Simply put, accounting is the lifeline of a business. Accounting deals with summarizing, analyzing and reporting the financial data and information about a business. An accounting software records and processes the accounting transactions of a business within its functional modules. Financial statements consisting of the balance sheet, profit and loss account, and statement of changes in financial position can be easily prepared with an accounting software.

An accounting software is all about the various functional modules that it has. Some of them are- General ledger which takes care of the company’s financial dealings; Accounts Payable where the company enters its bills and pays the money it owes; Accounts Receivable where money received is entered.

The different categories or types of accounting software are as follows:

a) Small business/personal accounting software which are mainly meant for home users. They are simple and inexpensive with simple functioning such as management of budgets.

b) Low end accounting software are for small business markets that are capable of serving a single national market. Such software are characterized by ‘single entry’ products.

c) Mid market accounting software are for companies with large businesses. These software are capable of serving the needs of multiple national accountancy standards and facilitate accounting in multiple currencies.

d) High end accounting software are complex and expensive business accounting software that are also known as Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software.

However, you have to keep certain things in mind before buying an accounting software, like the prices of the software, its different features, its after-sales support and alike. Most of the accounting software include all the important accounting modules. The more specialized features a software has, the more expensive it becomes. Your software features must be compatible with your business. Also, the after-sales support is important like FAQ package, local service center and others.

There are a lot of top accounting software available in every category. So, it is not easy to select the best ones. Below are top five accounting software in every category.

A. Small business/personal accounting software:

1.ePeachtree (Best Software)

2.MYOB Plus for Windows (MYOB Software)

3.Peachtree Complete Accounting (Best Software)

4.QuickBooks Online (Intuit)

5.Small Business Manager (Microsoft)

B. Low-End Accounting Software:

1.BusinessVision 32 (Best Software)

2.MAS 90 & MAS 200 (Best Software)

3.QuickBooks Pro 2003 (Intuit)

4.ACCPAC Pro Series (ACCPAC International)

5.Vision Point 2000 (Best Software)

C. Middle-Market Accounting Software:

1.ACCPAC Advantage Series Corporate Edition (Best Software)

2.Great Plains (Microsoft) MAS 90 & MAS 200 (Best Software)

3.Navision (Microsoft)

4.SouthWare Excellence Series (SouthWare)

5.SYSPRO (SysproUSA)

D. High-end accounting ERP Market:

1.Axapta (Microsoft Software)

2.e-Business Suite (Oracle)

3.MAS 500 (Best Software)

4.Solomon (Microsoft)

5.ACCPAC Advantage Series Enterprise Edition (Best Software)

In compiling the above list, a variety of factors such as feedbacks from customers, scalability of the software, and after-sales support are used. Also, the different attributes for different categories have been considered like for ERP software, attributes such as manufacturing solution, supply chain solution and database solution. The above compilation may not be all inclusive and some people might choose to differ with it but it is almost near to perfect list.

Source by Joann Grant

In the area of communication, text messaging is classified as the quickest and most reliable means. Its subscriber base has reached billions around the world and it has become popular for the same number of people. It is useful to know how text came about and how it started to evolve.

Text messaging, which has now been universally known as texting, is the method wherein short messages of 160 characters can be sent from a cellular phone. This short messaging service (SMS) has been a boon to many cell phone subscribers, and the latest models of cellular phones are even capable of sending as much as 20 pages of 160 characters each in a single sending. They are now known in communications circles as text messages, texts or SMS.

An SMS gateway is used to be able to access the text technology, connecting a mobile SMS service to an existing service provider, the Internet, PDAs, personal computers and even landline phones. There are also high technology Bluetooth equipment which can serve as modem for cellular phones to be able to send SMS using wireless networks. Both the GSM and non-GSM systems have been widely used for the SMS.

Principally, messaging affords the opportunity to send messages to other people regardless of their location for as long as they are within the range of the signal providers. Automated facilities are also enhanced by the SMS for buying produce as well as provide a host of services for the cellular phone. Text messaging has also become the trend in many contest mechanics and procedures.

Edward Lantz, an ex-employee of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was believed to have been the person to have sent the very first text message and it was sent through a Motorola pager. The first messages used numbers instead of letters and deciphering the message was necessary at that time.

