Running the business

Choosing software, planning appointments, keeping records and protecting customer data — for small businesses in any trade.

The five questions to settle before any software demo

Comparable answers instead of three sales pitches: five questions to settle for yourself before the first demo — and...

What a trial period can prove — and what it cannot

Fourteen days in a quiet week prove very little. How to set up a trial that mirrors the business, and how to decide i...

Taking your customer data with you: what gets lost in a switch

Master records almost always come across, history and notes often do not. The four kinds of data to ask about — and a...

Term, notice and data export: what to look for in the contract

The price is the easiest number in the contract. What happens when you want to leave is the interesting one: notice,...