Dan Waters
dwaters at usinternet.com
Thu Jun 21 09:52:55 CDT 2007
Hi Debbie - great advice! I am a corporation - ProMation Systems, Inc. (www.promationsystems.com) But I'm the only person. I do know a couple of people in the area who could probably help me out if I needed that. I could always assure a client that there is something besides me! Thanks, Dan -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Elam, Debbie Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 9:17 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] The Business Side Of Databases Try to look at least virtual big. Have a corporation own the product. Refer to developers will get this done, though you are referring to yourself. It is not at all hard to project a bigness factor that will soothe the companies that don't want to buy from an individual developer. That can help marketing a great deal. Debbie -----Original Message----- From: Dan Waters [mailto:dwaters at usinternet.com] Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 8:59 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] The Business Side Of Databases Hi Susan - right on both counts. I have a core system (in concept like JC's framework) which I use identically at each customer. However, each customer wants different business process modules, so my system is built to contain any business process module a company could want (outside of a web solution). For letting people know - it's sales and marketing. I will find companies in the Minneapolis St. Paul area and send a letter to the President and/or Quality Manager, then call back in about 4 business days. If they're interested, we'll meet. The problems are: 1) Small companies (<50) don't need a BPMS (Business Process Management System). They don't operate with strong processes to begin with. 2) Companies between 50 and 150 might benefit, but typically don't believe it themselves. I'm currently trying figure out how to teach them what the value is, but my success here is low. 3) Companies between 150 and 500 do get interested, because they've realized that automated processes would be solve a lot of problems. So, companies of this size are my target market. 3a) Within this group, if a company has ISO 9000 or regulatory requirements they are trying to meet, they get interested more quickly. 3b) The single biggest problem is IT Managers who hate/distrust Access. They are afraid, and fear is hard to overcome. 3c) Another issue is simply apathy - sometimes people don't much care if the company improves or not. This is a culture issue and I can't change that. 4) Companies larger than 500 typically are skeptical of having a key system being developed and maintained by one individual who is outside the company. They also have significant resources and will often choose a system from a software company, believing that will be more reliable long-term. I try to avoid this problem by making an ownership transfer to them easy if something happens to me, and the system is open to the IT administrators at my customers (so far no problems with this). I do have a great system - at one customer (happens to be large) we developed a module to manage a very complex Supplier First Article process. My estimate showed that their return on this is about $200K/year (about 8X their investment). Sales and Marketing are what my issues are. So - that's what I do. Can anyone else describe their business side? Thanks! Dan -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Susan Harkins Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 8:24 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] The Business Side Of Databases Does anyone have some thoughts or ideas on how we could do this? ==========You have two problems -- creating something generic enough and then letting potential customers know it exists. Difficult busness. Susan H. -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com