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Outside the workplace, your staff are customers for a variety of businesses. Each of these companies is seeking to capture customer attention, catering to them with cutting-edge technology. When your people see what contemporary technology can do, it changes their view of what tech should do — including the tech at your workplace.

This affects every business, even if you're not in the IT industry. If your company's tool sets aren't up to par, it can create friction in your business processes. This can complicate interactions between staff and your clients, slowing down customer service and eroding customer success efforts. The bottom line is that modern organizations need to be technologically similar to the consumer digital world.

How can you tell if your technology is assisting or obstructing your staff? The following 10 factors from a ZDNet.com write-up by Dion Hinchcliffe can help you gauge your standing:

1. Devices and applications get rapid upgrades — The operating systems and applications in your workplace are upgraded regularly.
2. Search tools that work — Your internal systems help your staff find the info they need; a strong link-ecosystem takes advantage of meta-data and feedback from user search behavior to bring an information structure similar to the Internet into the organization.
3. Social, chat, and rich-media tools — You provide lightweight communication and collaboration tools to remove organizational barriers.
4. Mobile apps that use what smart devices can do — Taking advantage of the unique power that smart mobile devices bring to bear (location, spatial orientation, optimization for touch, lightweight integration with popular productivity tools and social networks, voice interfaces, discoverability).
5. Applications that are 'consumerized' for easy use — In other words, they don't need to be great or continue to get better, once they get in the door. Ease of use, and therefore usability, is often compromised significantly in order to meet feature checklists. The best apps are enjoyable, effective, and simple to use (and yes, have the best data/functionality as well).
6. Purchasing options that are hassle-free - Up-to-date companies are able to work with online finance services, such as PayPal or Square.
7. Communication policies that account for user preferences — Personnel, as well as customers, can choose to use communities, networks, channels, forums, and apps that work the best for their current needs.
8. Internal data-sharing that has no artificial barriers — Agile companies provide lightweight file sync and sharing tools for their teams, such as Box or Citrix ShareFile.
9. Digital services with a high level of availability — Contemporary cloud services are distributed and redundant so that the best tools are often available 99.99% of the time (less than an hour of downtime in a year).
10. Work processes that leverage today's digital modes and business models — Consumers are accustomed to digital tools that enable them to work in new ways (for example, sensors that create data streams, systems to capture and process ambient data about manufactured objects, wearable technologies, dashboards, notifications, and visualizations). Your customers and your staff expect the same capabilities.

These tech elements don't involve anything that's bleeding-edge. Buzzwords about big data, wearable tech, or enterprise gamification are not what's at issue. Instead, these items mark a realistic minimum for contemporary businesses. Competent IT helps your company remain competitive, attract talent, and create value for your clients.

Many items in this list of recommendations are supported with aACE 5. This comprehensive, yet cost-effective accounting-ERP-CRM suite helps maximize your business velocity. Built with FileMaker, aACE can be easily customized to integrate unique business insights from industries such as professional services, wholesale distribution, and light manufacturing. Check out how aACE helps create a workplace where employees love getting things done.

"I would recommend aACE to anyone who wants to eliminate their time spent troubleshooting problems with other programs. We have twelve users and a day doesn’t go by that someone doesn’t comment on how much they appreciate this program." ~ Claire Wade, Director of Operations, Skip Gambert & Associates

Beginning April 1, 2017, Amazon is charging sales tax for deliveries in all 45 states that collect this tax. What does Amazon's decision mean for your company, both in the short and long term? The taxation erxperts at Avalara have summed up the implications for the owners of small and mid-sized businesses.

The ripple-effects of Amazon's decision can be organized into three categories: impact on other ecommerce sellers, on Amazon’s third-party sellers, and on state tax policies.

For other ecommerce platforms, Amazon's decisions have little direct effect. While the de facto leader in online shopping has a lot of sway in many areas, requirements for sales tax is regulated by state legislators. And other prominent ecommerce sites, such as eBay, continue to enforce sales tax only where they clearly have nexus.

