application for computer users.
The best thing about word processing is that you can make changes to your document without retyping the entire document. Making mistakes or adding paragraphs are simple mouse clicks. Good word processing software will allow you to do the following:
- Insert text
- Delete text
- Cut and paste text
- Copy
- Change page size and margins
- Search your document
- Automatic line return known as word wrap
- Print
- Change fonts
- Manage where files are located
- Make footnotes and references
- Insert graphics
- Create headers, footers, and page numbering
- Create different layouts
- Allows merging text from one file to another
- Provides a spell checker
- Add table of contents and indexes
- Provide a thesaurus
There are many different word processing products available. The most popular are Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, and OpenOffice. Microsoft Word is the most popular, though OpenOffice is free and is fully compatible with both Word and Word Perfect.
Spreadsheets
 In order to know how much your company is spending in a certain area of the business, such as marketing, a spreadsheet can be used.
Data can also be stored to keep accounting simplified to make tax time easier. A business can also use a spreadsheet for sales forecasting and financial analysis.
Spreadsheets are not only used for numbers; they can help a business keep up with client and product lists, as well as dates.
Microsoft Excel is the most widely used spreadsheet. 'Calc' is part of the OpenOffice applications suite and can be downloaded for free.
Accounting Software
Accounting software has different modules dealing with different areas of accounting.
1. Accounts receivable—where the company enters money received
2. Accounts payable—where the company enters its bills and pays money it owes
3. General Ledger—the company's "books"
4. Billing—where the company produces invoices to clients/customers
5. Stock/Inventory—where the company keeps control of its inventory
6. Purchase Order—where the company orders inventory
7. Sales Order—where the company records customer orders for the supply of inventory
Additional modules offered by some software might include:
1. Debt Collection—where the company tracks attempts to collect overdue bills
2. Electronic Payment Processing
3. Payroll—where the company tracks salary, wages, and related taxes
4. Reports—where the company prints out data
5. Purchase Requisition—where requests for purchase orders are made, approved and tracked
Some of the most popular accounting software includes, Intuit Quickbooks, Simply Accounting, Peachtree Complete, Microsoft Accounting, and Quicken.
Although there are other software programs available that you may want for your business, such as web design, PDF, or graphics, starting with the three mentioned in this chapter will help you get started.
What's Next
Next In This Guide
 Shopping Cart Software Helps You Sell Your Products Online - The shopping cart is one of the most important parts to having a smooth e-commerce transition since it is how your customers will ultimately purchase your products.
Previous In This guide
 Finding the Right Computer Peripherals for Your Company - Add-ons Your Small Business Can Use: Finding the Right for Your Company. In addition to the computer and monitor, you will need to think about peripherals.
Table of Contents
 How To Start A Small Business Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Starting a Business But Were Afraid To Ask - Table of Contents
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