Which spreadsheet is right?
Stock is in one file, orders in another, invoices in an accounting package. They agree on a good day.
SME Business Management
Past spreadsheets, short of an ERP programme.
A growing business runs on spreadsheets until the day they disagree with each other. The usual next step is a large ERP project that takes a year before anyone uses it. OrbitWix starts with the Core OS and the two or three apps that hurt most, runs the business on them from the first month, and adds the rest when the business asks for it.
Common business problems
Where a growing business outgrows its tools.
Nothing is broken. It is just held together by the people who know which spreadsheet is the real one.
The business lives in two heads
The owner and one manager know how everything fits. Holidays are a risk.
Everything typed twice
An order is written on the quote, copied to the order, copied to the invoice and copied to the accounts.
No idea what made money
Turnover is known. Margin by customer or product is a guess.
Growth means more people typing
Every new customer adds admin rather than revenue.
ERP sounds like a two-year project
The alternatives look expensive, slow and built for a company five times the size.
The solution
What the solution puts in place.
Six parts, switched on in the order the business needs them.
Customers, items and prices once
The Core OS holds them, and every app reads the same records from the first day.
Orders that become invoices
A quotation becomes an order and the order becomes the invoice, with nothing typed again.
Stock that keeps itself
Receipts and deliveries move stock as they happen, so the stock file is retired.
Accounts that follow the work
Every invoice, payment and stock movement posts to the ledger as it happens.
Buying when you are ready
Purchase orders and receipts switched on when buying needs more than an email.
Room to grow
Dispatch, Logistics, HR and Manufacturing added as apps on the same records, not as new systems.
Example business flow
The first three months.
An illustration of how a small distributor moves off spreadsheets, one app at a time.
A business moves onto OrbitWix in six stages: the Core OS set up, customers and items imported, Sales switched on, Inventory switched on, Finance switched on, and the first month closed from the system.
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01 Core OS
Month 1 to 3
Set up
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02 Data
Month 1 to 3
Imported
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03 Sales
Month 1 to 3
Live
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04 Inventory
Month 1 to 3
Live
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05 Finance
Month 1 to 3
Live
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06 Month end
Month 1 to 3
Closed
Benefits
What changes in the first quarter.
One answer to every question
Stock, orders and balances come from one set of records.
Nothing typed twice
Quote, order, delivery and invoice are one chain.
Margin you can see
By customer, by product and by month.
A business others can run
The process lives in the system, not in two people’s heads.
Growth without more admin
New customers add orders, not spreadsheets.
Pay for what you use
Apps are switched on when they are needed, not all at once.
Apps used
The apps behind it.
Most small businesses start with Sales, Inventory and Finance on the Core OS, and add Purchase when buying outgrows email.
Sales
Quotations, orders and invoices in one chain.
Inventory
Stock that moves with every receipt and delivery.
Finance
Accounts posted as the work happens.
Purchase
Purchase orders and receipts when you are ready.
FAQ
Questions from small and growing businesses.
Do we have to switch everything on at once?
No. The Core OS and the apps you need first are enough to run on. Others are switched on later, and they read the records that are already there.
Can we bring our spreadsheets with us?
Yes. Customers, suppliers, items and opening stock are imported from spreadsheets, so you start with your own data rather than an empty system.
How long before we are using it?
That depends on how many apps you start with and how clean your data is. Starting small is what keeps it short; we will give you a plan once we have seen your data.
Will it still fit when we are bigger?
Yes. Branches, companies and further apps are added to the same account, so growing does not mean moving systems again.
Have a different question? Talk to us.
See your business off spreadsheets.
Bring the spreadsheets you run on today. We will show which app replaces each one, and what to switch on first.