This is a time of economic difficulties, frustration and uncertainty. We see Wall Street going up and down like a yo-yo, small business people feel very uncertain about how to conduct business in times like this and financial institutions not as willing to lend. Consumers are holding on to their hard earned cash only making necessary purchases.
I recently received an email from an xTuple Solution Provider and had to share:
My wife and I recently went to a local store in Columbus, Ohio. We noticed that the business owner was extremely happy to see us and worked hard to help us find the items that we were looking for. As we were checking out I noticed that there were two Macs and she was attempting to check me out on her new I-phone credit card reader (which was not working properly). I saw the frustration on her face and so I asked her if she was using an ERP system to manage her inventory, finances etc.. She responded that those kind of systems are too expensive. She went on to tell me that she did everything manually and how frustrating it was not to have the cash available to operate her business. I asked her would she be willing to look at a software solution that she could afford and she responded like are kidding me. I told her about xTuple’s Postbooks ERP solution and told her that we can download this product free of charge. She was ecstatic and shook my hand. We will be implementing this solution in a couple of weeks.
What did occur to me as a solution provider is that we need to watch and listen to business owners to understand that if we can get out of the box we can always find a creative way to solve business problems. People today (more than ever) need ERP solutions that they can afford and the end result will be a stronger business that can face tomorrow’s challenges.