Software And Coffee

Are we are or aren’t we? That is the question. Whether we are in a recession, heading towards a recession, in a market correction, or coming out of a recession, investing in your business makes good sense. As any good investor will say, “Invest in what you know”. Hopefully, your business is on top of your “knowledge list”. So, how should you invest?

Maybe it’s an investment in hardware that allows you to complete jobs 50% faster. Perhaps it’s hiring a manager, or restructuring your organization. Maybe it’s implementing a software solution to streamline processes or increase your service offerings.

In any case, ROI (return on investment) is the key. It may be cost effective (read cheap) or it may be a large investment. It’s the end results that matter. If a one-time $2500.00 investment yields a $3500.00 profit increase annually, that’s a no-brainer. If a one-time $50,000.00 investment yields a $40,000 profit annually, you’ll realize $30,000 the second year, then $40,000 each year thereafter.

Get out of the office, grab some java, and break out that yellow notepad (I prefer a spiral notebook of graph paper). Find an IT consultant, business consultant, etc, you can trust, and ask for ideas. Take the best ideas, and determine the ROI. Then invest in your business!

Feel free to post any questions or ideas here, or contact us below if you’d prefer to fly under the radar. Thanks for tuning in…

Contact us with to learn more about software ROI.

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc

When I speak with Presidents/CEO/Business Owners, there are various motivations for their technical choices. Some have promised a customer something they can’t deliver. Some want the latest tech gizmo. Some are driven solely by price. While these are all important, they should never be the sole deciding factor for technical directions.

1. Match your technical decisions to your annual and three year plans. Your IT manager/consultant should understand and comprehend your business strategy. (I know. Good luck…) Your tech solution should be solid, but flexible.

2. Automate, automate, automate. Many times you can incur a one-time cost to automate a business process, and save money in the short and long run.

Automation can also facilitate growth. As your business grows, the automated process remains at that fixed cost, yielding greater profit margins.

3. Bite the bullet. Sometimes several small steps lead to a dead end. IT should be a strategy, not a series of band aids.

4. Cause problems. Trying a new idea doesn’t have to be expensive. Try it using a manual process. If you get flooded with work, automate it.

This is merely a guideline, but the emphasis is making solid business decisions.

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc.

If you’ve ever been in line at a Books-A-Million, you might have heard the phrase “I need backup!”. The lone cashier is alerting fellow employees help is needed up front. I generally giggle, flashing back to “Starsky and Hutch.” But I digress…

Recently I met with a Realtor. I mentioned she needed to backup her data. I don’t provide these kind of services, so I had nothing to gain. She went on and on how she had copies of her data all over the place. She couldn’t comprehend the impending doom of sync: if you delete something you need, the delete is synced to all your copies. Reading this fox news article revived this suppressed memory.

You need to backup your data to tape. A tape drive is not cheap, and you will need a server. Here is the concept: all of your important data should be stored on the server. This data will be archived to tape every night. You rotate tapes each day, and weekly or monthly take one tape off site.

There are other options, such as using USB memory sticks, CD’s or DVD’s as a backup medium. I prefer tape, since the backup is automated.

Whatever your choice, develop a backup plan and follow it. Test a restore of your data quarterly. These are general rules. If you are unsure, contact an IT consultant to help you develop a plan.

If you don’t have a trusted IT consultant, contact us and we’ll make a recommendation.

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc

Data falls into two categories, detail data and group data. Detail data is limited to a single entity or transaction. A customer, invoice, and payment would all be considered detail data. Group data is an aggregate of the detailed data. For the most part, any report shows group data. Examples would be sales, accounts receivable, and inventory level reports. Group data is dependent on detail data points. If the detail data points are not set correctly, you cannot derive the group data. Here’s an example:

“Moe Autos” sells cars. Here are the data points the software solution uses:

Moe has three cars for sale: a white 2004 Dodge Durango, a red 2003 Ford Explorer, and a green 2005 Chevy Suburban. They each have 14,000 miles on them and are automatic. So far, this fits the data model fine. The Durango seats 7 people, the Explorer seats 5 people, and the Suburban seats 9 and is a four-wheel drive. Since there are no data points to store the number of people and drive (4WD or 2WD), this information is lumped into the description field.

A customer calls, and wants a list of all vehicles that seat more than 5 people. Another customer calls, and wants a list of all four-wheel drive SUV’s. With three cars, it’s pretty easy to scroll thru inventory, or stroll across the lot. Let’s say we bump his inventory levels up to 50 cars. What about 100? 200? Now what happens? You have the data, you’ve taken the time to enter it, but you can’t quickly access it. You need to know what models are selling, to know how to replenish your inventory, but your Sales By Item report is omitting important information.

When you are choosing a software solution, make sure it can track all the data points you need to run your business. Also, make sure the provided reports can operate on the data points you need.

Contact us to learn more about what data points can do for your business.

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc