Simplifying Operations for Small to Mid Size Businesses

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Simplifying Operations for Small to Mid-Size Businesses
Integrating Multiple Software Applications
Into One Business Software Suite
Stop and Smell the Roses
Have you ever considered how you can grow your business and increase profits, while
maintaining some level of sanity? Does it ever feel like there is no solution to this problem?
You’re not alone. We’ve been there too. You’ve put so much time and effort into developing
and building your company and taking baby steps to get it where it needs to be, and then all of
a sudden you realize that there aren’t enough hours in the day, days in the week, or weeks in
the year for you to run your business effectively and still have a life outside of work. The
workday never ends; there is no clocking out. You miss out on your son’s first baseball game or
your daughter’s ballet recital. Family vacations are often postponed or cancelled or never
planned at all.
It’s like that saying, “Stop and smell the roses”. An effective business management system
geared towards a small-mid size business, like your own, might be exactly what you need in
order to “smell the roses” a little more. Ultimately it gives you the confidence that your
company is growing and thriving without you, as the owner, working endless hours each week.
It’s a system we didn’t just design for you but it’s a system that we use to run our own business
more effectively.
The Keys to Your Success
The situation summarized above is an all too common aspect of many small to mid-size
business owners, something we can speak to having gone through the same experiences
ourselves. That’s why a smart business management system is key to your success. We
understand why it’s important and how it has been a success in our own small business. A
system built by a small to mid-size business and made for small to mid-size businesses.
Imagine having customer service, sales, marketing, accounting, human resources, vehicle
management, and digital filing all managed under one roof, one global system. A system that
will make those daunting and time consuming administrative tasks seem effortless, and
ultimately shaving off hours spent each week, as a result increasing your profits.
If you’re like many other small to mid-size businesses you wear many different hats every day.
One minute you are researching new benefits for employees and the next you’re developing a
sales proposal for a potential client. With all this responsibility the necessary but tedious
administrative tasks that provide the foundation for your successful business operation can

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slow your progress in gaining more clients as well as keep you from retaining great employees,
two critical aspects of a successful small to mid-size business.
You probably need extra support so you can focus on the things most important to the success
of your business. If you work in multiple software applications, such as QuickBooks for
accounting or PeopleSoft for human resources management, you know how difficult this can be
to manage and to integrate data between platforms. It’s time consuming and aggravating at
times. We’ve been in your shoes so we can relate to your same frustrations. One global system
that allows you to manage the operational activities for your company can provide the extra
support your business needs. And not to mention the cost savings for purchasing and
maintaining one system as opposed to two, three or more systems you are currently using.
Over the next several pages we’ll identify the many challenges a business like yours faces every
day and you will discover all that one global system can offer you and your company.
Specifically we will examine the challenges and their consequences that small to mid-size
businesses face in using separate software applications for each individual function of their
business operations. We will then offer you a solution to these challenges that provides an
effective and reasonably easy way to run your business efficiently, increase profits significantly
and decrease risks and losses. It works for us; it can work for you too.

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Challenges of running a business on multiple software applications
The five primary challenges of running a business on multiple software applications are:
Overall lack of immediate information access
Increased time and errors associated with redundant data entry
Difficulty in achieving successful performance management
Increased cost associated with and the need for multiple software packages to run
business
Increased time and knowledge required to use each individual software application
The challenges indicated above have a wide range of consequences as a result of working in
multiple software applications, where the same or similar information is being stored and
utilized. Many of these consequences are significant in a financial sense, however not
necessarily the most obvious to the eye because they are not as tangible as losing a client or a
big sale, or the hard amount of dollars you spend each month to keep your office open for
business, like rent, electric or the phone bill. These consequences are things that you probably
experience as part of your daily routine, not ever even noticing how much time and money is
being wasted every day.
Some of the activities that are probably occurring in your organization are good employees
working in these various applications used for accounting or human resources, and are
spending a lot of extra time duplicating efforts, which costs money, and then as a result more
opportunity for error during the data entry process. These errors can lead to mismanagement
or misplacement of critical information.
If you had the ability to keep all of your electronic information in one place it could make your
day and your employees’ day at the office much easier and more cost efficient.
Another consequence of those five challenges outlined previously, is the difficulty of achieving
successful performance management. Performance levels can be slowed due to the inability to
find accurate information quickly. One of the most challenging aspects of achieving successful
performance management is not having access to the tools and resources to help you get there.
In today’s world we use software applications and computers in general to help us in the
workplace. Those are our primary tools and if they don’t work efficiently for you, most likely
you are wasting precious time, particularly in a small to mid-size business environment where
time is money and money is time. Assuming that you don’t have a money tree sitting in your
back yard, performance management is critical to the success of your business.
One of the most obvious financially impactful aspects faced by small to mid-sized businesses
requiring and/or working in multiple software applications is the overall cost to utilize multiple
software packages and the time required to train employees on each application. The cost is

