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Poll: Do you use any business management software?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
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May 24, 2013

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you use any business management software?".

This poll was originally submitted by Bertrand Malingrey. View the poll results »



 
Mike Sadler (X)
Mike Sadler (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:46
Spanish to English
+ ...
No. Should I? What is it? May 24, 2013

All explanations welcome!
Mike


 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:46
Member
English to French
Yes May 24, 2013

Because I need it: rates, comments about first contact, FTP details, invoicing/contact details, info about marketing moves, job/customer follow-up, payment monitoring, automated folder tree with NDA/contracts/etc., stats, quick invoicing, overall consistency...

Translation Office 3000 is part of my core utilities, just as Outlook, DNS or my browser.


 
Marjolein Snippe
Marjolein Snippe  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 22:46
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
no May 24, 2013

All the essentials are in a very elementary excel sheet. And as long as these, and rates, don't change, invoice templates take care of the rest.

 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 22:46
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
No May 24, 2013

All I need to keep my business organized can be found in Excel maps.

I've tried an invoicing software, but found it to be of little help, providing nothing that Excel can't.


 
Helen Hagon
Helen Hagon  Identity Verified
Local time: 21:46
Member (2011)
Russian to English
+ ...
Only Excel May 24, 2013

Excel works fine for me. If I decided to set up an agency, with other people and their projects to take into account, then it might be useful, but I don't think it's really necessary for just me.

 
NataliaAnne
NataliaAnne  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 18:46
Portuguese to English
Excel May 24, 2013

Philippe Etienne wrote:

...rates, comments about first contact, FTP details, invoicing/contact details, info about marketing moves, job/customer follow-up, payment monitoring, automated folder tree with NDA/contracts/etc., stats, quick invoicing, overall consistency...


I have all this in Excel spreadsheets, except for NDAs and contracts, which are simply in folders. I feel completely organised; am I missing something?


 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 17:46
English to Spanish
+ ...
BMS (Business Management Software): no May 24, 2013

I guess the poor poll question is limited by the number of characters.

Nope, I don't use BMS or any management software. I don't use Excel to keep track of stats either.

I run Quicken for all my finances and invoices. Once a job is completed, I invoice it through Quicken. When I get payment, I manage it by applying the payment to the Quicken-based invoice. Everything is in order.

I hate duplication of features. So, a big, fat no to the poll question.


 
Steve Kerry
Steve Kerry  Identity Verified
Local time: 21:46
German to English
Quill pen May 24, 2013

I blush to admit it, but I use a simple exercise book to record my jobs, payments, rates etc. Works for me, and it has never crashed (although I've dropped it on the floor a few times).

Steve K.


 
Marjolein Snippe
Marjolein Snippe  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 22:46
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Me too... May 24, 2013

Steve Kerry wrote:

I blush to admit it, but I use a simple exercise book to record my jobs, payments, rates etc. Works for me, and it has never crashed (although I've dropped it on the floor a few times).

Steve K.


I do that for all ongoing jobs (who, when, how much), then transfer anything longer term to excel once it's finished. Can't beat pen and paper!


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 21:46
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Add me to the list, please! May 24, 2013

Marjolein Snippe wrote:

Steve Kerry wrote:

I blush to admit it, but I use a simple exercise book to record my jobs, payments, rates etc. Works for me, and it has never crashed (although I've dropped it on the floor a few times).

Steve K.


I do that for all ongoing jobs (who, when, how much), then transfer anything longer term to excel once it's finished. Can't beat pen and paper!


 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 22:46
Spanish to English
+ ...
Ditto May 24, 2013

Mike Sadler wrote:

All explanations welcome!
Mike


Same here


 
Alexander Kondorsky
Alexander Kondorsky  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 00:46
English to Russian
+ ...
Poor translator profession May 24, 2013

Given the trends, in the next 5-10 years a best translator will be a one with MBA, heaps of business managenment software, employing a pack of accountants and OPTIONAL knowledge of a foreign language

 
Balasubramaniam L.
Balasubramaniam L.  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 03:16
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
I answered no, but... May 24, 2013

Philippe Etienne wrote:

Because I need it: rates, comments about first contact, FTP details, invoicing/contact details, info about marketing moves, job/customer follow-up, payment monitoring, automated folder tree with NDA/contracts/etc., stats, quick invoicing, overall consistency...

Translation Office 3000 is part of my core utilities, just as Outlook, DNS or my browser.


... that was because I didn't know what a business management software is! It transpires that it is just some software to help you manage your invoices, and all the other tasks mentioned by Philippe, which every translator has to do, he/she has no choice.

So I suppose, each of us uses something for business management, even if it is just a pocket notebook and a pencil.

But I am slightly more sophisticated than that, and like Philippe, I use Translation Office 3000 for all this. It is quite a handy little thing and I have come to depend on it totally for all my business related work.


 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 22:46
Member
English to French
Nothing missing May 24, 2013

NataliaAnne wrote:
I have all this in Excel spreadsheets, except for NDAs and contracts, which are simply in folders. I feel completely organised; am I missing something?

I used Excel until 2005, but I didn't feel organised. Then I heard about TO3000, tried it and realised it did the needful much better and more reliably than my home-brewed formula- and condition-laden cross-linked Excel sheets.

2005 was also a glorious era, with up to 400 jobs a year to manage, translate and deliver on time, so I felt a bit overwhelmed with admin and scheduling. No Excel nostalgy since switching to this piece of software, and I feel organised at last.

Balasubramaniam L. wrote:
...I have come to depend on it totally for all my business related work.

So have I. It quickly reached the privilege of being eligible to my Windows Start folder, next to my email client, Dragon and my Internet browser, so that everything I need every single day launches when I turn the computer on.

Philippe


 
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