The field of play today is vastly different from what it used to be, dynamic programs tracking customers, products, potential customers, product availability vs demand and a plethora of like information have staked their claim and they are not going away. This type of on demand information really drives a majority of the business out there.

Powerful management systems among large corporations, chains etc, are tied into every system and are used by every employee, from the stock yard to the board room vastly integrated huge and complicated management systems make up the central nervous system of the conglomerate. These systems to larger companies have become literally indispensable, in-fact companies that for logistical reasons were consigned to a limited growth potential and a tight profit margin are experiencing unprecedented growth as they have realized the benefits of their management systems.

If you have ever managed multiple chains or offices you know that standardization is key. Equally key is the ability to keep your finger on the profitability pulse of each location. One cannot afford to wait a month or more to find out that a particular location is struggling in some regard. Even in a single location operation if pertinent information goes unseen or underutilized the result may very well be you going out of business. Any start up business will experience a narrow or non-existent profit margin. Small bits of operational information as well as customer trends become vastly important to the start up company.

Just to give you a simple example, I used to go to lunch every day with a large group of friends, and we always went to the same location because we were hooked on the coulua pork and rice lunch special, it was divine. However word spread and the little place became packed at lunch time. Normally this would have been great but the cook was a traditional Hawaiian cook and refused to make more that one pig at a time, therefore the big draw item would run out quickly and instead of meeting demand the cook would encourage patrons to choose another delicious item from the menu. Unfortunately the little place was out of business in a month. This may seem like a no-brainer but when you are not watching, even something as simple as a menu favorite could hit you hard when you are already reeling.

Behind every successful business there is a complete and functional management system. The system my not be computerized but it will always exist, even if it consists of the owner spending every waking moment at his/her establishment knowing every detail of every transaction. This system has worked since the first entrepreneur squeezed a bunch of grapes and traded the juice to his neighbor for some cheese. But the mom and pop organization is not just competing against another mom and pop, they are also competing with a variety of supper stores. You must maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. If you want to grow, and in most cases if you want to survive, you will need an effective and well designed management system.

A lot of businesses including very large businesses are caught flat footed during market shift and their management system is incapable of rapid change. I cant tell you how many times I have heard business owners tell me that they have put hundreds of thousands of dollars into their management system and they are going to make it work. They would rather higher multiple personnel to input data into an extinct dinosaur of a program rather than update to a cheaper dynamic system that can easily grow with the company and save them more money the larger they get instead of having to put awkward and expensive bandages on systems that have no foundation to support the future.

The United States steel industry is a great example of stagnant technological growth actually killing an entire industry. That mentality of pay me today and let tomorrow take care of itself, has closed down many WWII spawned steel plants. Other counties including Japan have newer and much more efficient steel production methods, while our plants use literally the same equipment used when they opened for business. By the time profit loss forced them to look at newer manufacturing methods the cost to retool was impossible under their waning profit margins.

I personally feel that the web based management system will replace other more ridged platforms. The web based system answers so many of the growth issue questions. The vary nature of the web based system is indicative to growth and change. Monthly, weekly, even moment to moment system updates can be accomplished from a central location and is instantaneous for all users. There is not going to be system down time or expensive hardware and software upgrades involving multiple computers at many locations. The information age is firmly upon us, dinosaur systems will go extinct and smart companies will not follow their system into extinction.