The Vodafone GSM network was used to send and receive the first SMS messaging in Great Britain on the 3rd of December 1992. Neil Pap worth sent the SMS message using a typical desktop personal computer.

Initially, text messaging was targeted for use by the hearing impaired, and it was not fully recognized yet. In the early 1990s text were rarely used by cell phone users. But beginning 2000, there was a steady increase in the use of text. With the further development of the SMS, its popularity rose exponentially and the world was witness to a sudden surge of subscribers.

Today, there are around 72 percent of people from the Northern European states who use text messaging, and a good 85 percent from the rest of Europe and North America. Among the countries in Asia meanwhile, the Philippines claimed the top spot with the most number of messaging users. An average of 20 text messages per person is being sent by a typical Philippine subscriber. In fact, with its 43 million users, the Philippines is now considered as the texting capital of the world.

Source by Robart Alex

For many of us who are thinking of promoting your business or services, where would you think are the best place to place your ads?

There are many places in Singapore where you can post your flyers to advertise your services and businesses. Listed below are the locations where message boards are set up to post your ads.

The most common type of ads posted there are tuition ads, room rental ads, recruitment ads, garage sale ads & lost pets ads, etc.

1. Notice boards outside MRT Stations along the east-west line.

These are free to post by anyone. They are located outside Lakeside, Jurong East, Clementi, Redhill, Outram Park, Lavender, Bedok and Pasir Ris MRT stations. The ads are posted on a frst come first serve basis, and the maximum size of ad allowed is A4. The posted ads are removed by a cleaning contractor on the 1st and 15th of each month.

2. Notice boards at Hdb estates in Sembawang, Woodlands and Yishun.

These are free to post by anyone.They are located in the northern part of Singapore. Almost every blks in these estates have a white notice board installed near the letter box area. The surfce area of these notice boards are about the size of six A4 ads. The maximum size of each ad allowed is A5. The ad are also removed on the 1st and 15th of each month.

3. Cold Storage and NTUC Finest stores throughout Singapore.

These notice boards are located inside the supermarkets and your ads have to be submitted to the store manager for review. Once approved, the ads will be pin onto the message board on every Monday evening. The ads are allowed to stay on the message board for one week. The maximum size of each ad allowed is half of A5.

4. Commercial Buildings next to JCube, Jurong East Gateway Road Blks 130- 135.

These notice boards are free to post by anyone.They are located in the western part of Singapore. There is no control over the amount and size of ads posted there. The ads are removed by another advertiser who need to post their ads.

5. Bukit Batok Central, next to bus interchange & West Mall.

These notice boards are maintain by town council in Bukit Batok. They are located in the western part of Singapore. The size of ads to be submitted to the town council for review must be A4 and 10 copies are required. Once approved, the ads are allowed to be displayed for 30 days.

6. Bus stops display panels approved by LTA.

The bus stops are mainly located in west part of Singapore Boon Lay, Jurong West, Jurong East. Some are in east part of Singapore Tampines. The rest are in the north Yishun.

Source by Alan Chow

As a manager, you are expected to uphold discipline. You ought to be in control of your team and always be prepared to face any challenges that arise during the course of work. But the common mistake which most managers do is that they take this brief too seriously.

The managers misconstrue that imposing strictest of discipline and keeping their team under tight control is their rightful duty as well as primary responsibility. The resultant excess of management transforms our managers into school Headmasters who start micro managing instead of managing their team.

Micro management occurs when a manager focuses on trivial little things and fails to see the bigger picture. The manager tends to focus on tiny irrelevant details, makes too many stifling rules and demands too many reports from the sub ordinates. Whether they actually are or not, they always enjoy the perception of being in control by reserving the decision-making authority and not sharing it with their subordinates. It can prove to be detrimental for the entire team, especially in a call center environment.

5 reasons why call center manager must strictly avoid micro management are:

1. It increases stress in the workspace

Any agent of an inbound call center who is dealing with irate callers is understandably already quite stressed. Nagging by the manager is likely to only increase the stress levels further and create a dismal work environment.

