Designed for small business
The most important, and perhaps least obvious, difference is our recognition of small business needs. Large organizations mostly follow the “command and control” philosophy. Individuals are assigned roles within functions. What they do, and how they do it, is dictated by the management structure and the need to report “up the line”. Corporate software is built to reflect this separation of work into small packages, with work-flow passing one to the next and reporting to management. Individuals spend a large portion of their time on administration – the ubiquitous paperwork. In smaller businesses everybody does everything. Lines between roles are less defined, and individuals taken on multiple roles. They spend more of their time on operations and administration gets done in the spare time. Typical business software is built to suit the ways big businesses work. Front Office Box is built to suit the ways smaller businesses work.
Designed by users
In the past software has been constrained by the limitations of technology. What users wanted was always less important than what programmers could achieve with the tools available. Sub-optimal support for user needs, burgeoning control by IT Departments and failing software projects have all been natural outcomes. Front Office Box is built with new technology – Ruby on Rails – incorporating tools to help the programmer deliver more flexibility to the users. Our users we’re able to dictate the way the software worked, and the programmers delivered it. Throughout the design/develop process, it was the users taking the decisions on what should be where, and how.
Designed to Manage
Small business owners understand the need to plan what they want to do, execute the plan, and check the results. They probably don’t have information stored in ways which help them do it. Front Office Box has the Plan > Action > Review process built in. The user doesn’t need to think about it because best practice is embedded in the work-flow. Future releases will extend this subliminal best practice to include specific features for sales and customer service management.
Designed for the Future
The Web 2.0 revolution brings thousands of new software tools within reach for smaller businesses. Choosing which ones, to do what, can be difficult for people with a day job. Front Office Box harnesses the capabilities of the internet as they emerge, simplifies the complexities and consolidates these in business solutions for people who are busy delivering to customers.
Designed to Always Be There
The internet makes business information more secure, accessible, and useful at lower cost. Front Office Box is hosted on secure servers guaranteeing 99.9% uptime. The application can be used 24X365, reached through any internet browser and from desktop, laptop and mobile devices. The underlying database is a single application. New releases of software, once tested, are deployed in a few minutes, direct to the server. Users can export data at any time.
Designed for Getting Started
The demonstration system shows Front Office Box in use for sales, customer service, projects, and even simple ToDo lists. The Getting Started wizard helps new users set up meaningful data in minutes. Address Book and Contact data can be imported with our templates and tools. The Knowledgebase includes help information with FAQs and Support Forum. There are no training courses or user manuals, nobody needs them. We’ve netted down the business process to make it as generic as possible. Whether the opportunity is a major sale or organizing a party, Front Office Box works the same way. Anybody who can do it on paper can do it with Front Office Box, but much better.
Designed as a Business Solution
The Front Office Box “software as a service” is provided by Widespread Solutions Llc, incorporated in Illinois, U.S.A. Free of charge user accounts are available through invitations by Front Office Box or any of its Ambassador users. A premium support package is available, for a monthly fee. Support, terms and conditions and privacy policy are all described in Knowledgebase. The start up version is provided free of charge, and team and office editions are affordable for even the smallest businesses.
