Small to medium-size businesses (SMBs) face tough decisions from the very beginning. In the very early stages you have big dreams, but limited capital. Any capital you do have must be invested in an operational foundation that will directly build the business. Back office solutions such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) may seem like a luxury you simply can’t afford. So you start out running the business by the seat of your pants.
“Management by walking around” is common. So are manual processes and spreadsheets. Decision-making is driven more by gut feel than data and hard facts. And that works… for a little while. But then you have a bit of success and you start to find yourself stumbling a bit.