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immediately realized at time of purchase, which oftentimes costs hundreds or thousands of
dollars up front. This doesn’t necessarily include the cost to purchase multiple licenses for
multiple users or the cost to maintain the software on an annual basis either.
All of these costs for each software application can add up to a significant amount, and not to
mention the time involved in training your employees on each application. If a small to mid-size
business could purchase one software application that accomplishes all the things multiple
applications do, there is a good deal of money to be saved there, both up front in the original
purchase and over time with less training required, ultimately affecting your bottom line in a
positive way.
One application + increased data entry accuracy + less time training + less cost overall =
A more productive and profitable business
Improving efficiencies across your business
In addition to the challenges and their consequences discussed in the previous section there are
other activities that often occur in small to mid-size businesses that affect the overall efficiency
of operations. Some of those activities include standard business processes, dealing with
compliance issues and paper filing.
A lack of efficiency in your standard business processes can be directly related to lost and
misplaced data, as well as lead to compliance issues. And these two issues often occur as a
result of the manual process of paper filing. If you don’t have the required paperwork to
complete a standard process, business operations become inefficient and essentially useless.
Losing or misplacing documents is a common occurrence with paper filing. When this happens
there are many possible business implications such as missed opportunities, slower
productivity, non-compliance or liability issues and lower customer satisfaction rates. If
business documents are critical to the success of your business they should be stored in a
central location that is easily accessible by all necessary parties and safe from those black holes
our paperwork always seems to fall into. If the process is just slow because of all the
paperwork, it becomes a burden on your labor force, therefore costing more money in the long
run. And if you’re like us, you don’t have a lot of money to burn.
If paper filing was no longer necessary and you were able to maintain all of your critical
business documents electronically as well as automate standard processes by implementing
one integrated program to take care of it all, you would be able to significantly improve the
efficiencies across your business.
Additionally with paper filing, oftentimes there is a lack of space to store file cabinets. Later on
you may require off-site storage when documents need to be kept on file due to your industries

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requirements, which of course costs money, and not to mention the possibility of those
documents being destroyed or damaged in a fire or flood.
Much like the consequences explained previously, some of these issues may not seem so
obvious to the eye either, but ultimately its things like these that contribute to the growth and
overall success of your business. Improving basic efficiencies within your world could
significantly impact overall business operations, therefore increasing profits. And maybe you
could finally purchase that fishing boat you always wanted.
Where do you currently stand?
Every business naturally evolves as it grows, moving through several phases, from the most
basic environment, where it’s probably just you and maybe a partner and a few employees to
upwards of 20 or more employees where it’s not so basic anymore.
In that first phase you’re trying to set up some basic business operations and hopefully
establishing the groundwork for a successful business to build upon. Typically in this phase you
are mostly a paper-based business, developing and implementing documentation to track a
variety of activities such as purchasing equipment or office supplies, tracking hours worked or
payments made. You may be using standard computer software programs to help create these
documents but you haven’t quite moved up to purchasing individual software applications to
help run these various aspects of the business. During this phase you may also experience a lot
of misplaced or lost documents as well as a lack of space in your office because of the many
filing cabinets you’ve had to purchase to maintain records.
As a business moves into this second phase, you are becoming more successful, probably hiring
more employees and requiring an administrative-oriented staff to help ensure things are
running smoothly in the office and allowing you to focus on less day to day details and more on
overseeing general operations, sales and marketing and client service. In this phase is when
you start seeing the need for specific software applications to help manage certain business
activities such as employee payroll and benefits, accounts payable and receivable, or sales and
marketing tracking. You’ve purchased at least a few different software applications in order to
accomplish the aforementioned activities. Now you and your staff are working in a handful of
different programs and you start running into issues of redundant data entry, additional
training for employees, and multiple annual renewal fees, to name a few. As a result of these
issues you are experiencing inaccurate data, errors, a good amount of time spent on training
new employees on several different software applications, and the overall cost involved with
renewing your user licenses and the up front costs of purchasing so many different software
programs. At the end of the day, there is a fairly significant cost involved with all of this.
As a business continues to evolve and enters phase three of growth, it is most likely entering its
most successful stage and has the ability to see the business with a clearer perspective. With

