Business software is computer programs designed to assist with the management and performance of a company which can increase productivity and accuracy. They can be used for a variety of tasks, such as customer relationship management, project management, sales force automation and financial accounting. There are a variety of business applications are in existence, and each one is adapted to the specific requirements of its target industry.
For example, a business that sells products online can benefit from powerful features such as customer relationship management software, which allows for greater transparency and trust to be built with customers. This kind of software can provide important information about a company’s performance for example, how well its marketing is working or the effectiveness of its website at turning potential customers into customers.
Business software is widely used and has played a significant role in the growth of numerous companies across the globe. The earliest business application software was developed for white-collar jobs with massive mainframe computers being employed to automate processes such as processing bank cheques and factory accounting. Later, word processors such as Word Perfect and Microsoft Word saw the decline of the IBM typewriter and mathematical spreadsheet software like Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel became extremely popular among corporate consumers.
Certain business software is interactive. This means that users are able to manipulate data and obtain results immediately. Other business software operates in batch mode, which means that it can be programmed to run on a schedule and produce reports without the involvement of a user. A team is put in place to fix the problem whenever a software issue is discovered, so that users are able to return to their work. This is referred to as business application support.