So, when a 15 year old Australian-based design company told us this same story yet again, we weren’t in the least bit surprised. Concept Factory was started by Alison Radford and her husband, Simon, out of the Radford family home in Sydney, Australia. Unlike most start-ups, though, Concept Factory very soon moved into an office and expanded its offerings to cover broader graphic design, marketing and copyrighting services. The business now operates out of multiple offices in Australia, with designers and programmers servicing customers nationally at random times on different projects.

As the company grew over the years, they bought an array of software products for each of their different needs. They were running DotProject- an open source project management tool- to manage their projects; Thunderbird for communication and contact management; and MYOB for accounts. They found that each of these solutions were excellent for their own specific needs, but started to become more and more of an issue as the company grew and the team spread out across the country.

The search for a new software solution began over 2 years’ ago. Every product that they looked at addressed some of their needs, but failed to cater for all. Concept Factory needed an integrated solution that would give them access to real time data anywhere and at any time of the day. They needed to give staff members the ability to manage diverse projects from different locations; to capture time against work activities; to handle scheduling of staff to projects; to generate invoices and quotes for customers immediately; to manage customer details, contacts and leads; and, what’s more, to come in at cost effective price point!

Eventually, after a very drawn-out search process- and Simon stretching his technical expertise and networks to the maximum- they came across WorkEtc CRM. As with the search process, Alison and Simon were very meticulous about making sure that this solution was going to fit the business. They therefore used the full software trial period running detailed scenarios of key business processes. The ‘deal breakers’ being to ensure that it was possible to extract their data easily at any point, should this be necessary, and to get first hand evidence that the product would support their existing processes.

At the end of the trial period, Alison was more than satisfied that WorkEtc would do the job for Concept Factory. It addressed her immediate needs of: being a fully integrated solution (all in one place); easy for the staff to use and learn, with built in shortcuts and dashboards to make project and time management tasks simple for the staff; timely online access from anywhere, particularly as Alison is overseas a lot and may need to generate an invoice or quote quickly while on the road; built in security to give key management staff access to financial information; and integration with their existing MYOB accounting package. And, the best part, all of this at a very reasonable price point.

Concept Factory has been live with the solution now for live for a couple of months and is currently using it to manage their products and customer dealings (CRM requirements). Already it has had a significant impact on coordination of service delivery across the group, scheduling, administration/coordination time and customer service. They will be expanding the footprint to cover timesheet management and quoting/invoicing next, and are excited about the benefits that this will bring particularly with full integration and ease of data access. Their experience of WorkEtc’s fast service and support to date has been an unexpected surprise.

Although it took a while to uncover the solution, Concept Factory management are extremely pleased with the step that they have now taken. This solution is going to give them all of the necessary tools to propel the business to the next stage of their growth.  More proof that there is actually a solution out there to meet your small business’ needs, irrespective of how complex or unique the requirements!

Why not talk with Software Shortlist to quickly find an answer for your business needs.

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 accounting software or invoicing software if necessary to enable the process).

(c) 2009 Software Shortlist Pty Ltd

In fact, small scale can bring a number of advantages, such as speed, adaptability and close customer relationships, that bigger organisations find hard to match. This is particularly true when the small business makes effective use of the right project management software.

A great example is Ben Thompson of Studio Fluid.  He recently completed a major packaging design project for one of Italy’s largest supermarkets Coop Italia, thanks to the right software: “I was able to manage my team of 3 local, but remotely located designers, communicate efficiently with the client located on another continent, and deliver a product that we’re extremely proud of”.  Ben uses Basecamp by 37Signals to manage his projects, and believes that it “provides me the infrastructure of a larger company, while allowing me to retain the flexibility of a smaller one”.

Ben also suggests that the right project management software can even help drive sales. He says it is “so easy to understand that I’m even able to get reluctant clients to jump on there with me. And that’s exactly the point. The software is so simple and effective that I actually use it as a selling point in every proposal I write”.

Another advocate of good project management software is Alan Brymer of TheInvestorLibrary who uses Basecamp to prepare for teleseminars he conducts jointly with other presenters. “We tried using spreadsheets and paper lists and it was too cumbersome and difficult for my virtual assistant and I to use”. Alan says he “researched and did test trials of over 20 other project management programs” before settling on Basecamp as the right choice for his situation.

While Basecamp is one of the best known online project management & collaboration tools, there are a host of others to consider, such as: Clarizen, Zoho Projects, WorkflowMax, ManyMoon, GoPlan, Huddle and many others.

A different twist on project management software comes from Amanda Roberts, CEO of Stone Cobra. She runs a small enterprise software business that works mainly for really big customers – Fortune 500 – and previously found that getting access to the customer’s own project management and collaboration tools (often MS Project or Sharepoint) was problematic, including delays getting access, VPN configuration issues, limits on licenses, etc. Rather than developing their own project software, Amanda spent a few days researching and doing trials of already available solutions.

She selected Clarizen as an online solution to manage both internal and client-facing projects. The choice was heavily influenced by a few powerful features. First, Clarizen offered  free client/partner licenses, allowing her to get client staff onto the system at no extra cost and without the hassles of managing licenses.  Secondly, Clarizen had features to interact solely by email — meaning project team members in these Fortune500 clients don’t even need to login to a new system; they just reply to email reminders. The net result: Stone Cobra plugs into its much bigger clients quickly and with minimal disruption to the established ways of working.

These customer stories demonstrate some important lessons for any small business looking at project management software:

• Be clear on your specific requirements. Think about which features will make the biggest impact on your business (and your clients)
• Online solutions can be great for remote or multi-location teams, as well as leaping corporate firewalls (or policies) in a single bound.
• Effective project management is a powerful selling point for your business, not just a boring back-end process.

Finally, make sure you invest adequate time to work out which of the many available solutions is right for you. Project management software can certainly help your small business punch above its weight … but only if you choose one that truly fits your business needs.

(c) 2009 Software Shortlist Pty Ltd