Hey forum, I'm looking for a software for my business that allows me to have a file for each customer I have. I then need to be able to sort within each customer by current order. I need to be able to enter in keywords for each part the customer has, so my employee can go onto the computer, simply type keywords into the search field of this program, and know which part belongs to which customer. So the search has to search every customer in the program. Price is no obstacle here so I'm looking for the best possible software available for this.

Basically something like this...

John Smith

Order 3 (8/2013)
1. Comp Cams .875 lift
2. Manley 156889
3. Electronics box black

Order 2 (1/2013)
1. Pushrods 15564
2. Fel-Pro 1223
3. Levi's Jeans x 5
4. Ebay order P.O. 13

So then my employee can open the program, type in ".875 Lift" and know exactly which customer that item belongs to simply by the search function of the program.

Thanks,
Austin

What you want is either Customer Resource Management software with some order tracking capabilities or Order Management Software. Either with a central database or cloud-based so multiple users can access it simultaneously.

ACT! is the most popular CRM software out there.

Salesforce is an online service that can this, but it really benefits from development of the portal to your specific business needs. They probably have canned portals that you could apply, but there will probably be a monthly fee with them. At least with ACT! you buy it once and it's yours, well as much as any software can be yours.

Another way to do this is with Quickbooks. Although this is software that is for your entire accounting process, which would include Order Entry. However, once you have sales orders in, you can search and filter based on anything that the sales order would have, Name, address, parts ordered etc. The nice thing, is all this information is entered as part of doing business and not as a separate process. By tying data entry with Sales Invoices, then each transaction can be tracked, a separate program and it's processes won't be followed all the time, even by the most diligent person.