One of the most frequently-asked questions of PC Data Processing is, "In what ways will an integrated Windows 95/NT billing application benefit my business?"

All successful bottled water and water filtration business owners know that the integration of all operational phases of their business is crucial. Visit such successful businesses and you will find that numerous key factors are in place, including the following.

• All operational areas are tightly linked.
  
• A system is in place that handles scheduling changes easily and flexibly.
  
• Customer service is a top priority.

The good news is that today's technologies offer new opportunities and promises not available on the older platforms. These newer technologies provide capabilities such as automatic fax and phone dialing, express icons, messaging, mail merging, exporting data to spread sheets, multi-tasking, internet access and web site order taking.

Most of these features are part of software that has been written as a Windows 95 product. This design and technology helps the water quality improvement industry specifically in three ways.

Cost savings. Single click events on a single entry screen increase productivity, efficiency and accuracy. Employees work smarter, not harder.

Customer service improvements. Quicker access to your vital data from one single screen, ability to fax what you see by a click event, and easy multi-tasking between screens to improve your responsiveness to customer inquiries and changes.

Business expansion. With the time-saving features of the new technology, your business can grow without additional costs and without loss of control.

Today's water industry is among the most rapidly changing and evolving of industries. Combining the above features with a route scheduling module that is integrated with a full-featured Windows 95/NT accounting system can help your business meet today's challenges.

By following the 12 guidelines described below, you will not only have a versatile system that lasts for years, but you will be able to meet today's and tomorrow's needs.

Today's software must be:

• written specifically for the water filtration and bottled water industries and designed for Windows 95/NT,
  
• ready for the year 2000,
  
• integrated with each operational and financial areas of the business from scheduling to inventory control to billing to the bottom line,
  
• provided by a vendor with a proven track record in the water industry,
  
• accompanied with good vendor references for products and services,
  
• capable of providing a single entry flow through the entire system,
  
• focused on customer service,
  
• modifiable and include a custom report generator,
  
• capable of being integrated with handheld computers,
  
• capable of converting data from your existing system,
  
• speedy and easy to learn, and
  
• well documented and regularly updated.
  

The above may sound like a tall order, but systems meeting these criteria have been developed and do exist. Our company is convinced that the only way to serve the water industry as a major software supplier is by adhering to all of these design criteria.