Tired of playing the lottery with your technology projects?  If so, then we can show you what it’s like to work with a Firm of The Future…forget about the lottery and work with certainty.

This past January at the international VeraSage conference, I was talking with Ron Baker about how we can more effectively get the message out that the only way for a business to know that a software consultant knows what they are doing is by having that consultant provide them with a fixed price for every project.

Ron provided a wonderful insight.  The most effective way to demonstrate the absurdity of a particular idea (in this case, the billable hour) is to ridicule it.

Greg Kyte, who is a VeraSage Fellow, CPA and professional stand-up comedian, and I started working on a video lampooning the practice of billing time.

The result is Bob’s Barbecue.  It is the first in a series of videos which will depict all of the many ways that the billable hour is harmful and risky for your company.

The folks at 90Minds (of which we are proud members) teamed together to create Ask90Minds.  A free resource for questions regarding:

• Epicor
• Sage Abra HRMS
• Sage Accpac
• Sage MAS 90
• Sage MAS 200
• Sage MAS 500
• SageCRM
• SAP Business One
• Microsoft Dynamics GP
• Microsoft Dynamics NAV
• Open Systems
• Traverse

Why would you use Ask90Minds instead of the software publishers’ knowledgebases?  Because you want the real answers from real technology consultants who have years of in the field experience with companies just like yours.

90Minds is a network of 27 independent technology consultants who work everyday with a variety of business management software applications.  These consultants provide assistance with advanced technical questions.

In addition to technical support questions, you will find a rich and constantly expanding library of how-to articles, common mistakes and issues encountered with new software versions.

All of these articles are written in clear, easy to understand language that is unbiased by software publishers.

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Almost a year ago we completely eliminated our Exchange and Sharepoint servers.  Those two applications managed our e-mails and documents.

What replaced them?  Google Apps.  We quickly and easily moved all of our e-mail, documents, spreadsheets, images and presentations up to Google’s servers in the cloud.

My favorite part of Google Apps is a component called Google Sites.  Google Sites gives us the ability to setup a site for every project and share that site with our customers and business partners.  Sites make collaborating with the project team more effective by providing a real-time project management tool.

Let’s say that your design team and distribution center is in the Unites States and your manufacturing plant is in Mexico.  A Site could be created each time your company creates a new design.  Everyone on your project team would have the appropriate access to project scope documents, design images and the issues list.  Since these documents are maintained in real-time on the Site, management would have constant access regarding whether or not the project is staying on track.

So, how exactly does Google Apps reduce costs and stress?

Using Google Apps eliminates license fees for software such as Exchange and Sharepoint and it eliminates the need to pay IT costs to support and upgrade these applications.

There are two versions of Google Apps:  Standard and Premier.  The Standard version is free.  We elected to go with the Premier version at $50/user/year.  The Premier version provides us with additional storage space (25GB as opposed to 7.4GB) and includes spam filtering and virus scanning.

Because you are able to leverage Google’s virtual servers, you no longer have to worry about technical issues with servers at your site.  We were able to get rid of all but one server (and our goal is to get rid of it as well).  Not having to deal with servers was a huge reduction in stress for our company.

Are there downsides?  Of course.  We have experienced occasional periods of sluggish performance.  And without internet access it is a little tough to connect to the cloud.

If you are a real Excel power-user you may be disappointed in the functionality of the Google Apps spreadsheet.

However, here is the beauty of these types of Apps:  they are constantly being upgraded (sometimes daily).  The upgrades happen without any effort on your part and they are included in the annual price.

Will they eventually catch up to the functionality level of Microsoft Office?  Yes they will.  And I think they will surpass that functionality in the not too distant future.

Is your company using Google Apps?  If so, what has been your experience?

If not, why not?

Although this conference is only available to Sage partners, I will be posting a recording of our recent Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE) webinar to this blog. Everyone is invited to view that recording.

Becky has invited the Sage partners who have registered for this session to comment on this article to encourage the sharing of ideas, opinions and questions about ROWE. Our goal is to make the session a collaborative one and to make sure we cover the topics of the most interest to the group. Here is the abstract from the Insights website:

Learn why works sucks for you and your employees and how to fix it. Just ROWE! Creating a Results-Only Work Environment frees your workforce from traditional corporate shackles to focus on and deliver strong business results. Attend this session to learn how to transform your culture from one that measures contribution by the number of hours worked to one that measures performance by the business results achieved. Do you know ROWE? Attend this session to understand why the ROI for your business cannot be ignored.

Since this session is an interactive one, we are encouraging dialog about why and how ROWE is the future for all knowledge workers. We will also talk about the concept that knowledge workers are volunteers. Meaning that all of us “employ” volunteers.

In order to prepare for this session, we recommend that you read Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson. If you would like to learn more about the concept of the knowledge worker, we recommend that you read The Firm of The Future by Ron Baker. And attend Ed Kless’Insights sessions on Wednesday, May 19th from 1:30pm to 5:30pm (GEN52)

Please let us know what your thoughts, ideas and opinions about ROWE. And if there are some other topics you would like to talk about, please feel free to let us know in the comments section.

Based on the book by Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson, creators of ROWE, the webinar will offer insights into how your job could be:

1. No Required Meetings!
2. No Rigid Work Schedules!
3. No Structured Vacation/Sick/Personal Policies!

Ed Kless, Senior Director of Partner Development & Strategy at Sage, will interview John Shaver, President of Aries Technology Group, on the definition of ROWE, how it is being used successfully, how it is benefiting Aries and how it can benefit your company.

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/180710952

PlanetTogether’s Scheduling Optimizes your Resources

• Advanced Planning & Scheduling systems save time and money
• Allocate work to your resources based on your rules and requirements
• Consider resource and material availability to enable better decisions
• Coordinate sales, production, purchasing, and management with an interactive manufacturing plan
• Connect your existing ERP and business systems

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/699755968

17 Things You Should Be Doing Right Now To Reduce Outstanding Accounts Receivable

1.  Create A Plan
2.  Provide Timely & Accurate Information
3.  Develop KPIs
4.  Define Roles
5.  Standardize Messaging
6.  Document Activities
7.  Define Dispute Resolution Procedures
8.  Centralize Data & Communications
9.  Manage Your Resources
10.  Score Customers Using Cost of Credit
11.  Be Proactive
12.  Focus on Key Accounts
13.  Automate Business Processes
14.  Secure Financial Information
15.  Involve Your Sales Team
16.  Escalate Trouble Accounts
17.  Work as a Team

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/839814768

The Aries Webinar Series is a monthly educational webinar series which will focus on technology and general business subjects relevant to small and medium-sized businesses.  You can view the schedule for upcoming webinars along with a description of the topic by visiting the webinar section of our website.

These webinars will be presented by Aries team members and by featured guests.  Some of the future topics are:

• Sales tax audit challenges and solutions to protect your company
• 17 things you should be doing right now to reduce outstanding accounts receivable balances
• Do you want to increase cash, profitability, sales and company value?  Learn from Johnny Gates, a partner with www.b2bcfo.com, how he has helped small and medium-sized businesses achieve those goals.
• How can my company benefit from an internet marketing strategy?  Chad Barr, president of CB Software, will demystify internet strategies and explain how internet marketing, if used properly, can be a valuable and cost-effective tool for your business.
• Are the costs and stresses of managing your network, workstations and servers keeping you awake at night?  Hosting and managed networks may be the answer.  Brian Strong from Claris Networks will talk about how to reduce those costs under control and get rid of the stress of dealing with IT issues.

Here are the details for the first webinar:

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.