Your own experience will confirm to you what many software vendors and developers accept as a fact. That is, that 90 per cent of all the features in software go unused. Most people seem to be allergic to using the manual or help menu. They are quite happy to use the bits they need but avoid anything that is going to require further reading. They would just like to get on with their jobs. This can be frustrating even with the most popular software such as Excel, as there are many relatively simple features which can transform the way you work and save hours. The question is, how do you get more from your software?

The first thing to do is make sure you use existing free software to maximum benefit. For example, in terms of customer care, you can set up instant messaging so clients can contact your members of staff easily.

Make sure you get the most out of the people who are selling you the software. Make them work for their money! Maybe even make them a regular contributor to your management training courses. See what courses they are prepared to offer your staff. This will be particularly useful when you are buying direct from the software designers.