You know you need a database when...
you have people in multiple locations and are trying to get much of anything done that requires coordination of effort
two different people end up doing the same task
you've got an engineering spec in front of you, but you're not sure if it's the latest version
you are behind in shipping orders, and you're not sure why
you'd like to test some marketing promotions but don't have a way to track response
you're trying to run your business on Microsoft Excel (and sticky notes)
you're paying someone to file and fetch customer folders
You have your customers' contact info in multiple places, and some of those places are out of date
you want to take your business to the next level
you don't know how many of your prospects become customers
you don't know how many of your customers become repeat purchasers
you are trying to keep up with your accounts receivable in Microsoft Excel
you are trying to keep up with marketing promotion results in Microsoft Excel
you are trying to keep up with sales team performance in Microsoft Excel
you are trying to keep up with production needs (customer fulfillment needs) in Microsoft Excel
you are trying to manage inventory in Microsoft Excel
you have team members in multiple locations who need simultaneous, real-time access to the same info
you have over 30,000 customer file folders (or are headed that way!)
you want to easily be able to send your customers an email newsletter or promotion
you want to easily be able to send your customers a print letter or promotion
you want to know how that promotion performs
you are doing time clock / time sheets with paper and pencil or Microsoft Excel
you want to track how long various projects take to finish
you'd benefit from allowing your customers to access some parts of your company
you'd benefit from allowing your vendors to access some parts of your company
you don't know which customers are your best customers and which ones you should fire
most of the knowledge about your company's practices are in the heads of you and your employees
most of the knowledge about your company's customers are in the heads of you and your employees
most of the knowledge about your company's current customer fulfillment needs are in the heads of you and your employees
you keep track of employee time off and vacation requests on a paper calendar
you have more than zero employees including yourself (who DOESN'T need a database?!?)
you'd like to automate manual, tedious processes
you need to let everyone know about a peculiar facet of a particular customer, including employees who haven't even been hired yet
you need to store computer files associated with particular customers, and have everyone on your team be able to access them
you need to store computer files associated with your marketing, and have everyone on your marketing team be able to access them (digital asset management)
you want to be able to quickly see how your business is doing while you are vacationing in Hawaii
you have an employee who would really benefit from being able to work from home every once in a while
You're becomming convinced that your business should not depend upon what's inside of any individual's mind/memory, especially your own
you have a production/operations process but sometimes orders fall through the cracks
you have a production/operations process but sometimes steps get skipped causing problems later on
you want to be able to link UPS or Fedex tracking numbers to your orders and send those to your customers
you'd like real-time reports at your fingertips about which products are selling best at your fingertips
you'd like real-time reports at your fingertips about which marketing promotions are selling best
you'd like to segment your customer list based on a number of criteria, and see stats for each segment
you'd like your computer to tell you what needs to be ordered from your suppliers
you'd like all your information in one easy-to-access place
you'd like a company calendar that everyone can access but only a few can add/edit
you want to move to an "open books" business
your company's contacts are in your MS Outlook
you want everything in one system
you find yourself logging into 6 different system to get your work done, none of which talks to another
Inonde’s custom business software solutions provide for all of your needs in Marketing, Sales, Operations, HR, and any other kind of data management. Run your entire company on our powerful, secure, and simple-to-use custom business software, built specifically to fit your business's unique needs, and in so doing reap instant, overwhelming ROI.
