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If you use modified commercial software or off-the-shelf business software,
please indicate the product name, manufacturer, and your level of satisfaction.
Clearly no software standard exists among graphic arts dealers. The 57 dealers responding to the survey listed 40 different software products in use. Only eight of the software products (those with the total number of dealers mentioning indicated in parentheses) were used by more than one dealer.
Although the questionnaire sought information regarding business management software, the responses seem to indicate that many dealers do at least a portion of their accounting manually. Equally surprising-given the fact that dealers actively call on customers every day-is the relatively low usage of sales management software such as ACT!, Goldmine, Maximizer and Sharkware.
It should be noted, of course, that individual sales personnel may use sales management software through their own initiative, on their own personal computers or laptops. The NAGASA questionnaire sought only to determine software used on a company-wide basis.
Satisfaction with software was generally high. The ratings of dealers' satisfaction with their software was 3.9 on a scale from 1 to 5
When asked what portions of their business are supported by their computer
systems, dealers indicated that accounting, inventory and sales are the
primary areas benefiting from computer usage. Figure 5 indicates the percentage of dealers using computers
in each area.
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Software in Use at Graphic Arts Dealers: AccPac |
MAI Basic |
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