2. It demotivates the employees

Such managers usually point out the bad qualities of their team members, more than they ever appreciate them. This makes each employee feel dejected and adversely affects their morale and self-confidence.

3. It slows down functioning

These managers are usually unable to make quick decisions. A 24x7call center where each second is precious, cannot afford such delayed responses to problems that require urgent attention.

4. It leads to inefficiency

Peter Drucker has said that there is no point in doing those things efficiently, which shouldn’t be done in the first place! But contrary to this advice, a micro-manager insists on lots of reports to be made by his subordinates. So apart from the reports made for clients, the employees are compelled to make dozens of reports to appease this manager with reportomania.

5. It decreases the fun at work

They doen’t give the employees enough liberty to have fun while they work. And when employees aren’t enjoying what they are doing, their efforts would also be half-hearted and it would adversely impact the team’s performance.

So a call center manager should analyze oneself and determine whether he/ she is a micro-manager or not. And if yes, then they should shed all such habits and emerge as a successful manager who is adored and admired by the subordinates.

Source by Eric Catarino

I believe in judging a website by how well it converts visits into profits and this can be achieved with “stickiness”… the measure of how long a user spends on your site.

The longer they stay the likelier they are to spend money, ask any good salesperson worth his weight in salt!

Website Design, “stickiness” & the 8 “C’s”

Your design should keep visitors on your site AND make them come back for more so implement a few of the “C’s” in your site design to improve your conversion rate:

1.Content

“Content is king” so ensure your web copy is unique, fresh, useful to users and fits in with the overall design.

Broadcast content with RSS Feeds, e-mails and sms to your target audience and link to relevant sites to get your point across (automate this in the website design).

Interactive website design (on-line games, weather reports, etc.) ensures consumers spend more time on your website.

Include F.A.Q.S, reports, research data or on-line response forms and integrate call to actions throughout the website.

2. Community

Engage people on your website, plug-ins from Social networks should be incorporated in your website design to further develop peoples perception of your brand.

3.Communication

It’s important for prospects or customers to reach you, display your contact details on each page and use an email notifier to inform users of any updates to the website.

Your design should include a Blog and allow comments giving you a better insight of your visitors needs.

4.Customisation

Allow visitors to personalise landing pages and ensure the website design is customer centric with personal greetings and personal preferences.

5. Commerce

Customers should be able to complete the entire purchasing process on-line so incorporating on-line registration, secure payment facilities, order tracking and return policies in the website design is essential.

6. Convenience

Ensure your Hosting Company is reliable and keep your website down time to a minimum, remove dead links and ensure that information in no more than 3 clicks away (plan during the initial website design phase).

The website design should ensure a pleasant user experience with simple navigation, good graphics and clear typography.

7. Choice

The website should offer a wider selection of products than normal distribution channels or perhaps offer a product customisation option for registered members.

8. Cost

We always looking for bargains and the easiest way to find them is on-line, offer discounts for on-line purchases or bookings (check out kulula.com for a good example).

Plenty of thought has to go into website design so always plan before you launch your on-line presence (or overhaul your existing web design).

Source by Darryl D Alexander

The primary value of business success is to accommodate customer requirements in a cost effective and efficient way. Although it is agreed that customer service is important, many senior managers find it extremely difficult to explain what it is and how to do it. Customer service, in a logistic view, represents a supplier’s role in fulfilling the marketing concept. To improve the customer service, it is essential to figure out clear standards of performance for each of the activities and measurements related to those standards. In basic customer service program, the focus is typically on whether the supplier is capable of providing the seven rights to its customers: the right amount of the right product at the right time at the right place in the right condition at the right price with the right information. This concept is also true to the interlining industry.

To improve the customer service, careful analysis of competitive performance and customer sensitivity is critical to the process of identifying the attributes in a basic service strategy. The fundamental attributes of basic customer service were identified as availability, operational performance, and service reliability. These attributes will be discussed in a series of articles in detail.

In this article, availability is discussed in detail. Availability is the capacity to provide inventory when a customer needs it. The traditional practice for an interlining supplier for woven interlining, non-woven interlining and fusible interlining is to stock inventory in anticipation of customer orders. An inventory stocking strategy is typically based on not only the forecast demand for products, but also some differential stocking policies for specific items including profitability, popularity, the importance and value of an item.