For third-party sellers that partner with Amazon, the answer is slightly more complex. Amazon's decision doesn't directly control these sellers' obligations; however, working with Amazon's warehouses and fulfillment centers creates nexus. For example, a company in California might not have a presence in Kansas, but if their property is stored in an Amazon center in Kansas, that company has nexus in Kansas. Another angle of impact here is on smaller sellers who have transactions so small that it isn't worth the state's effort to trace and enforce sales tax issues. But collectively these small sellers number more than 100,000 and account for at least that many dollars/year. Amazon's decisions might make it easier for state governments to hold these small businesses accountable for sales tax obligations.

For state legislators, the Amazon decision again has very little direct impact. But this shift might renew their interest in pursuing increased funds for their coffers. Several states have already created laws to expand nexus obligations to include affiliations (i.e., out-of-state sales tax responsibility when they have a relationship with an in-state counterpart), click-thru connections (i.e., tax responsibility due to referrals from in-state businesses), and economic levels (i.e., responsibility simply for doing a certain amount of business within that state). Other states may follow these approaches.

The common theme here is apparent: Amazon's decision doesn't directly control any other organization. However, the current details of various state legislation may already be applicable to your company.

To avoid costly audits, it's vital for a business to carefully monitor taxation policies and obligations. Unfortunately, these requirements fluctuate often, yet never generate resources for you to invest in tracking the changes. This makes it important to consider out-sourcing sales tax tracking. Avalara offers several options to help businesses with this chore.

To further ease the burden, aACE 5 is designed to integrate with AvaTax, linking sales tax details to your entire accounting, CRM, and ERP suite. Our cross-platform business software is built on FileMaker, making it mobile and highly customizable. For more information on how the aACE team can help your small or medium-sized business, explore our web site: aacesoft.com.

"Having dealt with numerous software companies over the years, I was used to bad customer service and just thought that was the norm. The folks at aACE Software turned that idea on its head, as they are responsive and thorough and have made sure everything they do is done right." — Cory Elliot, Founder and President, Troy Filters Ltd.

eCommerce tools have been on a steady rise since the dot-com crash in 2000. At that time, success or failure for many companies hinged on how quickly they could adapt to selling online. Writing for Entrepreneur.com, Himanshu Sareen traces forward from this tumultuous beginning to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2015 report on the amount of dollars now moving through eCommerce sales: 80 billion.

That number won't be declining any time soon, as consumers get more and more used to the efficiency and convenience provided by shopping on the Internet. The obvious takeaway is that entrepreneurs who want their businesses to thrive need to get into eCommerce and get the best possible ROI out of it. There is now an overwhelming number of eCommerce providers offering their services — Capterra.com lists over 500 companies in this category. To help you identify top-notch platforms, Sareen has shared his expertise in helping organizations apply technology to reach full potential, detailing the strengths and weaknesses of six major players.

Shopify is not the first in Sareen's listing (his article doesn't order the six platforms in any certain way), but it might deserve an initial placement. Shopify offers powerful basic features, which any online seller will need and any can use, since the technical aspects are relatively straightforward. But you can customize this basic arrangement using a wide variety of apps. This means you can create the perfect combination of functionality for your company's unique needs. And as anyone with experience in deploying business software will tell you, customization is always required. The only question about it is whether you can customize the software to fit your business or whether the software expects you to customize your business to match it. Shopify puts control of that decision firmly in your hands. There are free and paid apps for product pages, shopping carts, and robust back-end integrations (including accounting, CRM, ERP modules).

Also on the straightforward, just-getting-started end of the spectrum is Squarespace. Sareen highlights this platform as an excellent choice for entrepreneur's who are still using their living room as headquarters. Going towards more complexity, Drupal is touted as a content management system (CMS) that is very flexible; however, it requires some dedicated expertise in order to take advantage of everything you'll be paying for. Similarly, Symphony Commerce is a great alternative for companies that already have some notable momentum going. The pay-as-you-go pricing for this software-as-a-service (SaaS) may make it a good step forward for a growing business. CommerceHub resides in the same area of sophistication and expense, although it specializes in connecting retailers to suppliers, so it may fit some needs better than others.

