Small Business News

The senator wants the Federal Reserve to look more closely at credit-card issuers marketing business cards to consumers

Thomas Raymond & Co. was launched in 2009 in Tualatin, Ore. to fill a void in the marketplace for men's classic American footwear, which often focuses on athletic styles. Since the company is small and looking to take on larger, established footwear manufacturers and designers, company executives decided to start out with more sophisticated financial software that would manage all their processes in a single application, from purchase order through shipment and collection, CFO Jim Drozdowski tells IncTechnology.com.Elizabeth Wasserman: What was the goal in starting Thomas Raymond last year?Jim Drozdowski: Thomas Raymond is a holding company. It was named after the middle names of our two founders, Gregg Thomas Jackson and Chad Raymond Gombes. They are two guys who worked together at L.L. Bean and Phoenix Footwear. All of us at the company -- we now have six employees -- have a lot of experience in footwear. But Gregg and Chad got together and wanted to come up with brands to speak to 35 and older male consumer. This was someone we feel missed in the marketplace for footwear. There are plenty of athetic brands for younger kids. We first wanted to develop a casual brand and wanted to speak to the outdoors. This is for the gentleman who is an outdoor guy who can hunt bison and go fishing and then go boating and yachting in the spring. Gregg came up with the idea that Ernest Hemingway embodied this consumer. So our first collection of shoes is the Hemingway line of footwear. It's a collection of men's casual driving moccasins, loafers made of different leathers, and boat shoes.Wasserman: What were you looking for in software when started the company?Drozdowski: What we were looking for was something that would grow with us. We wanted to make sure it wasn't a big dollar outlay, but we were looking for something that could grow with us and was one solution -- meaning it would do purchasing all the way through collections for us. We decided on SAP Business One. We were looking for something very compatible with the big boys in marketplace. Adidas and Nike run on SAP and so do many of the large brands. Our feeling was if we were going to be acquired, let's makes sure our software makes us compatible with other brands so that there is no headache in the transition. I previously took over a company that ran on QuickBooks. A lot of things were not compatible. We feel pretty confident that if another company comes in, it will be an easier transition.Wasserman: Were you starting an IT infrastructure from scratch?Drozdowski: Yes, we were not using anything before. When I came in last August, my first call was to open a bank account and my second call was to get software. It was installed in August.Wasserman: How has it enabled you to compete with bigger companies?Drozdowski: It's given us a nice view of where we are inventory-wise, cost-wise, how much our products cost, and how we're doing on invoicing and collections. It helped us forecast sales and helped us forecast out to our sales team what is available to sell and what is not available to sell. That way, when they meet with their accounts, you know that we have this available to sell or that. It can be one pair up to a whole line. It helps us with online sales as well because it lets us interface between our Internet store and out band end and SAP system.Wasserman: Was it difficult to get up and running?Drozdowski: It was a pretty easy. We got support from a team in town that was wonderful. We were up and running immediately on the bookkeeping side of it, paying payroll and expenses as we went along.Wasserman: How do you think it will help you grow?Drozdowski: It's a very dynamic system. We're going to be able to use multiple factories and multiple customer ship-tos and multiple sales reps and multiple lines. As we grow our business it's not going to take a lot of extra work to use the additional dimensions in the system that we're not currently using.


Business - Ernest Hemingway - United States - QuickBooks - L.L.Bean

6 tips for making sure your business reports deliver succinct, measurable insights

We're all used to dealing with the spyware threat on our desktops and laptops. We have firewalls, run anti-virus software and check for malware. But we don't think twice about our cell phones. Business owners chat about critical projects, access financial data through apps, communicate with customers over text messaging and keep all sorts of valuable information on these relatively vulnerable devices.

Small business cardholders still face penalties that issuers are now barred from charging consumers

You hear from the news media how bad things are all the time. But is there any doubt that some folks will come out as winners when the economy gets back on track? Growing your business one customer at a time is a tried and true approach. Acquiring struggling competitors can be a "game-changer".Join us on Wednesday, Sept. 15 (Connecticut and New Jersey) and Thursday, Sept. 16 (New York City)as we discuss deal terms with a business acquisition expert and develop your acquisition strategy so that you are one of those winners when the dust settles.If you're deciding between an organic "one-customer-at-a-time" strategy or a "growth-through-acquisition" strategy, you'll want to hear what Sally Anne Hughes has to say. We look forward to seeing you soon.


