What's the best software to help you run a small business? Business Week Online's guest on Feb. 17 to answer this question was Stephen H. Wildstrom, who writes BW's weekly Technology & You column. These chats are presented by BW Enterprise, the edition of the magazine published eight times annually especially for small business and entrepreneurs, as part of America Online's Your Business Dinner program.
Copyright 1997 by America Online, Inc.
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JackBW: Welcome to Business Week Online and another of our weekly BW Enterprise chats, presented jointly with America Online's Your Business Dinner program. BW Enterprise is the special edition published eight times annually for small business and entrepreneurs.
JackBW: The topic tonight is the best software for small business, and the guest is Stephen H. Wildstrom (SWildBW), BW's Technology & You columnist. Hi, Steve!
SWildBW: Good evening.
JackBW: Also with us tonight is Dennis Berman (DkbBW), small-business specialist on the BW Online staff.
DkbBW: Good evening.
JackBW: I'm Jack Dierdorff of BW Online, your host tonight. BGreenw687, you signaled that you had a question. Can we have it?
BGreenw687: Yes, thank you. I have a small manufacturing company and am currently using custom database software. We would like to change to more canned-type software because the support we have is very expensive and causes many problems. I have heard, however, that we would have to have someone input years of data and don't know how we could ever survive this. Any suggestions?
SWildBW: If your database isn't in some sort of standard format and the program you are using doesn't have some sort of export capability, you could have a big problem. Can the database be read in any standard program, such as Microsoft Excel?
BGreenw687: Our custom software is in database language -- originally we got it with a Datapoint computer. I know it has source codes, but it does not have any capabilities of running any type of Microsoft [programs]. We have a Novell network system that talks to the other PCs in the office.
SWildBW: Legacy systems like this can really be a pain. One way to deal with the problem would be to find a way to create a report that, in effect, exports the database as one or more "comma-separated-value" files. These are just text files in which the contents of each field are surrounded in quote marks and the fields are separated by commas. Virtually any current database program can read in such a file.
BGreenw687: So would these be transferable to some type of canned software?
SWildBW: Yes, just about anything.
BGreenw687: Thank you.
JackBW: Steve, I have a broad question for you -- what's newest in software that small-business people ought to know about?
SWildBW: There's not that much that is dramatically new. But the industry is discovering small business and tailoring programs to their needs. For example, Microsoft will soon ship a small-business edition of Office 97. They drop the Access database program from the professional edition -- it's too much even for most small businesses that want a database. But they add Automap Streets and Microsoft Publisher. The latter, especially, is a gem, making it very easy to turn out professional-looking documents that are too complicated to be done easily in a word processor.
JackBW: For a startup business, what's the basic minimum you should have in a computer setup?
SWildBW: Assuming that we're talking about a single computer, I'd go with a 120 or 133 MHz Pentium, 16 megabytes of memory, Windows 95, as big a hard disk as you can get in that setup, and some provision for data backup. You probably don't need or want fancy multimedia features, but a CD-ROM drive is a near-necessity for loading software.
DkbBW: Steve, how wise is it for a small business to use the plain-vanilla consumer versions of software? Say a basic Microsoft Word or Excel? At what point is small-business differentiation important?
SWildBW: Well, it depends on what sort of software you're talking about. The "consumer" versions of programs like Word and Excel are really designed for corporations, and they're fine. I think the fine-tuning of packages is good, since it tends to give smaller businesses what they can use while dumping what they don't need. The one crucial area of differentiation, of course, is accounting software. I know that lots of small businesses are keeping their books in Quicken, and this is a really bad idea -- because it's not an accounting program. Fortunately, there are good accounting programs tailored to small-business needs, like quickBooks and Peachtree First Accounting.
JackBW: Steve, can you expand on that -- in other words, suggest the software that a typical small business should have with the basic setup we discussed earlier?
SWildBW: To start with, everyone needs a word processor for basic text documents. You might be able to get by with one of the all-in-one programs -- I'd recommend Claris Works over Microsoft Works. More likely, you'll want a full-featured word processor like Word, Lotus Word Pro, or Corel WordPerfect. Then you'll want accounting software of some sort -- I've talked a bit about those. If you do any numerical analysis or what-if projections, you'll want a spreadsheet. Microsoft Publisher is terrific for doing flyers, camera-ready ads, and other promotional stuff. Beyond that, it's likely to depend on the nature of your business.
DkbBW: Steve, is there a point at which businesses can worry too much about their computers? When should you just call it quits for a while?
SWildBW: Absolutely. Unless you're in the computer business, your PC should just...
JackBW: It looks as if Steve has fallen victim to one of the AOL gremlins. I'm sure he's trying to get right back on. Stand by for his return to this discussion.
Meantime, be sure to check BW Online for the BW Online Small Business Center, full of useful and helpful information, including all the stories from the BW Enterprise edition. It's published eight times annually especially for small business and entrepreneurs. And you can also check Steve Wildstrom's Technology & You column every week in BW.
BobABW: He's back.
JackBW: Steve, I was starting to ask: This may stir up a hornet's nest, but in the basic computer-buying decision, what's your feeling about PC vs. Mac?