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this clear perspective the need to automate business processes is apparent and put into place.
You realize it will ultimately save time, money and offer you a greater sense of pride in all that
you have accomplished. This phase should be any business’s ultimate business operations goal.
What if you had the opportunity, at an affordable price, to move from Phase 1 to Phase 3,
skipping all the headaches in between? Or maybe you’re ready to make that jump from Phase 2
to Phase 3 and are just not sure how to go about getting there. Blake Information Systems (BiS)
can help you accomplish your goal in either phase you are in. We are the next evolution in
business operations, just in the nick of time.
The Solution: Integrating Multiple Software Applications into One System
As you can see there are many challenges to running a small to mid-size business using multiple
software applications, not to mention the many issues that keep you, as a business owner, up
at night. In addition we have also noted issues surrounding paper filing vs. digital filing. These
issues that may not seem so costly at a glance really do end up hurting your bottom line and
the overall productivity of your business. These administrative based tasks burden any business
this size without the proper tools and resources on a daily basis. It can be quite the juggling act
and it’s easy to drop the ball when you are not focused. A great solution to these problems is
to implement one global system that handles it all for you and your company.
BiS has just the system to alleviate the administrative burden that you and your small to
medium size company carry every day. All the issues that haunt you at 2 o’clock in the morning
are issues you can be on top off during the workday. Basically what we do is solve the issue of

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moving from phase 2 to phase 3 or if you’re ready to by pass the hassles of phase 2, we can
move you smoothly from phase 1 to phase 3 in one giant leap. This progressive system helps
your company at the department level, abling you to track critical issues via reminders for
things such as annual license renewals, oil changes for your fleet if you have one, tracking of
progress of your sales team to ensure you are maximizing their time, or making sure marketing
programs are working by seeing their return on investment (ROI). The options are many and
you can customize your system to meet your business’ needs because we know that every
business is unique.
BiS Overview
With the BiS OP CENTER you get top-notch access to all the pieces and parts of the package.
You have complete control in how and who uses the programs by determining access levels
defined by you. You decide. You have control. Just as it should be.
The essence of the BiS OP Center allows you to perform a variety of functions across your
business all in one place, on one platform, simplifying your life. This integrated software
application enables you to not only manage and develop leads, but oversee prospects through
the sell cycle from start to finish, secure a new client and then manage the long term
relationship, ensuring a happy customer and a solid financial future for your business.
This system is capable of generating the much-needed management reports you need to
proactively monitor sales, as well as tracking your marketing dollars, and most importantly if
those dollars are being spent wisely.
Other critical operations such as Human Resources, Payroll, and Accounts Payable and
Receivable are integrated into the system as well. These functions are vital to the success of
your business on a day to day basis and without them the operational aspect of your business
could suffer.
In addition to the above, implementing the BIS digital filing program eliminates the need for
paper files and bulky filing cabinets taking up precious office space. And as you know every
small to mid size business needs to be very aware of their most important documents. Any loss
to a company of your size because of mis-filed paperwork or legal documentation is a big loss.
With the digital records management program you will never have to worry about something
like that happening to you.
The greatest benefit of the BiS Op Center package is that you have all the primary functions
available right at your fingertips or you can choose only those functions that apply to your
business. Even better, BiS can fully customize a package specifically for your business. We know
that not every business is the same as the next. We use the program but understand that there
are pieces that work for us and pieces that don’t. Same goes for your business. Maybe you

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have a special need in your industry that none of the existing primary functions within the BiS
Op Center cover. Don’t worry; we can create a program that fulfills your specific needs and
helps you get the job done right.
Summary
If you are like us, in a small-mid size company environment and require a variety of systems to
run your business smoothly and effectively, maybe it’s time to consider looking at a all-in-one
system that at the end of the day will get you home sooner and take time to “smell the roses”.
If this sounds like something you would be interested in learning more about call us to set up
some time to talk about your business needs.
John W. Blake Jr. Bio
Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Blake Information Systems (BiS), John is responsible for
the strategic and operation leadership of sales, marketing and services organization, and
oversees the corporate operation. John has extensive experience in digital imaging
technologies as a result of his 30-year career at Eastman Kodak Company where he was
Worldwide Market Manager. After his retirement, John founded Scene Genesis, ASP company,
along with his four sons. In five years, this was a debt-free company with sales of over $2.5
million. In 2004, the Blakes sold Scene Genesis, moved to Surprise, AZ and started BiS. John
offers valuable experience starting and developing small to mid-size businesses during the past
decade and provides mentoring services to small to mid-sized business owners to help them get
ahead and ultimately become more successful in their industry. He is also involved in several
local business organizations, enjoys digital photography, tennis and spending time with his wife
and family, which includes eight grandchildren.
jblake@blakeis.com
Blake Information Systems
Suite 18
13540 W Camino Del Sol
Sun City West, AZ 85375
623-505-4888 x101
www.blakeis.com