November 1, 2009

Sage’s New Support Policy for MAS 90, MAS 200, MAS 500 and FRx

Posted by Amy Shaver under Technology, What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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The following information was communicated to us by Sage Software recently, and I want to pass it along to everyone.

Historically, Sage has supported the current version of MAS software, plus five versions back.  Now, they have indicated they will change their policy over the next several years, and will scale back the number of supported Sage MAS versions.  By the end of 2011, Sage will move to a new ‘N-3′ policy for Sage MAS 90 and 200, and support only the current version and 3 versions back.  Support for Version 3.71 will end on September 30, 2010. The policy for Sage MAS 500 will be ‘N-2,’ with versions 6.3 and 7.0 support ending on September 30, 2010.

Sage believes the key benefit to this approach will allow them to focus on upgrading customers to the most current releases while allocating major development and support resources to ‘solving pain points for the majority.’  At the point of product retirement, tax updates, product fixes and telephone support will end.

Another news item of interest is that Sage has announced their move to ‘product updates’ instead of service updates for Sage MAS 90 and 200, or monthly updates for Sage MAS 500.  Products updates will be scheduled every four to six months and are primarily intended to provide ongoing value to customers on maintenance between major releases.  In addition to bug fixes, product updates will also include enhancements such as new features and usability improvements.  One note from Sage:  the move to product updates as opposed to service releases does not mean they will stop fixing defects for customers as they occur.  Their answer to this is to strictly adhere to the escalation policies, thereby taking care of customers’ critical issues as they arise.

One additional item involves the FRx Report Writer.  Although Sage is committed to ensuring compatibility with FRx Desktop, Microsoft has announced an end of support date for FRx of December 31, 2012.  As a result, Sage will provide an alternative solution for Financial Reporting within the Sage MAS products.  They’ve announced a two-pronged approach for financial reporting for Sage MAS customers in the future:

  1. Sage is building an Excel-based financial reporting tool based on the existing Sage Financial Reporter module with Sage Accpac.  Sage Financial Reporter will be made compatible with Sage MAS and will provide basic financial reporting capabilities free of charge to all Sage MAS customers.
  2. Sage is also establishing an OEM relationship with a business intelligence vendor that offers advanced financial reporting, operational reporting and advanced OLAP analysis capabilities.  Sage MAS customers will be provided with one free user license for this product with the option of purchasing additional licenses.

The release timing of these two financial reporting solutions will be aligned to a future release of Sage MAS; the exact date has not yet been determined by Sage.

Please contact Amy Shaver at Aries Technology Group, (800) 990-6646 ext. 21 or ashaver@ariestech.com if you have any questions about these issues.

 

September 23, 2009

Top 10 Business Myths

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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One of my mentors, Ed Kless at Sage, posted a fantastic list on his blog of the Top 10 Business Myths.  Here is the list:

While going through some old notes I found this list I developed of the top ten myths in or about business. Without further ado, they are:

1. Business is a zero-sum game

2. Price is based on cost

3. Excessive profits must be because the company is doing something evil

4. Increasing market share leads to increased profitability

5. Any focus on efficiency

6. Leadership is about changing others

7. Strategy is about analyzing, planning and doing

8. Business is science, and requires data to back up decisions

9. The customer is always right

10. Differentiation can be achieved by saying your customer focused

Do you agree or disagree with any or all of these? If so, please comment.

I especially like number 10 because it applies to all types of businesses and industries.  If all any of us have to do to make our businesses successful is say that we care about our customers, we would all be profitable beyond our wildest dreams.  Most businesses say they care about their customers but how many provide actual value to their customers?  Differentiating is all about continually proving that value to your customers.

 

August 21, 2009

Sage MAS 500 Version 7.3 coming in November!

Posted by Amy Shaver under Technology, What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Sage Software has announced that Sage MAS 500 Version 7.3 will begin shipping in November.  Many new features are included, in addition to more streamlined usability, scalability and system performance enhancements.  One of the most positive things about this new release is that it utilizes Microsoft Visual Studio 2008.  The retirement of VB 6 is indicative of Sage’s commitment to using the latest Microsoft Development Tools.

Below, I’ve outlined some of the key new features in Sage MAS 500 v7.3.

A new module, Credit Card Processing, is available to enable customers to quickly process payment receipts.  Features include multiple credit card accounts per customer, multiple credit card types and Processor types (Sage Payment Solutions, PayFlow by PayPal) and address verification and card security code.  Credit card transactions can be initiated and managed through Sales Order, Accounts Receivable and Cash Management.  There is no charge for the module if you are using Sage Payment Solutions as your processor, or if you are already licensed for Sage MAS 500 PSG Credit Card Processing.

