Software For A Deserted Island

If you were on a deserted island what would you want to have with you? One technology writer in Missouri recently asked this question and his software catalog of choice was NCH Software. As you can imagine we were tickled pink to hear it. One of the things that quickly makes us a top runner is our wide range of software products with applications for business, dictation, transcription, utilities, music and more. Also, "unlike many publishers that charge high prices for all-in-one suites that do more than you probably need, NCH Software takes a modular approach, designing smaller apps that do specific tasks, usually for a lot less money. It’s simply a smarter way to work."

To read about some of Scott May's favorite NCH programs, see his complete article, NCH Software offers fantastic, affordable apps published in the June 28, 2011 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune. Then make NCH Software your first stop the next time you are looking for a software utility whether you are editing audio at home, or setting up a webcam broadcast of the view on your deserted island.

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Home Business: Phone System Enhancements

Software for Getting Your Home Office Running (Part 4 of 5)

You’re home office is coming along very well. You have your accounting system and VoIP phone number. Now it's time to think about the additional features you might need to complete your phone system and give your business a professional sound. For example, you can add a voicemail system to answer calls for you, or maybe an on-hold message player for that added level of credibility if you need to put someone on hold while you look something up or take another call.

Those extra audio queues really can help you sound like a larger more professional organization right out of the gate. When callers are on hold, even for just 30 seconds, it is a perfect opportunity to make an impression, create interest, and strengthen your brand image. Every entrepreneur can appreciate the importance of building their brand and strengthening business relationships. IMS telephone on hold software lets you easily play those custom messages to anyone who is put on hold.

There’s only one piece of software you need to put it all together. IVM Voicemail Software can be used to create a custom answering solution, and will work with your standard telephone lines, VoIP services, or both. You can use IVM to play a menu to callers, redirect incoming calls outside of office hours, or as an answer machine. Recorded messages can be played at any time, forwarded to an email address, or accessed remotely. Even if you are on the road you can still easily access your messages, making it easier to stay in touch with all your business contacts.

IVM not only handles voicemail but can also be used as a more sophisticated automated attendant and interactive voice response system (IVR). This means it will easily grow with your small business by providing an answering machine today, and help you direct and transfer calls through a larger PBX phone system when you have several employees tomorrow.

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Software On-Demand

I recently finished reading The On-Demand Brand by Rick Mathieson, which takes a look at how our culture has become increasingly demanding, seeking instant gratification. From everything from fast food to television, we are no longer willing to wait for things. While Mathieson points to Burger King and their "have it your way" campaign in 1970's as a starting point for this trend, technology and the internet have only increased our need for having things the way we want them on our own schedule. Mathieson goes on to examine ten rules that marketers should know in this on-demand world, all relating to how companies need to shift their thinking to be in line with the expectations consumers have.

The software industry has seen this shift too. We've talked before about software buying trends and the percentage of people who buy their software in a retail store versus purchasing online. It used to be the only way to get software was to get the box with several floppy drives or CDs inside to install from, and it could be a rather time consuming process. Now, you can download and install software in fraction of the time. You don't really need to make plans in advance about your software needs; if you come across a need you can download a software solution on-demand.

NCH Software has adapted to this on-demand mentality quite well. We spend a lot of time trying to improve the usability of our programs so that a user can have the software up and running in three minutes or less, catering to this high-speed demand. Most of our products are under 1 MB in size, so the download time is negligible. We also have a wide range of products that are easily integrated, making it easier for customers to customize a software solution to meet their needs by picking and choosing only the exact products and features that they are looking for. All so you can "have it your way" with software on-demand.

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The Lego Principle: How building from blocks, sets and platforms applies to software

Do you remember playing with Legos when you were a kid? I was thinking about my surplus of Legos the other day, and it got me thinking about software…

When I was a kid, I literally had tens-of-thousands of Lego blocks. It didn't start this way. I grew my collection from the first few space sets I could afford into a massive armada of ships and bases. With each set I added something new to the foundation of what I could already create with my current Lego supply.

