Connie Certusi: Selecting Software for Your Business
Connie Certusi, general manager of Sage Software, shares her insights on small-business software and how to choose software for your business.
By: Anita Osterhaug, Technology Reporter
This month we talked with Connie Certusi, general manager for small-business accounting at Sage Software, makers of the well-known Peachtree Accounting and Simply Accounting financial software products and ACT! Contact Management, software that helps small businesses better manage their customer relationships, sales prospects, and sales tracking processes. Ms. Certusi shared with us her insights on small-business software, trends in financial and business management, and how to choose software that fits your business.
Q: Can you tell us about your experience working with small businesses?
A: I've been working with small and medium businesses for more than 10 years, at Sage since 1999 and at Peachtree Software before that. So I've seen a lot of trends related to application service providers and related to what the Internet has done to the lives of small to medium-sized businesses. Prior to coming to Peachtree, my world was more in the enterprise financial software market, selling higher-end ERP solutions to Fortune 100 and Fortune 1000-type companies. So I've experienced these two completely different markets, and have personally grown to love the dynamics of the small to mid-size market. It's an exciting market, with so much opportunity.
Q: In your mind, what is the most significant difference in software needs between large businesses and smaller businesses?
A: I would say the most significant difference is the ease of use that is required for small-business software. Small and even medium-size businesses quite often don't have an IT department, so they need software on a CD that they can take and install in a matter of minutes or access "on demand" via the Internet. They need an application that they can understand quickly, whose navigation and user interface is intuitive. In contrast, enterprise software can tend to be complex due to the depth of functionality required by these larger corporations. In fact, the business model of enterprise software companies is quite different than those serving the small-business market in that a large portion of their revenue comes from the installation, implementation, and training associated with a given sale. Smaller businesses don't need this level of functionality and can't justify the price associated with these higher-end solutions. So, while there are numerous other differences in functional requirements between enterprise and small-business solutions, I think the biggest underlying difference is ease of use.
Q: What do you see as the most significant trends today in financial and business management in smaller companies?
A: I think there are a couple of big trends. The first one is related to integrated connectivity with the rest of the world. Over the years, the Internet has evolved into a tremendous technology enabler that allows small businesses to become more connected with the rest of the world. For example, they can expand their sales channel by selling on their own storefront or selling as part of a broader online shopping market. Businesses use the Internet to make it easier for their customers to do business with them and for them to do business with their vendors, bringing operational excellence as it relates to their day-to-day tasks.
If you think about accounting, it truly is the core business management tool for any small business. It's the nucleus of information about vendors and customers, and about day-to-day transactions, such as receiving payments and sending invoices, that helps determine the success of that business. I think that many business owners are beginning to realize the efficiencies they can gain in using the Internet for consumer-like routine tasks such as online banking or bill payment, and they are now looking to the Internet to streamline many of their business processes. They see it as a tool to bring customer intimacy, allowing them to better service their customers, as well as providing an alternate sales and marketing channel for their operations. As they begin to use the Internet to enable connectivity with their ecosystem it becomes crucial that all of these enabling solutions "talk" to each other, eliminating redundant data entry. For example, if I've got an online storefront and I'm attracting buyers to my storefront, I want those orders to automatically feed back into my accounting solution. If I am low on a specific inventory item, I want to quickly communicate the situation to my vendor so my operations are not interrupted. The Internet has made all of this so much easier to do - giving small businesses more opportunity than ever before to effectively run their business. The responsibility is on us, the business software application providers, to educate this market on these opportunities.
The other big trend is a growing focus on managing customers and/or prospects. Two of the main concerns in a small business are getting more customers and keeping those customers. As a result, I think there will be a growing demand and an appreciation for CRM applications going forward. Small businesses will learn that tools like Outlook* just aren't enough. They're looking for help in marketing and selling to their customers and in finding prospects, and once they get the customers, they want the tools to manage the relationship and the ongoing contacts to drive a high awareness and loyalty among the customer base.
Q: For those who aren't as familiar with CRM, can you give me an example of how a CRM application could manage help them manage customer relationships and build loyalty?
A: If you start at the beginning of the sales cycle, one advantage of CRM software is in helping you find prospects and then manage your pipeline as it begins to grow. Obviously, the first phase is finding the prospects. A good CRM application will provide you with the tools to generate professional marketing material and assist you with getting your message out to a broader audience (via e-mail, etc.). Quite often you can provide a "personal touch" within these marketing pieces by customizing the message based on specific data related to the prospect. In addition, a CRM application will help you automate the workflow process associated with managing the prospect through the sale cycle. It helps you manage day-to-day activities, for example, reminding you about activities such as follow-up communications, so that you continually get closer to that prospect. Taking it a step further, CRM can also help you manage your sales pipeline, assessing the probability of a sale, understanding which customers you need to manage more closely, and where they are in the sales process. Then, when a prospect becomes a customer, it's all about building loyalty: keeping the appropriate data on the customer, managing the contact, and making sure you do those little things to keep that relationship going. CRM helps you identify who your best customers are, which is important because you want to hold those customers close. In summary, there are numerous benefits to a CRM application that can help small businesses find and keep good customers.
Q: When you talk to owners and managers in small businesses, what are the things that are keeping them awake at night?
A: We frequently ask this very same question in our surveys and focus groups with small businesses. One common worry is cash flow. Many small businesses just want to know, "Is my business doing OK, can I pay my vendors, can I pay my employees, etc.?" And this gets back to those other two big issues that they face: getting more customers and keeping their existing ones loyal. Having enough satisfied customers is the key to having a profitable business and having the cash flow that's going to keep that business going. That's why we tell small businesses that in order to manage your cash flow and make sure your business is sound, you really need a strong business management/accounting solution that allows you to turn raw data--invoices, payments, purchase and sales orders--into business intelligence that you can use to better control and drive results within that business. Ultimately, a small business that is taking the financial management of their business seriously and has the appropriate data to make better business decisions is going to thrive and grow, minimizing the worries of cash flow. Bottom line is that these businesses need to automate and get serious about accounting, get serious about business management, if they're serious about being successful as a business.
