A small business database can range in size from a few lines of information on a hard drive to a huge database management system saved on a corporate mainframe.
Small business databases are useful in many ways. One will organize information in a consistent manner and make it accessible to all employees. There are various ways to go when choosing a business database program for your business depending on your business needs.
When sifting through options for small business databases for your business you must first:
Look into a desktop database for small companies
Desktop small business database software is very common and a good choice if only you and maybe one more person are users. These programs are usually no-frills and don't interact with web applications, but they are easy to get and inexpensive. This is a very good database solution for most small businesses offering a business or service in a traditional setting to keep track of customers, inventory and more.
I recommend: The most popular small company database software packages are
Microsoft Access,
Filemaker Pro,
Alpha Five and
Lotus Approach.
Explore whether a server business database system is right for you
A server database is a bigger commitment, bigger change and bigger costs. You need this if you are planning to do ecommerce through your business or have multiple people using the database. These databases are designed to work on large servers, not personal computers.
I recommend: Try
Oracle or
Microsoft SQL. These are high-priced but also high-quality and very reliable. Invest in one of these now, and no changes will need to be made in the future when business grows.
Use web-based database software to build a data-driven webpage
Web based database applications use data you already have to build a website, which is basically the opposite process from the other database solutions. Small business database-driven webpages can give your business flexibility, a dynamic webpage and very easy access to information.
I recommend: Some available small business database software to help you build your site are
ColdFusion and
HTDB.
Create a text file delimited database
Although this is technically not a database, it can serve the same purpose. It is very simple to create a flat text-file, save it and access it with a webpage. This is probably the cheapest solution, but only a good one for few users with minimal information to organize.
I recommend: These small business database software programs can help build and maintain a text-file database:
BizDB and
DBMan.
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