New Jersey - New York City - Business - United States - Connecticut

You've got to learn to let go. And ironically, you can't do it alone.

Matthew Scullin aims to revolutionize the energy industry without taking it on all at once, and without spending a lot to get started. Alphabet Energy, the Berkeley, Calif., start-up he founded and runs, is one of the prime examples of a new way of getting underway called "lean start-up."

Small companies are desperate for growth capital, but banks and investors remain cautious, says Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project's John Paglia

By this point in the financial crisis, you've made countless cutbacks, and wrung as much productivity as you can from your organization. But how can you grow without adding large numbers of people? Scaling your business from here requires a significant change, and for many organizations, that means employing new technologies.Technology can empower your organization, helping you improve efficiencies and even expand operations. But to use that technology well, you must balance your needs with the realities of how you do business. That means understanding not only which technology to invest in, but also how it will affect your operations and how to maximize your returns on that investment.Ask the right questionsWhat does it really mean to scale your business? Today, it means much more than simply throughput. When considering a new technology, many organizations focus on the wrong questions. They want to know, "What can I do with this technology?" rather than "What can this technology really do for me?"Today, businesses and consumers alike expect everything from new technology, namely speed, collaboration, consolidation, accuracy, and greater connections. But it's risky to think that simply plugging in a new box will do the trick. Using new technology to scale your business involves much more, primarily exploring how well it will integrate with your network, your IT components and your users. Think automationWhether the solution you are looking for relates to manufacturing or improving payroll efficiency, a new technology can scale your business through automation.Consider the example of an auto manufacturing plant utilizing robots. Thanks to that technology, it no longer takes 17 people to build a car -- it may now take three. While people do monitor the technology, there is no one actually driving the screws. In this case, the technology platform improves efficiency and helps the organization meet new "green" business standards. Reducing the number of people makes for a smaller carbon footprint, with fewer resources required. From a general business perspective, technologies can have a similar impact. Tools like enterprise resource management systems, financial systems, and customer service technologies all have a tendency to improve effectiveness and efficiency without always having to "brute force it" with more people.Consider scaling your customer interactions, for instance. The Web has made it possible to sell without human interaction. Today, even a multi-million dollar at- home business requires no bricks and mortar. Everything can be automated, from the sales floor and collection of money, even through distribution. You can even scale your human resource function by converting to a self-service model. Here's an example: A staffing company goes through a large HR payroll implementation, which needed to accommodate the 380 thousand people on payroll. Over a year, they undergo a major conversion that allows them to handle 800 thousand people without adding more than 1-2 percent to headcount.Clearly, automating functions like employee background searches, enrollment in benefit plans, and payroll can allow you to scale dramatically without adding to your carbon footprint or adding headcount.Get the most from your investmentA common mistake many organizations make is allowing the technology to choose them, rather than choosing technology to grow their business. Many select technology before they really build out their business case and consider the process re-engineering required to make the company better. Very often they buy software and then convert their processes to support the software, which can actually make things worse.That is why before you invest in technology, build a thorough business case that looks at the total cost of ownership (including costs of hardware, software, and implementation and maintenance over time). When determining costs, remember that once you invest in a technology, it's fairly well set. Major changes or upgrades are usually not required for some time. But technology does require continual care and feeding.After implementing the technology, you must then go back and verify that the business case met your company's internal rate of return. For example, if you projected a million dollars in savings, go back and review the business case, compare it to actual performance and show that you did as well as promised or worse. If you did worse, conduct a 360 degree review that explains what lessons were learned, and how you could do better. Such an exercise renders you more thorough, diligent and focused in terms of vetting the business case before proceeding with any kind of project.When looking to scale your business, remember that scaling through technology means something different to every business and every network. But if you ask the right questions, budget and plan properly, your investment can pay for itself many times over. When you know your business, you'll know how it will respond to change. You'll also be better equipped to meet today's challenges and prepare for growth. Mike Gorsage is a Partner and Technology Practice Leader for Tatum LLC. Tatum is the nation's largest executive services firm, providing financial and technology leadership nationwide.


Business - Human resources - Technology - Rate of return - Automation