AS the busy executive, manager or employee start their working day, the last thing they need is to boot up their PC and then try to navigate their way around a haphazard, inconsistent multi-software system.

You know the kind I mean: different business applications, with a different look and feel, that collectively makes it difficult to locate all the everyday business essentials that are so heavily relied on nowadays.

There's the business calendar, contacts and, of course, e-mails to get through as well as the need to access your accounting system, stock control and customer ordering systems.

If different software systems are installed, it can become a daily nightmare to achieve a semblance of a joined up and streamlined system - one where everything is on tap at the click of a button.

Our research and development teams, together with intensive customer-based research, have revealed no fewer than 50 core roles in specific job functions within a typical small to medium-sized enterprise (SME). It is these roles around which the next generation of software should be based.

At the centre of each role is the need for technology to help drive greater revenue and growth opportunities for SMEs, according to a new study by Keystone Strategy Inc under the leadership of Harvard Business School professor Marco Iansiti, which we sponsored.

Research also indicates that SME business customers now expect a more personalised relationship with their primary software vendor. In response, large software suppliers, like ourselves, are introducing programs and tools to help customers manage their relationships with the vendor more effectively based on their own specific needs.

Smart software vendors are now focusing their R&D and their best people on creating solutions which mirror the way SMEs work - looking at the 50 job roles - as opposed to approaching the problem purely from a technology perspective. SME customers should look for this approach when they are selecting future software solutions for their business.

Wouldn't it be less confusing if the business solutions we all use on a daily basis looked and behaved in the same way? This is exactly how we're approaching the delivery of business solutions for the future under the new Business Dynamics brand.

The business solutions with which we're all familiar are now being more integrated into the everyday software environment that we use - one where the calendar, e-mail and contacts functions are joined by standardised accounts and stock control and Customer Relationship Management packages in a single portfolio.

Add to this your company's intranet, plus the benefits of offering secure extranets to your customers or suppliers, again based on this integrated and standard operating environment.

It all adds up to better efficiency, more productivity and more practical collaboration, which in turn should make a positive impact on the bottom line. All of these factors are just as relevant to small businesses as they are to medium or large enterprises.

More standardisation and consistency means more efficiency, and less training is required because people see all their daily business tasks through a standard and familiar interface.

As an SME you should demand better information relevant to your sector (try, www.bcentral.co.uk if you're a small business or www.microsoft.com/midsizebusiness if you're a medium-sized company).

As you strive to make your business a success, you should expect your experience to be simplified through the use of software that is both consistent and uniform.

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