One colleague of mine asked me a question – "I have a selling software product. How much is this software business worth?" I think I can give an advice.

A small software business can be owned and operated by one person: a developer, salesman, manager, and holder – all in one. This business could be run at home or in a small office. It does not require massive investments to grow up - only a computer, Internet connection, web site, and lots of hard work. Well, you have run it, you are working hard, designing your product, promoting your site, attracting customers – and one day you feel you are rich and tired. You wish to load off your mind and sell your business with potential to grow.

How much does it cost?

Let’s say, for simplicity – you have designed the software title; possess a well-known web site; have a stable income and no registered legal entity, patens, or licenses. You are not selling your permanent assets – computers, developments tools, telecommunications, and the like. You have no other staff but yourself.

Here is a simple estimation formula:

Business costs = (Month net income * Forecasting period) - Holder changing expenses

Month net income = Income – Tax rate – Overhead expenses – Development costs

For example:

You are selling the software for $4000 per month. You are paying the 20% taxes.

Expenses are $250 per month for hosting, advertising, etc.

You are planning - your software will be selling for the next 3 months without additional design and development. So the development costs = $0, Forecasting period = 3 months.

If you do not have a registered trademark, patens, LLC – your Holder changing expenses and registration fees = $0. So, the buyer spends nothing for registration.

Let us strike a balance:

Month net income = ($4000 income – 20% tax rate - $250 month expenses – $0) = $2950 per month

Business cost = ($2950 * 3 planning months) – $0 = $8850.00

Now, you have the justification for your price.

However, you need a strong argument – why do you want to sell your small gold-mine?

Good luck!

About the author

Software developer and vendor with 10 years experience. Visit http://www.qunom.com for contact information.

Lotus Domino/Notes – Microsoft Great Plains tandem as ERP with Documents Workflow – overview for IT Specialist

Microsoft Business Solutions has the whole spectrum of business applications, the good combination seems to be Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft CRM. However we need to admit that Microsoft is relatively new in the CRM market and also for large corporation it could not be a good idea “to put all the eggs into one basket”. If you have investment into other platform from CRM side – such as Lotus Domino/Notes – we offer you integration with Microsoft Great Plains

Why does the company need document workflow system if it has an Accounting/ERP?

The benefits of having financial, sales, services, communication, negotiation and other information be tightly linked and exposed to simple reporting and data mining are obvious. Now we are observing the second and I would dare to say successful phase of CRM systems implementation, which is probably final successful marriage in the long history of datawarehousing, document workflow, contact management systems.

Some business situations where you see the benefits

Reports creation without special knowledge

Special skills are required in order to work with complex ERP system. Usually financial specialist has such skills, but top-level managers, who do really need the information, may not be prepared. Also, ERP based reports should be delivered on regular basis. If Lotus Domino/Notes is used as a corporate communication platform, then to resolve the issue, specially designed routines may be used to pull the information from financial systems (Great Plains, Solomon, Navision, Axapta, SAP, SCALA, Accpac, MAS90 to name a few) to Lotus databases on the schedule. In this case users, including top-level managers will work with this information via custom interface.

Documents routing

One of the competitive advantages of CRM is a workflow. Financial documents are usually subject for approval before posting. Typical accounting/ERP systems do not have (or have very limited) workflow design. Such the workflows could be created on Lotus Domino/Notes platform. Then, through the connection to Microsoft Great Plains or other ERP system you will have document approval workflow.

The typical simple workflow would be like this - send notifications to AR to take off the hold from the customer upon the payment receipt.

So the approach to integrate accounting system and documents oriented Lotus Domino/Notes seems very interesting for corporate information architecture.

Happy designing, customizing and programming! If you want as to do the job – call as 866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Rafael software developer in Alba Spectrum Technologies (http://www.albaspectrum.com/) - USA nationwide Lotus Domino/Notes, Great Plains, Microsoft CRM, Microsoft RMS customization company, based in Chicago, Arizona, California, Texas, New York, Florida, Minnesota, Washington, Georgia, Canada, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally, our Lotus page - http://www.albaspectrum.com/Lotus/OffshoreLotus.htm, Rafael is Principal CLP IBM Lotus Domino 6 Application Developer, Certified Professional E-commerce Concepts Analyst

About The Author

Rafael Osipov is Principal CLP IBM Lotus Domino 6 Application Developer, Certified Professional E-commerce Concepts Analyst; RafaelO@albaspectrum.com