Tips for Small Businesses on Surviving a Recession
Deborah L. Cohen who covers Small Business for Reuters shares these tips for surviving a recession. Whether we have one now or not remains to be seen. Nevertheless these points apply to good times or bad.
"If a recession does take hold, small- to mid-sized companies will be among the hardest hit. Lacking the resources of bigger players in their industries, they are usually the first to get called in by skittish banks and suppliers during a credit crunch. Yet there are many steps smaller businesses can take now to hedge against a sustained downturn. Here's what some experienced busines owners and consultants say they've learned to do to prepare for a slowdown in business activity." More
Deborah highlights these key areas to address:
- Secure your lending relationships
- Improve your supply chain
- Motivate your employees
- Clean up your financials
- Get a handle on your cost structure
- Take a hard look at customers
- Husband your cash
In my experience it is practically impossible to accomplish these objectives without a solid business management system with excellent reporting tools.
Sage BusinessWorks is an excellent solution that delivers easy to use tools for managing your business.
“We can input and retrieve information with a minimum of keystrokes. Sage BusinessWorks is incredibly intuitive and easy to run. It gives us the power of a much more expensive solution at a fraction of the cost.”
Bob Ciulla, President, Herschal Products, Inc.
In 2006 Sage Software released BusinessWorks version 6.0, which offered several enhancements designed to streamline business operations and improve overall productivity for small and mid-size companies.
Since then version 7 and version 8 of BusinessWorks have added more powerful features. Version 9 scheduled for release Fall of 2008 expands further on BusinessWorks deep feature set.
Sage BusinessWorks 6.0 features integrated contact management with a new ACT! link module, plus improvements to manufacturing and distribution functionality, core accounting capabilities and ease of installation and use. CPA Technology Advisor recently awarded 4.5 out of 5 Stars to Sage BusinessWorks 6.0 in its annual review of mid-market accounting products, published in its September 2005 issue.
“Synchronization to ACT! rocks,” exclaimed the President of Medical Equipment Sales, James Vollbracht. Medical Equipment Sales Associates of Chicago, IL is a distributor of refurbished operating room equipment and a beta user of Sage BusinessWorks 6.0. “Other features, like the expanded 1,000-character line item description field, make life a lot easier for companies that do business internationally. Plus the ability to create Purchase Orders from a Sales Order is especially beneficial to my business as it ensures we get accurate items ordered every time.”
“Sage BusinessWorks version 6.0 is solid, powerful and filled with great enhancements,” said Phil Crocker of Crocker & Associates, a Sage BusinessWorks business partner and a version 6.0 beta tester. “The ACT!/BusinessWorks link is transparent and provides much more functionality than I expected. Throw in the text box description fields in Inventory Control and Order Entry, the new Sales Order to Purchase Order feature and enhancements to the Sales Order to Invoice function and you have a feature-rich upgrade.”
Improved support for manufacturing and distribution companies
Create Purchase Orders from a Sales Order - This new option streamlines purchasing processes to increase order accuracy, inventory control and customer satisfaction, helping to ensure inventory levels meet customer demands while saving valuable data entry time.
Drop Ship — A new drop ship flag enables better tracking of drop ship purchase orders, providing users with visibility to drop ship requirements from multiple points in the system, including Purchase Order Inquiry, the Purchase Order form, and various inventory reports and forms.
Expanded Transaction Description Fields — Provide more extensive line item descriptions on purchase orders, quotes, orders and invoices with the new 1,000-character description field. Available for parts, non-stock parts, visible comments, hidden comments, labor and miscellaneous charges, the new text block provides greater flexibility when describing transaction lines.
"Now companies engaged in business with big box retailers and chains can take can easily comply with with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) requirments, with solutions offered by SWK" says Peter Conway VP of Small Business Services with SWK "our BW Xchange add-on solution for BusinessWorks has opened opportunites for many small business."
Enhanced for general business
Regardless of industry, Sage BusinessWorks 6.0 is a full-featured business management solution that continues to evolve to satisfy user needs and is backed by the resources and expert business partner channel that only comes with Sage Software. Additional new features and enhancements that will benefit all Sage BusinessWorks 6.0 users include:
Sage Software Information Center — Accessible from the Main Resource Bar in the Sage BusinessWorks Launcher, the Sage Software Information Center is now only a click away for all users. The Information Center includes the latest Sage news and information; tips, tricks and product alerts; training and support notices; and other useful information to help users maximize productivity gains available with the software.
ACT! Integration — The new Sage BusinessWorks ACT! link integrates with Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Order Entry and Inventory Control and Purchasing modules to create a completely integrated front office and back office solution. This enables business owners to maximize relationships with both vendors and customers, ultimately improving productivity and increasing the value of each customer interaction.
Query and Reporting Improvements — Simplifying queries, drill downs and access to company data is key to a company’s continued success, and Sage BusinessWorks 6.0 has improvements to help users find and utilize data in these and more areas:
Search Criteria
Quick Search Views
Inquiry Balance Drill Down (from both AR & AP Inquiry screens)
Cash Balance Inquiry
GL Reporting and more.
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