Global enhancements include:

  • Updated Desktop.   The Tasks Explorer Bar has been updated, allowing you to display menus for one module at a time.  You can also choose from various Explorer styles to set how your menus are displayed.  The ‘My Tasks’ Explorer Bar has been modified and can be more easily personalized. 
  • Extended Platform Support.  Sage MAS 500 is now supported on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008.  Also supported are 64-bit versions of client & server operating systems.
  • PDF Document Transmittal.  Vendor and Customer documents can be generated and e-mailed in PDF format.
  • Applications and Database Auditing:  A database auditing trigger tracks changes made to the database tables by non-Sage MAS 500 applications.  You can also track user deletions, additions and modifications made through Tasks.
  • Full Company Name Displayed During Login.  During login, the full company name is displayed (instead of an abbreviation).

Inventory Management enhancements include:

  • Physical Count.  In Inventory Management, the physical count process has been enhanced to include a new grid entry, expanded item selection criteria & sort order control, warning messages for items with missing counts, filtering a list of count items, option to set remaining uncounted items to zero, the ability to delete frozen controls from a batch, new detailed transaction report, exporting items to Excel to be counted.
  • Recalculate Inventory Quantities.  This utility can now be run on demand (executes the SQL Server “QtyOn” job).
  • Business Insights Explorer Views.  New views are available such as Pending Increase Transactions, Pending Decrease Transactions, Pending Physical Counts, Posted Physical Counts, Pending Lots (Preview) and Pending Serial Numbers (Preview).

Sales Order Enhancements include:

  • Shipment Commit Workflow.  Previously, shipments had to be confirmed before an invoice could be printed.  Now, you are able to print a pro-forma invoice before committing the shipment.  Thus, a printed invoice can be included in a shipment.
  • Cascade Sales Order Line Updates.  Updates made in the order header controls will optionally cascade down to all open sales order line items.
  • Credit Card Entry.  Credit card payment info can be entered in Enter Sales Orders and Quotes, Edit Shipments, Process Sales Orders.

Accounts Payable enhancements include:

  • ACH.  The ACH feature allows you to use electronic funds transfer as an alternative to checks.
  • Positive Pay.  You can help prevent check fraud by generating a file that is submitted to your bank to verify check information prior to a payment. 
  • Vendor Merge.  You can now easily merge vendor information from one “source” vendor into another “target” vendor and permanently remove the source vendor from your database.  All history is retained.

Accounts Receivable enhancements include:

  • Customer Merge.  You can now easily merge customer information from one “source” customer into another “target” customer and permanently remove the source customer from your database.  All history is retained.
  • Invoice Merge.  Multiple shipments can be merged into a single invoice.
  • Credit Card Refunds.  Refunds for credit card payments can conveniently be issued in the Process Cash Receipts and Process Invoices tasks.

System Management enhancements include:

  • Enhanced System Status.  View and hide other SQL Server connections outside of Sage MAS 500, set automatic refresh interval and initiate on-demand refresh.
  • New Security Events.  There are new security events in Accounts Receivable, Credit Card, Inventory Management, Accounts Payable, Purchase Order and Sales Order.

In addition, scalability and system-wide performance improvements have been made.  Processing sales orders, creating invoices, creating purchase orders, creating vouchers and creating journal entries are just some of the tasks that have been enhanced to process more transactions faster!  Performance enhancement has also been applied to  Crystal Reports, Manufacturing Production Entry and Labor Entry.

There have been no changes to the versions of Crystal and FRx.  Crystal remains at version 10.0 and Frx at version 6.7 SP 10.

 

Please call or email us if you would like further information.

Sage_MAS_500_7.3_Pre-Release_Guide-07-10-09

 

August 19, 2009

New Software = Open Heart Surgery

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy, Why Hire Aries? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Recently our friends at Microsoft Business Solutions (Great Plains, Navision, Solomon and Axapta) have been attacking Sage and their partners from a truly odd angle.  Apparently the folks at MBS think that businesses purchase accounting, inventory, manufacturing, human resources and customer-relationship management software based on whichever software vendor is currently running a sale on their respective products.

For a business, implementing a new software system is just as invasive, complicated and risky as it is for a human to go through triple bypass open heart surgery.  In both cases, the patient could very well die!  Many businesses have been put out of business by software implementations gone sour.

I posed this question to several of our MAS 90, MAS 200, MAS 500 and Abra customers:  If a Microsoft (or any other software) representative called or came by your office today and offered you their software for free, would you be interested?  The answers are a unanimous NO.  Just like the kids in the Lio cartoon below, they are not interested in open heart surgery for their business even if the doctor gives it away for free.

