Digital Photographer's Software Guide - Bertemes - Net

SuccessWare
Vendor: SuccessWare
Purpose: Studio-management software for tracking, pricing, and planning
Chapter 35 ■ Pro Studio Software 411
Description
SuccessWare is professional studio management software that offers extensive tracking,
pricing, and planning facilities, with good privacy and security features to prevent unauthorized
access.
SuccessWare tracking features could scarcely be more comprehensive; the vendor lists
more than a dozen pages of them, too numerous to be listed here. They come under the
following categories: client tracking, direct mail, financial tracking, inquiries, orders,
prospects, reporting, scheduling, session tracking, to-do lists, and vendor tracking.
Pricing features are similarly extensive, ensuring that the studio prices its products accurately,
always taking account of the cost of doing business. For example, it takes in costs
from suppliers’ lists and automatically suggests updates to your prices when suppliers
increase their charges. It also has great flexibility, enabling similar products to be sold
at different prices in different markets.
Business planning is the third strand of SuccessWare, enabling the photographer to put
together business plans in support of bank loans and lines of credit. It has powerful cashflow
forecasting, creates a monthly capital budget, and keeps a full record of income
received from all sources. For the long-term, it creates a five-year plan, showing projected
sales growth, indicating the break-even point, and helping you to form a marketing plan
for each product line. With SuccessWare, the photographer soon gets to know how
many sessions the studio needs each month to make a profit.
Comments
Rather than attempt to become involved with the photographic workflow, SuccessWare
sticks to business. Its tracking, pricing, and planning features are well-conceived and
cover all bases, whereas the latest version even prepares standard balance sheets showing
assets, liabilities, and net worth. Users report that it works well for them and is not
too difficult to learn, despite its scope.
Version: SuccessWare 5.0 (2008)
OS: Windows 2000, XP, 2003 Server, and Vista; Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4, and 10.5
RAM: 512MB (1GB recommended)
Supported file formats: Major formats
Price level: Single user version $1,500, up to three users $2,500 (both approx; leasing terms available
from approx. $50/month
Address: SuccessWare, Inc., 11800 Fawn Lake Pkwy., Spotsylvania, VA 22553, United States
www.successware.net