Computer systems do have their limits. It’s not always apparent. When it hits, it can really slow down your company. I’ve seen that in a couple of different cases. One company had a QuickBooks file that was nearing 400MB in size, way beyond the tolerable limit. As a result, their system crashed. They tried making another copy, but that one crashed again. They did it with a third one and not much luck either.

In another instance, a company system performance was terribly slow. It could take a minute or more to run reports on the system. It turns out that they were up against some limits in the system for the number of items that that system could handle.

Know what the limits are for your computer system. That can give you a feel for when you’re going to need to make a change down the road, if ever. In some cases, it can mean a switch to a whole different computer system. In other cases, it can be solved by doing an upgrade to the next higher level of systems in that same family of computer systems that you currently have.

Here are a few of the things that you could check on in terms of the limits:

1. How big can the data file get?

2. How many items can a system handle? An item could be a customer, inventory item, account numbers or other items.

3. How many transactions can the system handle on a daily basis?

4. How many users can be on the system?

5. Other factors. There may be other factors that can set the limits.

So how do you find this out? First, there might be information in the brochure or on the website for that particular software. Otherwise, perhaps ask your supplier if you are dealing with a reseller of the software or other technology consultant.

Know the limits on what your system can do otherwise you could be putting a limit on your company.