Revenue Journal®

I've mentioned before that I buy a lot of software online. Recently I undertook an extensive search for software I could use to efficiently build outlines for books and other large, complex documents, because the outlining function in Word is pitiful and slows...the...creative...flow...to...a...crawl, and has a klutzy expand/contract outline function.

I must have looked at 25 programs, and trialed at least 10. For all of you out there selling software online, I have some very specific advice for you, from a buyer's point of view.

Having spent much of my career in the tech industry, I have a deep understanding of hardware, software, and networking. It comes in handy as I help company leaders improve their systems.

Over the last few years, I have become dismayed at how often I encounter top executives who do not understand the technology they depend on every day to run their businesses. Business has shifted from paper to digital, and yet many top execs don't understand what goes on in the "back end" of those systems. For example, I often encounter financial people - controllers and CFOs - who are put in charge of IT. But they don't understand how IT really works. This puts them, and their companies, at a distinct disadvantage: