So, this is an unusual post for DOW, but here goes.
I’m starting a business installing ERP software for small/medium businesses. I’m putting this here, in case any of you know of a business that needs a software upgrade… please send them our way!
So what is it?
Most small business owners have never heard of ERP but they’ve definitely experienced some of the following:
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You start out with a small accounting package like Quickbooks and keep all your customer info there. Things are easy at first - one program, one place to enter your data.
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You want to add something, say an email newsletter… But it’s not handled by your accounting software. So you add a mailing list program, for example Constant Contact.
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Now you have two separate but mostly identical lists to maintain. customer emails for the mailing list, and the same customers in Quickbooks. You copy stuff back and forth by hand. But now, you need to add an online store. You look around and settle on Shopify. Make that three lists to maintain… And so on.
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Every time you add a new area to your business, you wind up duplicating data. Your products or customers may appear in half a dozen different places, and you’re stuck updating them all by hand. There’s no way around it, because none of these programs can talk to each other. Software connectors are limited and each does only one thing - for a monthly fee, of course.
ERP means using one software package to run the entire business. It handles accounting, CRM, inventory, manufacturing, ecommerce, point of sale, and just about anything else too, all using the same database. Nothing gets out of date, or slips through the cracks.
This sort of thing was once reserved for big companies with massive budgets, but there’s finally a much cheaper version for small / medium businesses that need it. Odoo ERP is free open source software that runs in the browser. You install just the functions you need, or write custom functions if necessary. The Enterprise version of Odoo is very reasonably priced and gives you access to support from the company. Our job at Monterey Software is to figure out exactly what you need, install and customize the software to your business flow, train your users, and provide support.
For DOW friends, I’m willing to do the work at way below market rate. Anyone interested (or know someone who is) please reply here, email me at [email protected], or PM me here through the forum. (If you are really tapped in with a good client, we can discuss finder’s fees.)
Our website: https://monterey.dev