SWildBW: Apple is about to launch a small-business marketing campaign, but they're going to have to work to make a compelling case. I like Macs a lot and always have, but I'm not sure I'd recognize that route today. One indication is that Intuit recently announced that Mac would not be included in the next upgrade of QuickBooks. Software is a real problem for Macs (outside of multimedia and graphic-arts stuff), and it's getting worse.
JackBW: Steve, here's a hot issue: What about online services such as AOL for small business? A lot of them seem to have gotten burned by connection problems such as you just had.
SWildBW: One of the problems with all services is that you get locked into an E-mail address, and it can be very hard to change. One alternative is to get an account with an Internet service provider (ISP) who can give you a "virtual domain." This means your mail would come to joe@joescoffee.com, rather than joe@aol.com. You'll pay more for this kind of account -- at least $30 a month. And you have to spend $100 to register your domain name for two years. But once that's done, you own the name. If you have to change ISPs, you can take your virtual-domain name with you, and the Internet's directory service will automatically redirect mail to the right place.
Michel70: Can you recommend an E-mail program to E-mail multiple recipients who request info?
SWildBW: Alpha Software just came out with a program, NetMailer, that makes it very simple to do a mail-merge for E-mail. You type the names and addresses in a database or spreadsheet, and the program generates an individual response for each address, just like Word's mail merge does for typed letters.
DkbBW: Steve, what's your opinion on maintenance contracts for small business?
SWildBW: Probably a good idea if, like most businesses, you become completely dependent on that machine. The best deal is likely to be the extended agreement for on-site service that most manufacturers make available at purchase time.
JackBW: As the small biz grows, it has to go beyond just that one computer. What's the best next step to a network?
SWildBW: Here's one place where Macs are still easier. They have networking built in, and all you have to do is wire the machines together. Windows 95 has made great strides, though. You will have to install a network card in each machine and get some sort of hub to connect them together. This will cost about $100 per machine and about $200 for the hub. After that, it's a matter of setting up a Windows network using built-in components of Windows 95. A "wizard" makes it pretty simple. A network can really boost the efficiency of a group, even if it's just two or three computers.
JackBW: What about programs for creating your business' own Web site?
SWildBW: To start with, I'd recommend strongly that you have your Web site hosted by an Internet service provider, rather than try to run your own server. The virtual domains I talked about earlier usually come with hosting services. As for software, Adobe PageMill would be the choice on the Mac -- on the PC, maybe Claris HomePage. Microsoft FrontPage is a bit more complicated but a lot more powerful. One nice feature is the ability to do things like collect data from forms without doing any programming.
DkbBW: Steve, we got cut off when I asked about when a business can worry too much about computers. At what point should an owner say: Stop this madness!?
SWildBW: Yeah. Ideally, a small-business person who isn't in a computer-related business shouldn't be thinking about a computer at all, any more than he or she thinks about the telephone. It should just be another tool. That ideal is hard to meet because computers are still too complicated. But if you're starting to spend a lot of time fiddling with your machine, that's probably time that would be better spent worrying about business.
JackBW: What about fax? E-mail hasn't completely replaced it -- what do you recommend?
SWildBW: Computers are great for sending faxes. Just about any modem you can buy has fax capability, and the built-in fax software in Win95 is pretty good. For receiving faxes, though, I would still prefer a stand-alone machine. It's simpler, and it doesn't tie up your computer. I'd go with an inkjet model, or maybe one of the units, like an HP OfficeJet, that can double as a computer printer.
DkbBW: I hate to ask if you've read any good books lately.
JackBW: LOL
DkbBW: But are there any new guides out there that may be of interest to the small-business owner?
JackBW: "Small-Biz Computers for Dummies"?
SWildBW: I have to admit I haven't.
JackBW: I have a strong recommendation: Read Steve's Technology & You column weekly in BW -- fresh every Thursday evening here on AOL at keyword BW (plug).
SWildBW: Thanks.
DkbBW: We've talked mostly about software, but tell us about new hardware that may be best used by a small-business owner. Thanks.
SWildBW: Couple of things: You can get very good color printers really cheap, in the $250 to $500 range. Color can brighten things up amazingly. Scanners also are getting much cheaper and easier to use. If your business deals in pictures in any way, digital cameras are also getting much better and cheaper.
JackBW: That's all we have time for, unless Dkb has a really quick one.
DkbBW: Yeah, I do.
JackBW: Shoot...
DkbBW: This is a special anniversary for Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." If you've seen it recently, Steve, how close do you think we are to that vision? If so, should we worry?
JackBW: In 30 seconds or less... :-)
SWildBW: After many false starts, artificial intelligence is finally becoming a reality. But we're a long, long, long way away from HAL. So far, not to worry.
JackBW: Be sure to visit BW Online's Small Business Center for, among many other things, the BW Enterprise editions. Meantime, thanks so much, Steve Wildstrom, for sharing your Technology & You column expertise with us. Tune in next week, same time and place, for another Enterprise chat.
SWildBW: Thank you.
DkbBW: Thanks.
JackBW: Transcripts of this and all BW Online chats and conferences are available soon after the event. Look for them under Talk & Conferences from the BW Online opening screen. Thanks again and goodnight to all!
Copyright 1997 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