Topping the complexity spectrum of this list, Magento is the platform Sareen highlights as very powerful, but with a learning curve that can't be glossed over lightly. This eCommerce tool is likely to work best if your company has some staff who can give dedicated attention to making Magento work for you. It scales well if you're looking to make a single investment into a software that can grow with you. And the open-source framework makes it easy to add the extensions and custom features that are most important to your business at each stage of growth. These options range from basic bolt-on visitor tracking logs to powerful integrations with full-fledged CRM/ERP suites.

As mentioned, these six platforms are not the only valuable eCommerce systems available. Depending on your company's situation, it may be possible for you to vet enough vendors that you find another platform which fits your needs exactly. If time is a key consideration though, since every day severed from that growing flow of eCommerce income could be seen as a loss of opportunity, the six options listed by Sareen give a good starting point. His analysis can help as well in gauging exactly what your current needs are.

The benefit of eCommerce tools can be amplified when the sales-side of your business is interwoven holistically. Integrating online shopping to a robust CRM package, with links to inventory, shipping, ERP, and accounting streamlines your company processes. Avoid the time-consuming and ineffective silos of information by planning from the start to unify these tools. aACE 5 is designed to increase your business velocity, integrating with eCommerce, payment processing, sales tax calculation, email marketing, and other systems.

"aACE has also worked well with third-party software we run on the web and integrated with our online store. We are very happy with the product and service we've received from the aACE team!" — Sabrina Fabian, The John Birch Society

When you're investigating options for CRM software, there are a lot of details to keep track of. BusinessNewsDaily.com has published Sara Angeles' excellent collection of tips and advice that can help you get the best return on your CRM investment.

While customer relationship management (CRM) software began as a simple toolset for managing contacts, a contemporary, high quality CRM system can integrate data from sales, marketing, accounting, and various types of operational data. It can help you identify quality leads, nurture prospects, personalize the sales experience, and enhance customer support. And for many of these tasks, it can support your team with robust automation.

Costs

An immediate point of interest for any small or mid-sized company is the price tag. There is a variety of pricing models and a wide range of costs. In general, you'll be able to find affordable options for the functionality matched to your business's unique needs.

Needs

The three pillars of CRM are contact management, automation to support sales, and improved customer support. Any business that understands the value of these goals will be able to benefit from a CRM system. A database of your customers can bring new understanding of how you can reach out to them most effectively. And the same database can help you organize your partners, affiliates, and vendors. From this foundation, CRM tools can highlight info that is useful for sales, such as helping follow-up with prospects, creating customized sales quotes, and both tracking and forecasting sales perfomance. Each sale is best seen as a long-term relationship with the customer, and CRM software can help your team support customer success. With a centralized location for purchase histories, order information, and past interactions, your entire team can bring their expertise to bear on customer needs.

Features and Benefits

One of the best aspects of Ms. Angeles' article is the collection of advice directly from small business people. The first group of suggestions focuses on key features to look for in a CRM package. A recurring theme is flexibility, and in the follow-up summary, a paragraph is devoted to this aspect of being customizable. The fact of the matter is that no product off-the-shelf will match your company's unique processes, so planning on adapting the product to your needs is simply a realistic approach.

The second collection of tips and tricks from actual CRM customers concentrates on the benefits their businesses have received. From light manufacturing to wholesale distributors to professional services, these professionals each describe a positive change their CRM system has made. Time and money savings are mentioned first, but sales tools like email marketing are an example of the extra functionality a quality software package can bring.

Questions

As a bridge to the next step of exploring specific CRM options, the article concludes with nine questions you should discuss with vendors. These questions were suggested by other small business owners. Leveraging their experience can help you identify the CRM tool best fitted for your company, as well as prepare the way for the best deployment and ongoing customer relationship.