For an interlining supplier for woven interlining, non-woven interlining and fusible interlining, achieving a high level of inventory availability requires a great deal of planning. The performance of availability is measured on three attributes, namely, stock-out frequency, fill rate, and orders shipped complete.

1. Stock-out Frequency.

A stock-out frequency occurs when a supplier has no product available to meet customer demand. The stock-out frequency refers to the probability that a stock-out occurs in a firm with no available inventory to meet customer orders. The aggregation of all stock-outs across all products can serve as an indicator of a firm’s performance to provide basic service commitment in product availability. Therefore, taking an interlining supplier for woven interlining, non-woven interlining and fusible interlining for example, good strategy must be applied to lower stock-out frequency.

2. Fill Rate.

Fill rate measures the impact of stock-out over time. It is important to identify the units of a product that is not available to the customer order. Fill rate performance is usually used to evaluate for a specific customer or item like woven interlining, non-woven interlining and fusible interlining, or for any combination of business segments like products and customers. However, fill rate may not always require a 100% achievement. The customer may accept a reorder on the short items at a later time. The essential of fill rate strategy need to take customer requirements for products into consideration.

3. Order Shipped Complete.

Order shipped complete is the most exacting measure of supplier performance in product availability. It covers everything in a customer order as a standard of acceptable performance. An order will be recorded as zero for a complete shipment if even the supplier failed to provide one item on a customer’ order.

The above three measures of availability help build the extent to which a supplier’s inventory strategy is meeting customer demand. They also serve as the basis to evaluate the firm’s appropriate level of product availability in a logistical perspective. With the information technology to identify the customer demand in advance and the forecasting theory application, an interlining supplier for woven interlining, non-woven interlining and fusible interlining succeeded in achieving high levels of basic service performance of product availability without a corresponding increase in inventory stocking. Understanding the measurement of product availability is the starting point to plan a great customer service strategy.

Source by Gile Lenon

The emergence of electronic appointment reminders via text messaging and the Internet has given doctors a new avenue for accommodating their patients. This kind of service benefits not only the doctor and the doctor’s medical staff, but the patients as well.

Considering all the different features of automated appointment reminder programs and services, the following have been deemed the most important advantages of this technology:

1. Adherence to Appointments

The likelihood that a patient will keep the appointment is higher when he or she receives an alert through SMS, electronic mail, and voice calls. Because they are informed of the date, time and the name of the doctor, there is little chance that they will miss the schedule or be late for it. On their end, doctors can also use appointment reminder software to keep track of their meetings with colleagues or consultation schedules with patients.

2. Reduction in Wait Times

Patients who know what time they should come in for clinical visits do not have to wait in line for their consultation. As a business, clinics can take advantage of this technology as a form of customer service strategy. The more satisfied their patients are, the more likely they will return to seek medical assistance.

3. Potential for Revenue Growth

The numerous benefits that an automated reminder can provide to patients guarantees quality customer service and can translate into higher revenue from repeated consultations and treatments.

4. Multiple Communication Portals

E-mail reminders are ideal for patients who have regular access to the Internet, or those who use their e-mails as part of their work. Voice calls are most beneficial to older people, who spend less time online and know less about mobile phones. SMS text messaging is perhaps the most effective patient appointment reminder, as it sends the message directly to the device of the person involved in the appointment. Doctors and their staff can use any or all of these options to help patients remember their schedule.

5. Compliance with Electronic Records Rules and Trends

In the United States and a growing number of countries around the world, the public and private health sectors are switching to a paperless system of record-keeping. Appointment reminders are often part of web-based offerings that help organize and store patient information. These programs are ideally compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act under U.S. health care law, which means they are considered part of the treatment covered by insurance.

6. Customer Service Features

Many automated reminder services are available in multiple languages to cater to patients of different nationalities. Patients can also respond to the reminder by confirming or canceling the appointment upon receiving the call. In addition, they may have a function that lets the patient opt out of the reminder service.

7. Physician-Friendly Features

Doctors can customize the files according to specialization so that the scheduling and reminding of patients’ appointments are more organized. They can also attach additional notes to the reminder call or message. A lot of programs offer unlimited text message reminders.

