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Software Technology for the Floorcovering Industry

When evaluating software created for the floor covering industry, one must first understand the different types of products available and the specific needs they meet.  You cannot make an educated buying decision for your business until you have a general understanding of your many options.

 

The following list will give you a pretty good idea of what is available.

 

General Accounting – Quickbooks, Peachtree, Mass90 …..

These packages are well-known within the general business community and are widely used by accountants and CPAs. They are often recommended to help the business owner track the day-to-day operations of his/her business. One benefit is that they are capable of producing financial statements with advanced accounting reports (bar graphs, charts, etc.).  These products are designed primarily for persons with strong accounting backgrounds and are typically not used by anyone other than a back office employee.  While they are often globally marketed as “user-friendly”, in reality the general public (i.e., non-accountants) usually struggles navigating and understanding this type of software. It should also be noted that these products are not able to transfer information to/from manufacturers or buying groups via B2B technology.

 

Business owners will sometimes use this type of software in conjunction with additional “front end” software. They opt to pair it with industry-specific inventory management software like QFloors Basic, in order to utilize B2B technology and streamline operations.  However, more often than not, users are looking for a complete and integrated system of managing their businesses (front-end and back-end).

 

Typically, general accounting software packages are initially less expensive than industry-specific systems.  However, data has shown that within just a couple of years the extra accounting and productivity costs actually make these packages the most expensive choice.

 

Business Management (Floor covering industry)

This is software created specifically for the floor covering industry, used to manage and streamline your business. This software is typically known as the “guts” of the business because it coordinates and controls all aspects of the company. Business management systems usually handle customer proposals or bids, customer invoicing, purchasing, receiving, installations, job costing, receivables, vendor billing, checking accounts, and financial and business reporting based upon all of the data used in the above processes. Typically these systems aim to help a business become more operationally efficient and competitive, and cut overhead costs. Base prices range from approximately $3,000 - $15,000.
 

Estimation

This type of software is usually graphical in nature.  A user will either draw, takeoff or import a floor plan so that it can be viewed digitally on a computer monitor. After creating the floor plan, a user can insert various flooring products into each room and the software will estimate how much of that product is required to complete the job. Some advanced features include seaming controls and diagrams for soft surface and tile placement. These products range from $300 - $1,000 in retail applications and $2,000 - $10,000 in commercial applications. Be aware that most quoted prices are per computer, not per company, and multi-user licenses are going to be more expensive.

3-D modelers and estimators are also available, but most of the feedback that we have received is that these are pretty complex to use and expensive.

 

Labor Scheduling

Many floor covering companies use a book or a white board to schedule installation and measuring appointments. This type of software replaces the books and allows more effective and coordinated scheduling.
 

Visualization

Visualization packages allow a user to select visual representation (pictures) of products and then place them in a virtual room.  This gives customers a feel of what the product will look like once it has been installed. Users can select from pre-defined rooms within the software that are similar in size and layout to the real thing.  Some packages allow the customer to import a digital photo of the actual room, but this method can be very expensive and complex.   
 

Cutting Machine

 

Cutting machine software is one of the newer additions to the industry.  Software has recently been released which interfaces to both the E-Z cut and Accu-cut cutting machines. This software allows other types of software (estimating, business management, etc.) to send cut specs to the cutting machines for more automated processing. This helps to automate the process while eliminating human mistakes.  The software must be FSDE compliant to interface properly with cutting-machine software.  For more information on FSDE, see www.fsdestandard.com or the “Partners” section of the QFloors website.