Software developers do much the same thing, starting out with a few basic pieces. By learning and accumulating more interesting bits of code overtime, more designs and possibilities begin to emerge. Eventually developers collect a whole range of different building blocks that they can use and the number of possibilities skyrocket, which we refer to as exponential growth.

This phenomenon also occurs on a more local level at NCH Software. Our products are based upon blocks which can be built into a powerful conglomeration of tools. With so many software products, we often use blocks of code, or functions, from our library in multiple products and stack them together to add to the features.

One of the more banal examples of using these building blocks is in our dialog windows. Using the same code ensures that our software products will have a similar look and feel throughout. You wouldn’t want to build a castle with a mixture of Legos and Lincoln logs, would you? A more interesting example is our sound effect library, which is available in WavePad, VideoPad, and MixPad. Think of each of those applications as an already-constructed Lego spaceship, and the sound library is a fancy laser gun we’ve added to all three to make them that much more effective at what they do.

Yet another example is the weblet. In some programs, the weblet is where you go to run your business when you are away from home. In others, it’s where you configure the settings for your phone system, or where you test the video streams you are going to put on your website. The weblet is a foundation we lay down and build on top of to suit the needs of the individual program.

Lego has the right ideas – expandable and always interoperable. At NCH Software, we have the same ideas so that all of our products fit our users' needs. By making core features in our library, we gain a lot of dynamic power to make future products more robust, making our entire development team more powerful. And you can never have too much power.

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eWeek Article by NCH Software CEO

In a recent Knowledge Center article in eWeek, NCH Software's CEO talks about some of the ways you can Run A Small Business on Single Applications.

Especially for a small business or start-up venture, the purse strings can be pulled tight making it very important to not spend money on anything you don't need. This idea also extends to the software world. Instead of buying an entire suite of software that might contain applications or features you don't need, it is becoming increasingly possible to find single applications that can be purchased separately but ingrate with each other to meet the specific needs of your business.

This is how the NCH Software business software suite has been designed-so that you are never required to buy all of the applications, only the individual components you need. This approach gives you more flexibility in finding a tailor fit solution that can grow with your business.

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Single Software Applications are the Way of the Future You Don't Need to Buy the Whole Suite Anymore

The days of needing to purchase an entire software suite are behind us. At NCH Software we have designed our software suites so that each product can be bought individually and still integrate with other individual applications. This gives businesses more control and flexibility to purchase only the products they need without spending money on products they will never use. Customization becomes available to businesses of all sizes so they can craft solutions to best fit their individual needs.

This approach to separating out the units of a software suite is particularly beneficial for smaller businesses just getting started. A small business has fewer needs than a more established company and less capital to put into a fully fledged system with all the bells and whistles. With our software you can start out with just the features that you need and easily add on more features and more products as your business grows. The benefits of this type of scalable system of buying individual products as you need them should be obvious.

For example, most new businesses with limited personnel are going to hire a consultant part-time to manage their accounts, but they are still going to need to invoice their customers. Having the option to purchase a standalone invoicing program like Express Invoice is a great solution in this case. Later, the business can upgrade to Express Accounts as they begin handling more accounting in-house, or integrate with Inventoria for inventory management control. The flexibility of upgrading and integrating as needed caters to the environment and economic needs of a small business owner.

Your telephone system is another area that should be able to grow with your business. As you bring on employees you will need extensions. You might want to set up an information line to answer frequently asked questions when no one is in the office to take a call. Maybe having on-hold music and messaging is something you need. With the NCH Telephony Suite you can add on features like these to your basic system as you grow into the need for them. There is absolutely no reason to purchase features like call conferencing capabilities that you won't ever use, but it is always available if someday you do.

We have had a lot of positive feedback from customers about this approach to selling software. We would never dream of making someone pay for the entire software suite if they didn't need it. Integrating the products together gives you the ability to design a custom software solution, piece by piece, for exactly what you need.

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