8. Cost-Effectiveness

Although appointment reminder tools may appear to add costs to a medical establishment, it can actually save clinics money in some ways. Since the calls are automated, physicians do not need to hire additional staff to contact the patients for their upcoming visit. Administrative staff can be assigned to do other tasks instead of organizing patient appointments.

9. Data Security

These programs come with solid security features that ensure confidentiality of patient information. They also have maintenance functions that allow for daily database backups and lower the risk of misuse of data.

10. Accommodation of Multiple Customers

Automated reminder programs can handle simultaneous calls, e-mails and SMS messages to a multiple number of patients. This saves time, money and avoids the inconvenience of making the patient wait.

Source by Jane Susaeta

The fashion industry does seem very small and saturated but that it is like an alternate universe when you get in. There are so many market segments to uncover and since there is the need to be clothed and the need to feel good when clothed, it keeps on becoming a thriving business to the rest of the world. If you are starting out a new label, knowing the industry and where you want to position the label are the crucial points to uncover to set your business as well as your products on the right direction. Let us start by identifying the unique market segments and what makes these segments unique and why you should put your business at that level.

As of the moment, there are around 5 market segments that are within the fashion industry. They are normally distinguished by levels, pricing and procedural nuances. These segments are haute couture, ready to wear, mass market, Eco fashion and niche fashions

Haute Couture

A label that is exclusive to fashions that are completely handmade or most of the procedures done by hand; of materials made of the most luxurious and laboriously concocted patterns and fabrics and presentations that are well beyond magical, Haute couture is the pinnacle of market segments selling to the richest women. The term is carelessly used by others when they are indeed made to measure companies. Haute couture is a label controlled strictly by Chambre Syndicale in Paris and only a select few houses are labeled as haute couture houses. The likes of Christian Dior, Chanel, Givenchy and Elie Saab have the rights to be called haute couture houses. The market can be called niche since it only caters to a very small, privileged people who can spend $20,000 on a suit to over $150,000 or more for an elaborate dress with embroidery. It requires an audience with the Chambre Syndicale so if you want to be a full blown couture house, you need to establish your brand and show point of view that can be refreshingly couture.

Ready to Wear

This started out in the 1960s as an alternative to haute couture. These are ready to purchase items that come in standard sizes. This is one of the biggest money makers of fashion companies and where they also put much of their efforts adverting and presenting. If couture is held twice a year, ready to wear can have several runs ranging from the conventional spring and summer fashions, pre-fall and resort plus other specialty lines for kids and even pets. It is a massive industry. Ready to wear comes in several sub sections including luxury ready to wear. Most couture houses have their own ready to wear lines that are less expensive than haute couture by a mile but still are very expensive. Then there is the diffusion line that is catered to a more hip audience but still range similarly in price. High street lines are often less costly.

Mass Market

This is where most people buy their products. If you are starting out, it would be great to begin here and then head up, or diversify. Mass market normally is sold at very convenient prices but can vary in influence like the more posh labels to department store clothing. Boutiques normally offer a broad range of fashions from working class, leisure, daily and glamour/evening looks. Young companies can either begin here or at ready to wear label, the latter is ideal for those who want to create a stronger commercial impression.

Eco fashion

This is a unique market that focuses mainly on environmentally conscious materials and processes. It takes a lot more creativity to transform the fashions and make them rally stylish but it pays off very well since there is an emerging market for people who like Eco friendly options especially for accessories.

Niche fashion

This is focused on a specific area such as undergarment, jewelry, hats or shoes. This is another great option and it is easier to sell or market to boutiques or set up online compared to pieces of clothing.

By understanding the aspects of fashion and its different segments, one can easily make a decision about the best options and ultimately plan the business and the future strategies.

Source by Mark P Spencer

To keep ahead in a fast-moving industry, leading Asia-Pacific fashion retailer Bossini needed to have better visibility into its business and operational processes through the synchronization of real-time data across multiple orders, shipments and stock-keeping units.

By leveraging the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB), Bossini is able to speed up the deployment of new applications and processes and bring new partners on board much more quickly.