Would you go to a doctor who discounts or offers a buy one/get one free surgical procedure?  I don’t think many of us would be interested.  So, why would any business purchase a software implementation based on price?  Especially when that software becomes such an integral and vital part of that business that it cannot live for long without the software functioning properly.

I seek out the doctors who have new patient waiting lists of several months.  They’re the best ones and they are almost always the most expensive and the most successful.  The same goes for technology consultants.  Do you really want to work with software from a consultant who isn’t busy and can only compete based on price?  Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

And notice how many customers Dr. Lio brought in with his free offer.Lio

 

August 17, 2009

Honor System for Time Sheets? Only At Church!

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy, Travels and Adventures, Why Hire Aries? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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 While visiting Charleston, SC this past weekend, my family and I stopped by the Cathedral of St John the Baptist.  It’s a beautiful Gothic cathedral which began construction in 1890 and is still a work in process.  Currently, its Connecticut brownstone exterior is being renovated and a spire is being added.

What also caught my attention are the markings on each and every one of the brownstone bricks.  Since there obviously were no electronic time keeping systems in the 19th century, the stone masons kept track of their time on an honor system.  For each day of work they completed, they would imprint one star into a brick.  The church elders were confident that none of the workers would cheat on their time because they were working on a church.  Who would dare to pull a scam on God, right?

Unfortuntely technology projects are not churches.  Time sheets and billing by the hour are fertile territory for cheating.  Rarely are time sheets accurate which means that you rarely receive an accurate bill from a consultant who bills by the hour.  In almost every situation, a consultant is compensated based on the number of billable hours she or he generates.  Where does that put you if you are their customer?  In a very unholy position!

How do you avoid being in this predicament?  Insist on an up-front, fixed price for every project before you move forward.  The consultant should be focused on your desired results and should not care how long it takes to accomplish those goals.

 

August 10, 2009

What Is Your Company’s “Experience”?

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Last week I went to get my hair cut at Belleza Salon in Knoxville.  I’ve been going to Belleza every 4 weeks since 2002 and highly recommend their services.  My most recent trip was a little different than any other previous trip, however.

I showed up a few minutes early for my appointment (I know it’s hard to believe that John was actually early for something!) and was greeted by stylist extrordinaire Rob Davis.  Rob told me that the customer ahead of me had shown up late so he was running behind.  He apologized and offered a free salon treatment while I was waiting.  Being a guy, I was a little apprehensive.  Was I really interested in a hand treatment?  After a little deliberation, I decided to take the offer.

 I sat down for my treatment and met Holli Brockwell who explained the process.  She offered a card that is good for $20 off of a facial treatment.  Again, being a guy, my response was that I ‘m not interested in that but my wife definitely would be.  Holli said that was not a problem and that my wife could use the card anytime.  And she offered a great suggestion:  Go ahead and book the appointment for my wife, prepay for it and surprise her.  Holli didn’t approach this like a sales person.  Rather, she made sure the Belleza experience was exactly what you would expect from a high-end salon. 

While I was getting my treatment, I noticed that several other customers were getting the same treatment.  The thought crossed my mind that Rob wasn’t really running late at all and that this was a smart marketing move on Belleza’s part.  What a great way to show even a long-time customer that they are capable of much more than just hair cuts.  And of course, what guy isn’t going to take the suggestion of setting up a day at the spa for his wife or girlfriend?

What type of experience do you provide to your customers?  Even if your business’s products are not easily differentiated from your competitors, you can always differentiate by creating an experience that your customers enjoy and look forward to.  Many of your customers may not be aware of all of your company’s capabilities.  There are many creative and innovative ways, like the approach taken by Belleza, to make sure they know about everything you can provide to them.  The art is to create an experience that customers will want to return to.

 

July 16, 2009

New Tennessee Unemployment Insurance Wage Base Increase

Posted by Amy Shaver under Technology, What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |
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The Tennessee General Assembly recently passed new legislation intended to prevent the state’s Unemployment Insurance Companesation Trust Fund from becoming insolvent.  We have been advised that the fund has become ‘dangerously’ close to becoming insolvent by this year or early 2010.  The fund woes are being brought about by the recent record number of claims for unemployment insurance benefits. 

First, the legislation increases Tennessee’s taxable wage base from its current $7,000 limit to $9,000.  This change is retroactive to January 1, 2009.  All wages paid in 2009 are subject to the $9,000 taxable wage base.  Second, the legislation provides for an additional fee of .6% of all unemployment insurance premium rates on Premium Tables 1, 2 and 3.  This change is also retroactive to January 1, 2009. 

