A staff member at the local business magazine approached me about writing an article on decision support for managers in small businesses. I hesitantly agreed and now my deadline is approaching.
I am contemplating discussing small scale applications built using tools like MS Excel and MS Access and hosted applications like Salesforce.com. Also, in some lines of business you can find packaged applications with some decision support capabilities.
The big problem is that in 800-1000 words it is easy to overstate the need and the possibilities. My limited experience with small businesses has focused on cost estimating applications for small manufacturing companies, bid generators for catering companies, and construction cost estimators for residential.
Customer relationship management and improved data-driven forecasting are also promising applications for many small businesses.
I'll give this some additional thoughts in the new year. Comments, suggestions appreciated.
Posted January 1, 2010 7:28 AM
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