Why it’s Time to Buy a Computer for Your Small Business

Over the past two decades, India has pushed hard to become a cashless society. We have taken significant strides to become financially inclusive – for instance Digital India, the Unified Payments Interface etc. The payments sector in India is evolving fast, mostly being driven by various initiatives by the Govt. of India to push for digital payments – the Prime Minister’s Jan Dhan Yojna, Aadhar & Mobile Connectivity – smartly abbreviated as JAM, being the key drivers. The results are obviously showing – the PM’s Jan Dhan Yojna saw a whopping 22.31 crore accounts being opened with almost 38 crore in float balance. Almost 11% of urban households, and even 0.43% of rural households make cashless payments today. Mobile payments have grown from USD 88 million in 2011 to USD 1.15 billion in 2016, a compound annual growth rate of 68%. However, the real push, arguably came on the 8th of Nov, 2016 – when the government took a drastic step to wipe out black money corruption across the country by banning INR 1000 and INR 500 notes. Not to forget the introduction of GST on the 1^st of July this year, which is bound to take business compliance to a new level.Possibly, businesses will now need to forget the concept of “cash-in-hand”; and the huge amounts of cash that was typically stocked – apparently to meet day-to-day operational expenses – will now need to find their way into bank accounts. For a business, it will be highly impractical anyway, to hoard huge sums of money in denominations of INR 100 or less, and thus the first behavioural change that we will see coming up, is to retain just enough cash to meet meagre indirect expenses of the business. Payments in cash will now, be discouraged by either buyer or seller, and card payments and e-payments will be the order of the day. Businesses will now start operating more and more out of their bank accounts, and the cashless nature of transactions will coax them to opt for internet banking.But, what this will definitely force the typical Indian businessman to do is – to get a computer for his business – if he hasn’t already. And more importantly, a computer with a comprehensive business management software installed in it – a system which will take care of invoices, payments, taxes and banking.Here are 10 reasons why we think, it’s high time you got a computer for business, which will not only work wonders for you, but help you grow:

• Automation– Since all calculations are automated, many of the mundane and time-consuming processes associated with manual business operations, are eliminated.
• Accuracy– Once the data is entered into the system, all calculations are done accurately, as the risk of human error is negated.
• Access to Information– In the fast-paced world, it is extremely crucial that you have faster access to information, in order to make decisions on the move. Technology allows you to access accounting data, even if you are outside office, but securely. It makes possible the fact that you can remotely share information with your bank or with your CA for audit, without having to physically travel to their location.
• Banking & Other Operations– More often than not, a solution on computers allows you to integrate other key operations of your business – payments, taxes and most importantly banking. Keeping in mind the current scenarios, businesses will need to embrace banking even more – which means more of banking transactions, reconciliations and long queues. The only thing, which will save you from these is a digitized system, which allows you to sit in the comforts of your office and ensure that you spend more time in banking rather than in the bank!
• Reliability– Because the calculations are so accurate, the financial statements prepared by computers are highly reliable.
• Speed– The entire process of preparing accounts becomes faster. Furthermore, statements and reports can be generated instantly at the click of a button. Managers do not have to wait for days, even hours, to lay their hands on an important report.
• Scalability– When your company grows, the amount of accounting not only increases but becomes more complex. With computerized accounting, your speed is not compromised, because searching for data on a computer is much easier than sitting with a bunch of files.
• Security– The latest financial data can be saved and stored in offsite locations. Thus you are insulated from natural and man-made disasters like earthquakes, fires, floods and terrorist attacks. More importantly, your down-time is minimal, and you can get back on track pretty soon.
• Tracking– You can stay on top of crucial data points – outstandings, receivables, and payables.
• View for Analysis– You can view your financial information in different formats, which gives you a greater perspective of your business, allowing you to make the right decisions.

While each of these may seem like different points, at the end of that day it translates into one major benefit to the business owner – velocity of commerce. Work gets done faster; Time is saved; Hiccups are less – and as a result, a business can effectively focus solely on growth.In simple terms – if you want to grow your business, but still want to go home to family at the same time every day – you can do it at the cost of a one-time move of getting a computer for your business.

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