Because our company develops database software for Windows and the Web, we get a lot of questions about databases, especially Microsoft Access. A database can be an incredibly powerful tool, and for business owners, a database can literally change how you do business. However, all that power comes at a price. For example, many people assume that they need a full-blown database program like Microsoft Access to track business contacts. Well, maybe you do and maybe you don’t.
Yes, Access is an extremely powerful program, but you absolutely must set up the database correctly for Access to work well for you. Many college classes teach the nuances of database theory because a database that’s set up incorrectly can waste hours and hours of time and countless dollars (think about it…shortsightedness on just one database field was responsible for Y2K). So before you consider diving into Access, think about what you want a database to do for you.
I’m a big fan of using the right tool for the job. If a $40 shareware program does what you need and is easy to use, then check it out before you go spend lots of time, money (and potentially frustration) setting up your own database. After all, why reinvent the wheel? For example, even though there’s a database programmer in the next office, I personally use a simple shareware program called Time & Chaos to manage my business contacts. (You can read about it at: http://www.isbister.com.) Conversely, we couldn’t find a product we liked that could do estimates and track our time the way we wanted, so we wrote our own Project Organizer database.
Some people may find that they already have all the database they need sitting right on their hard disk. If all you want to do is manage contacts, Microsoft Outlook often comes pre-loaded on new computers. It has many contact management features, and if you delve into it a little, you may find it does everything you need.
The key to selecting a database program is figuring out what information you want to get OUT of the database. Think very carefully about the reports you need. If you plan to do mailings with specialized postal codes, look at mailing software. If you need to track specific membership information, look for software designed for member-based organizations. In both cases, a database lurks behind the scenes, but someone else did all the set up and customization for you. If in the end, you find you have really specialized information to track, you may require a custom database. Only after you’ve really considered your "off-the-shelf" options, should you think about learning Access or hiring a database programmer to set up a database that works exactly the way you want.