Business Software Soup

The Business Software Soup blog is written for business people and IT professionals who want to successfully deploy and manage business software, including ERP, CRM, Financials, and their supporting systems. It covers the full lifecycle of business software systems from the initial recognition of need all the way through to the software's eventual retirement. It provides tips and techniques drawn from real-life deployments, and discusses industry news and trends and how they could affect your business.

by Mark Patterson

I am a technologist and writer located on the West Coast. For over twenty years, I have been developing software, implementing applications, and running IT shops.

I maintain the "Business Software Soup" blog here on ITworld.com, where I discuss issues and information about ERP, CRM, Financials and other business software. Business Software Soup's URL is http://www.itworld.com/blog/6124

My professional blog, http://techcleaner.wordpress.com, is where I make comments about general technology trends and provide advice about Information Technology and productivity.

View Profile

Death by Powerpoint?

Posted Apr 28, 2010 - 08:00 am

The US military is up to its epaulets in PowerPoint, the infamous presentation package that is a key chunk of Microsoft Office. Critics claim it dumbs us down. Proponents claim it is great for summarizing information. And yet, we have all suffered from some presenter who drones on and on showing bullet slide after bullet slide. This is called "Death by PowerPoint." How can you avoid this?
Information Security Must Underlie ERP

Posted Apr 13, 2010 - 04:30 pm

One of the presentations at The Black Hat conference in Barcelona this week discusses a "backdoor" to SAP. Security goes beyond backdoors, though -- you need to have a full-blown Information Security strategy in place to guard against Bad Hats.
Does your ERP system run your business?

Posted Apr 12, 2010 - 09:06 am

ERP software runs your business, right? Not so fast! ERP systems are very comprehensive and help you perform your business activities, but it's not your software that runs your business, and it's important to understand who does.
The Double-Edged Sword in Business Software

Posted Apr 02, 2010 - 08:00 am

The software world is a fabrication by the software designers and engineers, and they can tell the system to do pretty much whatever they (or you) want to. But this flexibility will cost you. Instead of just being able to write "ball bounce," the programmer has to write the entire universe in which that ball is to bounce, and that is not easy, nor is it easy to change.

Join us:

May is...
Cloud Month

BY THE NUMBERS: Cloud computing

CAREER: Top cloud jobs

MANAGEMENT: Cost battle: Cloud computing vs. in-house IT

REVIEW: 4 killer cloud IDEs

DEVELOPMENT: When to use cloud platforms vs. dedicated servers

SLIDESHOW: Top 10 cloud tools for IT pros

Learn more

Will Microsoft's anti-iPad strategy work?

6 comments
Linux commands: Newusers adds new users ... fast and furious!

2 comments
More Mobile Collaboration Apps Needed

2 comments
Mount Everest ice is melting away, researchers say

2 comments
Which restaurants violate health codes and other insights from open data

1 comment

White Papers & Webcasts

White Paper

Join today!

Get FREE access to premium content, in-depth reviews, practical tips

6 IT hiring tips to weed out the duds
Rule #1: Don't hire out of desperation.
4 free tools to simulate a cloud connection
Linux-based WAN emulation tools worth a look.
15 common IT resume mistakes (and how to avoid them)
Learn how to build a better resume.