“Let’s face it. There aren’t many photographers who really like being organised. It’s almost as if there’s some kind of gene deficiency lurking deep down in the creative make-up that makes this so. Hence, when it comes to a product specifically designed to organise stuff, it better be good. Really good. Or no-one’s going to be bothered. After all, most of us consider filing to be a matter of knowing that we haven’t actually lost something.
So, if Foto SF was just a basic busines tool that joined together all the tedious tasks we do like invoicing and VAT returns, then it wouldn’t be worth worrying about. However, it is much, much more than that. Any piece of software just has to break the barrier of ‘I can now do something I couldn’t do before’. Then it becomes a worthy tool in the box. A number of the numerous Foto SF features fall into this category, and one such area is based around marketing.
If photographers aren’t particularly good at getting organised, then marketing follows a near second worst. But once Foto SF is built up with all your client contacts, it’s what you do with this information that counts, it’s what you do with this information that counts in spades. Whether you would want to easily and quickly send birthday cards to clients is uncertain (see the web demo) but the idea is crucial. Getting in touch with your client base in a memorable way (and regularly at that) is the name of the game – be that by means of snail mail or html email. Foto SF has a built in system that lets you send bulk html emails (messages that look nice for anyone wondering) to your client list with just a few clickerry-clicks of the mouse. Now we’re talking. And the £345 price tag (Mac or PC) is starting to make sense.
The next set of features in the latest version 2 that makes Foto SF stand out are about business management. You can create tiers of pricing and we like the sound of that, as really making sure you have a policy is just so important. All the while it can show you the percentage profit you’ve made on jobs. You can also input an inventory of all the gear you have (if you can remember) and see exactly how much it’s worth at any time. Neat. And there’s a system of reporting and reminders built in that trigger the sirens when overdues turn into bad debts and you are trying to forget about chasing them down. What’s more (and you better be sitting down for this one) Foto SF can in fact carry your business plan and illustrate to you how you’re doing, forecast against actual for the month or year. Gulp. Now part of me is attracted by that, and part of me has already run a mile. The choic….is yours.
It is also true that Foto SF makes a very pleasant job of running your office for you when you’re on the move, being entirely iPhone or PDA compatible. So you can log in to your database and tweak and change whilst you’re away from the desk. That’s all very well but it’s essentially going over some ground that especially Apple has covered by means of its Mobile Me functionality that pushes or pulls amends or additions to calendars and contacts from iPhone to server to Your Mac or vice versa, without you doing anything flash. So you wouldn’t buy Foto SF for that alone, unless you were more than a one-man band. And here’s the rub. If you’re a lone snapper with a decent but not huge client base, Foto SF is most likely a step too far. But if one has become two or three plus a supporting cast, then it very much is going to make lots of sense. Try before you buy and carry out your own cost-benefit analysis by visiting the Foto SF website.” |
