As late as the early '90's, office staff were still using rolodexes to keep tabs on company suppliers and contacts. Rolodex came from "rolling index," which referred to this round, spinning device that sat on one's desk and contained three-by-five index cards with contacts' names and telephone numbers on them in alphabetical order. Some cards also contained physical addresses, which were essential for sending correspondence before the internet came along and provided everyone with email. Nowadays, rolodexes are obsolete, although you may still see one from time to time. Instead, people keep all necessary information on computers. Here is how old school rolodexes merged with the computers of the modern age, and what programming can do that rolodexes never could.
Business Supplier Management Solutions
This is software that keeps track of all contact information for your suppliers. It manages everything about them, right on down to auto-ordering supplies when you typically run low and tracking orders after they have been shipped. It will also auto-calculate your books for you and keep track of which suppliers are working hard to keep your business versus the ones that have fallen short. Add or delete suppliers as a complete file whenever you want. If you enable a particular feature, you can also "Skype" call a supplier to talk to them directly over your computer.
Update Pricing to Keep Business Costs Low
No rolodex was ever able to do that. Every supplier runs sales or deals on supplies from time to time. You can track these sales/deals through software that focuses on specific suppliers. It does it all without you having to click a mouse even once, and it is completely automatic. If you do not like this feature and you would rather spend hours hunting down a deal on paperclips, then you simply open the software program's settings and opt out.
Link Your Accounting Books to Purchases
Nobody ever has any time to enter accounts payable and accounts receivable. All of that accounting takes time, and it takes time away from your business. If you link your accounting books to supplier management software, your purchases, the supplier info, the invoices, and the costs are all entered in your books for you. You never have to worry about forgetting to make another entry again. It is easy to set up the links to your books, too, especially if you use online software for your books.
For more information, contact a company that offers business supplier management solutions.