The other worry that often surfaces deals with employee management, and particularly the governmental compliance aspect. As soon as a business has an employee, their world changes. Suddenly they have to think about many different issues: health insurance, liability, and also the payroll component, which isn't always the easiest function for a small-business to manage. One significant piece of payroll processing is ensuring compliance with governmental taxing regulations--a topic that is often foreign to a small business owner. As a result, many small businesses have opted to automate and sometimes outsource this entire process, thus removing the headache of trying to keep up with changing tax laws and compliance regulations. In our case, we offer Sage Payroll Services, a complete outsourced payroll service offering where small businesses can enter employee time and rate information, and we handle the rest, including check printing, payroll tax filing, etc. Most importantly, we guarantee compliance as it relates to payroll tax regulations, allowing the small-business owner to focus on the more important issues related to running their business.
Q: Of the businesses that have accounting systems, are they using them to their full potential or are there still capabilities that people are not using yet?
A: Many are not using their accounting systems to their full potential. In fact, what tends to happen is that small businesses begin using the basics and often never explore the full capabilities of the system. As an accounting software provider, it is our responsibility to make it easy for the user to explore the product and learn how to adapt it to their growing needs. For example, a few years ago we launched a merchant account service in the Peachtree product. Basically, it allows small businesses to begin accepting credit cards from their customers. That seems like a simple thing, but what we found was that prior to having this service, many small businesses didn't even know how to get started taking credit card payments. In launching this service we had to ensure that its availability was clearly visible within the product as a natural extension to the payment processing workflow. As a result, this service has been very successful within our customer base by providing them with additional payment options to offer their customers. As in the case of credit card processing, we have to ensure that all the value add we provide in the product is properly communicated to our customers to ensure they reach their full potential in using the solution.
Q: Are people using their business management and accounting applications yet to turn raw data into business intelligence?
A: Absolutely--especially those that use Peachtree Accounting. Our research indicates that our customers count on their Peachtree solution to provide them with the business intelligence they need to run their businesses. In fact, one of our primary objectives is to give them the insight behind their numbers. But there's also still a tremendous amount of opportunity. Many applications on the market take the approach that accounting is a necessary evil, that you just need someplace to record your transactions and invoices and purchase orders. Then at the end of the month or quarter or year, you turn it over to your accountant and wait for them to make sense of it all.
We've taken a completely different approach with Peachtree, the approach that accounting is a serious part of business, so when a businesses is serious about being successful, they need to be able to use all that information to make intelligent decisions. For example, is a particular product or service profitable for you? You can only answer that question if you can properly gain access to all cost associated with manufacturing and selling the product. Many solutions on the market do not give you that level of detail in a format that is actionable. Another example of business intelligence that small businesses need is an understanding of who are their best customers and how much are those customers worth to the business. The answers to those questions will help you make some decisions around how you're going to manage the best customers going forward, to make sure they stay with you, and also how you're going to handle some others who might actually be a drain on your business.
I believe we're only scratching the surface in providing true business intelligence to the small business market. This is really an untapped opportunity.
Q: There are a lot of software products on the market for small businesses. If you're talking to business owners who are trying to decide what their business needs, what do you tell them?
A: My first piece of advice deals with the vendor selection process. You need a strong vendor with a "customer-for-life" strategy, one who can support your needs today as a young, start-up small business, but who will be able to support your needs 10 years from now as your requirements grow. Their software should have an entry-level product and a migration path that moves you smoothly up their line as your business grows and your needs change. The other component of customer-for-life is that their products should cover a wide range of related business functions. If you start with accounting, for example, the vendor should have compatible products that span the total business management arena and provide CRM or customer contact management. They should provide options for payroll and employee management as well as offerings that use the Internet as an enabling technology for improved connection to customers or creating alternate sales channels.
Once you find the vendor with that "customer-for-life" approach, then you can start with the basics. Start with accounting and contact management. Then begin automating in those areas and add additional components and solutions as your needs grow.
Q: If you could give small-business owners or managers one piece of advice for their success, what would you tell them?
A: The biggest thing I would tell a small-business owner is that if they want to be successful, they have to get serious about managing their business. Because if you're not serious about the accounting and financial aspects of the business, you're not going to be able to make those critical business decisions that will deliver the results you need.
It's easy to get caught in the day-to-day tactical and operational components and overlook the big picture. In fact, most small-business owners wear multiple hats. They are the operations manager, sales and marketing manager, or whatever else is needed at the time. Without quick-and-easy access to accurate financial data and oversight into the broader business, they can quickly find themselves making short-term decisions that aren't good for the long-term viability of their business. If you want your business to be financially sound, you can't view the financial aspects, the accounting aspects, as a necessary evil. You have to view them as a wealth of knowledge that drives what you do in your business, drives the product and services you offer, drives the type of customers you go after, drives how you manage your employees. You have to look at your financials from a serious perspective and turn that data into the intelligence that will lead to long-term success.
About Connie Certusi, General Manager, Sage Software
Connie Certusi is the general manager of the accounting solutions business unit for the Sage Software Small Business Division. Prior to joining the former Peachtree Software in 1996, Certusi gained comprehensive experience in the financial software industry at MSA/Dun & Bradstreet Software, SQL Financials, and Ross Systems. Certusi holds a B.B.A degree in Management Science from the University of Georgia.