The intuitive development environment of the webMethods ESB has enabled Bossini’s programmers to easily, and quickly, build the large number of interfaces required to meet its complex integration requirements.

Upon transforming to a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), Bossini could synchronize real-time data from multiple orders, shipments and stock-keeping units (SKUs) across its Point-of-Sale (POS) systems and Warehouse Management System (WMS) inventory.

Benefits include:

• Better visibility into real-time processes with dynamic synchronization of data between point of sale and warehouse management systems

• Additional business capabilities, e.g. late shipment and sales performance monitoring via dashboards/SMS and stock-on-hand monitoring for all markets.

• Factory order allocation reduced from three days to one

• Finance month-end closing slashed from 25 days to seven

• Developer and IT productivity increased by up to 30 percent through user-friendly intuitive interface and re-use of programming objects from the webMethods ESB.

A standards-based solution

With the webMethods Enterprise Service Bus, Bossini is able to take full advantage of the standards-based interfaces to integrate with their existing systems and utilize service orchestration to connect their existing systems to their processes. This allows Bossini to speed up the deployment of new applications and processes and bring new partners on board much more quickly.

Subsequent changes are also easier to implement, and the company enjoys cost savings resulting from the re-use of the service components. “The webMethods ESB enables us to achieve real-time interoperability across numerous disparate applications, including independence from the constraints of their operating systems and hardware platforms,” said Mr. Andrew Ling, Director of IT and Supply Chain of the Bossini Group.

Of equal importance is the platform’s flexibility and ease of use. “This was crucial in our ability to gain competitive advantage in the fickle world of apparel retailing,” said Ling. “In our decision, we also took into account the faster adoption, lower training costs and quicker return-on-investment enabled by the very intuitive design of the webMethods ESB.”

Source by Alan Thurner

SMS has several advantages. It is more discrete than a telephonic conversation, making it the ideal form for communicating when you don’t want to be disturbed. SMS is less time-consuming in comparison to make a phone call or send an e-mail. Unlike email and instant messenger, SMS doesn’t require you to be at your computer.

SMS is a store-and-forward service, meaning that when you send a text message, the message does not go directly to the client’s cell phone. The advantage of this method is that the client’s cell phone doesn’t have to be active or in range for you to send a message. The message is stored in the SMSC (for days if necessary) until the client turns his cell phone on or moves into range, at which point the message is delivered.

SMS is considered to be a spam free mode of communication as compared to email. The delivery of a SMS is more certain than an email which may land up as a junk mail.

Advantages of Bulk Short Message Service

o The company can issue immediate alerts to their employee about emergencies and critical situations

o To send important information to key customers or suppliers, thereby ensuring that the information is received by the right person, immediately

o The company can send greetings to their clients or suppliers on various festivals or other occasions.

o Any updates or messages can be send to roaming employees, such as sales people or technicians on the road, of any updates or messages

In addition to one-on-one messages, SMS can be used to send a message to a large number of people at a time, either from a list of contacts or to all the users within a particular area. This service is called broadcasting and is used by companies to contact groups of employees or by online services to distribute news and other information to subscribers. We at Exemplar e Solutions provides this bulk message service which helps other companies to deliver there SMS to there target audience. A company just need few things to take maximum advantage of IT to enhance there productivity, an internet connection, PC software and bulk sms solution that plugs in to database

Features:

1. Send multiple text messages from Computer to mobile phones at just one click.

2. Recipient phone number can be entered manually or bulk uploaded using excel/csv.

3. Bulk messaging software is secure and easy to use utility with user friendly GUI interface.

4. No technical training or skills are required to understand the software.

5. Easy to use and operate.

6. Internet based connectivity.

7. Instant delivery of messages.

8. Edge in competition scenario.

9. Efficiency will increase

10. Cost effective mode of communication

Benefits:

1. Your own key word. It will display your own registered keyword to the receiver.

2. You can send your advertisement along with the SMS.

3. Integration with the portalwebsite is included in software price.

4. No maintenance charge for Six months.

5. Send unlimited SMS in a single click.

6. Fully automated software, in just 3 steps you can send n number of SMS.

7. User friendly and easy to navigate.

8. Own key word have a high top of mind recall, helps to do marketing campaigning.

Source by Sumit Ranjan