Businesses will receive an Employer Statement that will list the amount due for the additional .6%, based on previously reported first quarter 2009 taxable wages.  However, this statement does not include the difference between the $7,000 and $9,000 wage base increase.  The Department of Labor and Workforce Development  is relying on the employer to report the difference.  They are asking that businesses report any additional taxable wages (those over $7,000) from the previously filed first quarter 2009 premium report as additional year-to-date taxable wages on line 3 of the second quarter premium report.  Then, simply continue with the $9,000 taxable wage calculation on each employee’s earnings for the remainder of the year.

Sage Software has released a new tax table available for installation to your MAS 90 or MAS 200 payroll module.  The tax table update changes the limit from $7,000 to $9,000.  It does not add the additional .6%, nor does it recalculate any wages.  

Please feel free to call Amy Shaver at Aries Technology Group, LLC (800) 990-6646 or (865) 342-4300 ext. 21 if you have any questions.

 

June 5, 2009

Social Marketing and Small Business

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy | Tags: , , , , , , , , |
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A recent New York Times article by Mickey Meece entitled Small Businesses Are Taking Tentative Steps Toward Online Networking highlights the incredible opportunities that can be created for small and medium-sized businesses by using social networking.

While I am a firm believer that now is the time to focus more effort on becoming effective marketers, I also understand that budgets are tighter.  Technology in the form of social networking offers many fast, effective and free methods of attracting new business to your company.

We began using social networking services (LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook) to promote Aries in mid-2008.  Our experience has been that being active with these services results in dramatically increased search engine optimization (SEO), greater exposure to the community and heightened credibility with our customers and prospective customers.

Yes, these services are free from a hard cost perspective.  However, they are only valuable to your customers and prospective customers if you actively maintain them and if you provide valuable content in them.  One of my favorite ways to make sure that we remain active with social networking services is to contribute to this blog on a regular and frequent basis.  All of these sites have tools to allow you to update them from your blog.  The idea here is to make the majority of your changes in one place and have those changes automatically updated to many different services.

Social networking, when done properly, is a great way to move from the traditional and rapidly-becoming-outdated outbound marketing model to an inbound marketing model.  In other words, by providing valuable content through these services, customers will be attracted to you.  This is a much more effective marketing model than sending out direct mailings and placing print/radio/tv ad’s and it’s certainly much less expensive.

Sage also realizes the importance and power of social networking.  They recently launched www.sagespark.com to offer free social networking services for small businesses.  Rob King, VP of strategic marketing at Sage North America, puts it into perspective:  social networking is here to stay and those businesses who take advantage of it will be successful.

Any of our customers who would like more details about how they might be able to apply social networking to their business, feel free to give us a call.  It’s one more advantage to our unlimited support agreements.

And if you would like to keep up with what we are doing with social networks, you can connect with us on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/johnfshaver), follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/john_shaver) or check out my Facebook profile (www.facebook.com/johnfshaver).  Regarding Twitter, I always follow anyone who follows me.

 

May 27, 2009

Standup Philosopher: Otherwise known as a technology consultant

Posted by John Shaver under Comic Relief, Why Hire Aries? | Tags: , , , , , , , |
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From time to time, it’s very healthy to take a look at ourselves and our business from a humorous perspective.  The day that we stop making fun of ourselves is the day when we stop enjoying life.

So, here is a video that pokes a little fun at consultants.  Please let us know if we coalesce too many vapors!

I will warn you that the video contains some colorful language from the Mel Brooks film History of the World, Part 1.  If you are offended by 4 letter words, you should probably skip it (although it’s really funny).

 

May 25, 2009

Thinking about starting a blog? Make sure to protect yourself.

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy | Tags: , , , , , , |
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An article from the Wall Street Journal by M.P. McQueen entitled Bloggers, Beware: What You Write Can Get You Sued makes good points about the pitfalls of social networking and blogging.

If you’re already into the world of social networking or thinking about creating a blog, make sure to check that your insurance policy covers any potential exposure you may have under libel and slander laws.

Yes, all of these activities are covered under First Amendment rights but the problem is that you still may end up paying attorneys fees simply to defend yourself.

Copyright infringement is another potential problem area with blogs.  Always make sure to attribute the source documents when you refer to someone else’s material in your blog articles.  Usually, a simple link to that article, the name of the publication and the author’s name will work.  If you’re unsure, ask the person who wrote the article.

The other side of this situation is: how do I reduce or eliminate the need for your company to worry about bloggers and twitterers posting defamatory remarks about your company?  I think that it’s simple.  Do what you say you’re going to do and do it well.  And if you get a bad review or comment, act quickly to fix the problem that caused that bad review or comment.  Lawsuits only make everything worse.

 

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