Software beyond the basics

Nation's Business, Jan, 1998 by Tim McCollum, Albert G. Holziner

Computer software can be a boon to the productivity of entrepreneurs working at home or in a small office. But small firms might miss out on some of the greatest benefits if they use only the software that came with their business PCs. Typically, this software consists of an operating system such as Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 95, a suite of general business programs such as a word processor and a spreadsheet, tools for accessing the Internet, and a few games.

Maximizing productivity will almost certainly require additional software geared toward specific business needs. Some programs might enhance financial, graphics, and other business capabilities, while other software might be needed for general office chores such as filing.

Most of the programs are relatively inexpensive and are easy to install and operate. Following is a small sampling:

Financial Aids

Financial-management programs can save a lot of time and money for entrepreneurs. They enable users to record and track transactions with customers and suppliers, generate invoices and reports, and analyze cash flow and other financial data. Here are some programs worth considering:

Quicken Home & Business 98 $89.95, Intuit Inc. 1-800-446-8848

Intuit, of Mountain View, Calif., designed Quicken as a personal-finance manager. But the largest category of registered Quicken customers is small-business owners.

In response to that interest, Intuit has tailored a version of Quicken to meet entrepreneurs' needs. Called Quicken Home & Business 98, the program combines Quicken's traditional personal-finance-management features with additional business-management capabilities: tracking of payables and receivables, invoicing, and detailed financial reporting.

The software is easy to master. It features a sophisticated system to help entrepreneurs locate and use specific functions of the program, and it contains links to Intuit's World Wide Web site, which is an excellent source of investment and other financial information.

Time & Profit $179 BytePro Corp. 1-800-713-5322

Time & Profit is an excellent tool for entrepreneurs who bill clients by the hour.

With an on-screen calendar, users enter their work schedules for each client, then click a button to process their hours in the program's accounting system. Time & Profit also features a "stopwatch" that times phone calls with clients, calculates the amount the client should be billed, and enters that amount into the accounting system.

The software can analyze the profitability of various projects or of serving selected clients. It also can report on the relative costs of working with different suppliers.

Productivity Builders

Software aimed at boosting productivity is a natural for home- and small-office users, who generally don't have support personnel on hand. These programs can speed clerical tasks, organize information, and more:

Encarta Reference Suite 98, $109 Microsoft Corp. 1-800-426-9400

Entrepreneurs (or their family members) who need to incorporate almost any fact into a project almost surely will be able to find it somewhere in the Encarta Reference Suite. The suite consists of three reference works on CD-ROM, each of which has received wide acclaim in its own right.

The Encarta 98 Encyclopedia Deluxe Edition contains more than 30,000 articles and more than 16,000 related photos, illustrations, sound clips, videos, maps, charts, and links to the Internet. In addition, it contains 900 interesting "sidebars," such as famous speeches and documents and views of selected periods in history conveyed via contemporary newspaper and magazine clippings. The encyclopedia's content can be updated monthly via modem.

Virtual Globe is a world atlas featuring remarkably detailed maps and articles related to geography. Bookshelf 98 consists of 10 reference books, including a dictionary, thesaurus, world almanac, and ZIP-code directory.

PaperMaster Live $119 DocuMagix Inc. 1-800-362-8624

PaperMaster Live helps entrepreneurs organize the documents, electronic mail, faxes, and images they scan or download via modem into their computers. With this software, users are able to file items for later retrieval in folders they create and name within a central electronic file cabinet.

This version of PaperMaster Live has been improved to help people work more easily with material they obtain from the Internet. For example, users can save World Wide Web pages in a form that preserves graphics, sound, and links to other pages.

PaperMaster Live's tools allow users to highlight text, attach notes to documents, and insert logos and signatures. Users can merge and send documents via e-mail without exiting from the program.

ProVenture Mail Tools $49.95 MySoftware Co. 1-800-607-4848

This software makes quick work of mailings to customers, prospects, suppliers, and others. It imports and converts names and addresses from common word-processing, contact-management, spreadsheet, database, and other programs into mailing-list format. Mailing to part or all of a list is merely a matter of choosing an envelope, label, or postcard design and selecting a typeface, printing color, and logo to appear on it.