ERP Software For All Start-Ups

I'll make this short as there are several chunks of stuff to be completed before I fly back to Paris on Thursday and the massive headache is not helping. ERP softwares are absolute necessities in any business and I cannot imagine any business that has hopes of doing anything decent not using one.

Intuit recently released QuickBooks Simple Start 2008 for free in their bid to compete with the free web-based softwares popping up every other day and Microsoft's Office Accounting Express. There is simply no excuse for entrepreneurs not to use an accounting system anymore. The $100 barrier that kept small companies in their warm stone age comfort of Excel or paper based accounting is no longer an excuse.

I've been a great fan of Quickbooks Premier since the early days of iStyles (then iPodStyles) because of the extensive range of features and simplicity of use where an accounting degree is not required to create an invoice, unlike some of the other alternatives available. We've since migrated all our systems to SAP BusinessOne for more robust database performance and features that our business needed as we grew, but QuickBooks will always be remembered fondly.

If you're running a small business and using your good old excel sheets, go grab the new Quickbooks now. You'll never regret the step and will look back wondering how you ever survived without it. If you handle inventory and want more capabilities, look at the other members of the QuickBook family. Either way, you will need a basic accounting software at the very least and QuickBooks is probably the best way to start.