Suggestions and questions from those who have experience with shopping for software clearly give you an advantage. In the same way, getting testimonials about a specific product from current users can give you even better insight. At aACE Software, we're pleased to share the 5-star ratings that our existing clients have used to rank our software on Capterra.com. Our goal is to earn each new customer's high regard.

"I worked with Michael and his team at AGIS over a period of half a year to customize and implement their aACE Accounting/ERP/CRM solution for my business. Michael was able to quickly hone in on my company’s complicated business processes, clearly map them out, and optimize a solution that worked great for us. [aACE Software] helped us visualize our information in a way that we did not have available to us with our prior ERP/CRM system." - Daniel Peleg, CFO & Director of Business Development, Peleg Group

While B2B companies have been hesitant to invest in ecommerce solutions, 2017 may be the year where that trend pivots. Early ecommerce tools often seemed too simplistic to handle B2B demands, but the technology has been in a process of continuing evolution. Current solutions are robust enough to support products and services of any complexity, giving companies who invest in these tools an edge.

Drawing from Forrester Research and other reports, Patrick Wolf has written for the Avalara blog, sharing five of the key trends that will affect B2B ecommerce in the near future:

Growth of B2B ecommerce to surpass B2C — By the end of this year, Forrester expects to see at least half of the B2B buyers completing at least half of their work-related purchasing with ecommerce. The sales estimate for this increase could reach more than $1 trillion. The savvy use of ecommerce tools will give some companies an advantage over those who don't cater to their customer's buying preferences.

Businesses buying like consumers — B2B purchasing reps are also private shoppers. They shop on Amazon and know what can be expected from ecommerce sites. This means, whether we like it or not, we're all competing with Amazon now. Your B2B buyers will increasingly expect you to offer a purchasing experience that is as informative and helpful as Amazon's. This might involve some rearranging, but the companies that adjust to these new conditions quickly and effectively will gain an edge.

eCommerce mobility — One of the details of the "consumer-like buying experience" mentioned above is that consumers are busy and like to get things on the go. This translates to mobile devices. Improving the customer experience, and thus retaining your customers, will likely include offering an effective mobile commerce option. The numbers on this point are clear: at least half of your potential buyers will be researching your product on their phone.

Personalization à la AI — Taking a slight tangent from Wolf's write-up, let's talk next about how artificial intelligence might affect your company. Automation can create noteworthy long-term savings, while machine learning is gradually becoming capable of processing complex situations. Companies that can leverage this digital speed and computerized reliability can pull ahead of the competition.

Cart-to-cash integration — Saving the best for last, this fifth ecommerce trend is on the leading edge of competitive advantage. Robust and reliable tools are available to integrate your sales process. Businesses that can unify their quoting and pricing, contracting and revenue management activities are better positioned to support customer success. Following this concept through to the logical conclusion, we can see that integrating ecommerce functionality with inventory, accounting, CRM, and ERP amplifies the benefit. Your can expand your company's vision beyond the end-to-end view of a single line of sales data. You can view the intersection of your warehouse line, customer support line, and resource planning line too: three-dimensional data of your business.

As Mr. Wolf has explained and Forrester Research has supported, this is the future of business advantage.

A variety of tools are available for these goals. This brings up the next question of how to select the best option and provider for your small or mid-sized business. Flexibility is a key trait to investigate. No matter how thorough a software suite might be, there will almost always be a need for customization — unless the vendor's stance is that you should rearrange your business to fit their modules. A second vital component of your software decision is to research what current clients have to say about the product. Often an SMB can't test a software suite with live data and actual customer transactions; however, the real-world experience of existing users can provide case studies on the software's performance.

For 3D data, flexible customizations, and a proven track record of success, explore what aACE 5 can do for you.

“[I would recommend aACE to] any business owner facing the challenging task of integrating their Amazon orders into one solution that handles all of their needs. There isn’t much limitation to what the software can do, and it flows beautifully.” — Cory Elliot, Founder and CEO, Troy Filters Ltd.