Software Information

Make or Break Factors - When Considering Estimating Software


Make-or-Break Factors in Success and Profitability

For quick printers, estimating can prove to be a major factor in the success or failure of their business.

When a customer requests a bid on a job, they need a fast turnaround, and the best price. For a printer, there are two important issues; first of course is the price and second the profit. If they price a job too high they might miss out on getting the job, and if they price it too low, this starts cutting into their potential profits.

Estimating software is a tool that helps eliminate this margin for error and make every printer's job easier. This ease is why estimating software is becoming an integral part for many companies in the printing and graphics industry. But what type of estimating software should a printer look for? With so many different companies selling estimating software it can become difficult to find a solution that is the right one.

For this reason Cyrious Software has taken on the role of business software consultants rather then focusing strictly on selling. When looking for a business management and estimating solution, the ability of a company to consult and guide you to the correct solution, be it theirs or someone else's, should be a major deciding factor. If a software company isn't willing to work to find a solution that specifically fits their business, it might be wise to find a different company to do business with.

Estimating software can range from a simple estimating calculator package, to a complete powerful, integrated estimating, job tracking & business management system, like Cyrious Software. The difficulty is figuring out which system is right for your business.

How Much & For What

Companies should look at the money spent on estimating/business management software, as an investment and not an expense. Most complete software systems range from about $2,000 all the way up to $14,000 depending on the number of licenses, modules and different customizations. This somewhat large investment makes it vital for printers to find a system that they can not only use to increase profits and save time, but also one they have the ability to continue to grow with.

Many printers are looking for a system that not only has the ability to estimate, job track, and do invoicing but also has the ability to export to accounting packages, create reports, manage their customer base, and expand their business through target marketing. Because not all estimating software packages have this complete business management functionality, printers and similar businesses need to make sure the estimating software they choose has the functionality they need (i.e. Customer Management Tools, Marketing Tools, Shipping & Credit Card Integration) The last thing a company needs is to buy additional software after the initial investment.

Another aspect to consider when searching for a software package is the accuracy it provides. Accuracy is one of the most important features to look for in estimating software. The price of using inaccurate information can add up and become extremely detrimental to a business. Accuracy in estimating software depends on the ability to customize the software to fit the printers pricing. With Cyrious Software, your pricing & cost structure is customized and built into the software making it virtually impossible to have inaccurate estimates.

Integration Is Key

Another factor to consider is how easily estimating software will let one go from estimate, to order, to invoice, and beyond. Without estimating/business management software, printers spend a lot time re-entering/re-writing customer or product information. Even with estimating software if you don't have the right system you could be left re-keying a lot of important information. This can be a major waste of time. That is why Cyrious Software has created their application to encompass this integration. This means the first time you enter company or order information you never have to enter it in again, unless of course you need to make an update or edit.

The "beyond" part is where Cyrious Software distinguishes itself from many of its competitors. Imagine having the power of an entire marketing research firm at your fingertips. Cyrious gives you that power. Once you have company information and order history in the Cyrious Software system, you can create queries that will allow you to separate customers into different segments, and provide you with an easy method to begin to target different markets. Once these segments are grouped, you can automatically e-mail, fax or print marketing materials to them. Whether it is a follow up letter, thank you note, or special offer, businesses can use the software to help strengthen relationships with current/new customers and/or develop a stronger marketing strategy.

About The Author

Danny Tangredi

For more information on Cyrious Software's Estimating & Business Management Solutions go to www.cyrious.net or call 1-800-552-1418.


MORE RESOURCES:

ABC News

Microsoft Hopes Office Subscription Plan Will Counter Free Software
InformationWeek, NY - Jul 4, 2008
By Paul McDougall With its Office franchise under attack from a host of competitors offering free software, Microsoft is hoping that a new subscription ...
Microsoft Equipt: Subscription Software More Expensive than Retail eFluxMedia
Microsoft Equipt vs open source and free software Product Reviews
Software by subscription Hindu
ITworld.com - DaniWeb
all 321 news articles


Summit's software for regional media is making local tech talk
Economic Times, India - 4 hours ago
Today, Summit Information Technologies, of which he is founder and managing director, supplies software solutions consisting of regional language and ...


PGG Wrightson spends millions on Oracle software
Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand - 1 hour ago
Chief information officer Bruce Tinsley says it would be reasonable to draw the conclusion that the software investment presages further acquisitions, ...


Software for Social Networking Sites
Bizjournals.com, NC - 19 hours ago
How it works: The software isn'ta destination site and will work within the social networking platform. Users download the application to their personal ...


Tech Watch: Aleph still favorite library software
Jerusalem Post, Israel - 15 hours ago
Requiring no hardware or software installation, Tegrity Campus 2.0 makes class time available all the time by automatically capturing, storing and indexing ...


Open Sauce Software
ZDNet UK, UK - 15 hours ago
... that Linspire - and desktop Linux - failed: "Even with Ubuntu's success, Linux on the desktop is still the domain of software engineers and technical ...


Software Identifies Data Worth Stealing
Hartford Courant, United States - 15 hours ago
The software points out these vulnerable digits so you can remove or encrypt them to keep your personal finances or identity safe. ...


Top 10 Free Software Daily stories this week!
Free Software Magazine - 4 hours ago
You get the best free software news at FSDaily… because YOU decide what’s important. Here are the top 10 FSDaily stories from the last week as voted by the ...


CRAIC Technologies Release New Software for Microscopes and ...
AZoNano.com, Australia - 7 hours ago
This software is designed to collect, analyze and process images from CRAIC microscopes and microspectrophotometers fitted for ultraviolet, visible and near ...


SYS-CON Media

The Next Cloud Computing Company To Be Acquired
SYS-CON Media, NJ - 9 hours ago
Industry events are always a good place to measure up the technologies offered by competing software companies. A number of VC firm representatives are ...
Virtualization on Wall Street Conference & Expo SYS-CON Media
SYS-CON's Virtualization Expo Was Larger Than Any Gartner Event in ... SYS-CON Media
Red Hat's CTO Brian Stevens Speaks at SYS-CON's 3rd International ... SYS-CON Media
all 6 news articles

Software - Google News

home | site map
© 2006