May 13, 2010

Incentives to Hire The Unemployed

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The HIRE Act (Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment), enacted March 18, 2010, is a plan to create jobs by providing a temporary tax break to companies that hire workers who were previously unemployed or worked part time.  Two new tax benefits are available to employers:

  1. The payroll tax exemption.  The first benefit provides employers with an exemption from the employer’s 6.2 percent share of social security tax on wages paid to qualifying employees.  This benefit would be effective for wages paid from March 19, 2010 through December 31, 2010.
  2. The new hire retention credit.   Businesses will also be eligible for a general business tax credit of 6.2 percent of wages paid to the qualified employee (employee must be retained for at least a year), up to a maximum credit of $1,000.

Visit the IRS website for more detailed information and check with your tax adviser on whether the new HIRE act applies to your company.

 

February 5, 2010

The Aries e-Newsletter: Ramifications

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy, Technology, What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products?, Why Hire Aries? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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In 2 weeks we will be launching the Aries e-newsletter for all of our current and future customers.  The newsletter will be e-mailed on a monthly basis and will initially contain 3 sections.  Those sections are:

  • Tech Talk.  Amy will keep you up to date on all of the Sage, MAS 90, MAS 200, MAS 500, CRM, FAS and Abra news.  You will learn about new features, upcoming new versions, tax table updates and more.  Her section will also include how-to videos on a variety of subjects such as:
    • How to reverse a payroll check in MAS 90
    • How to create a MAS 90 Visual Integrator job
    • How to create an FRx report for MAS 90/200 or MAS 500
    • Using the MAS 90/200 ODBC data source to export data
    • How to import a journal entry into MAS 500
    • How to setup the Abra Link for MAS 90/200
  • Ramblings.  John’s thoughts and observations about general business topics for small and medium-sized businesses.  Have you been thinking about social media for your business?  How do you choose a website designer?  How do you effectively manage projects for your business?  Would you like to know why work sucks and how to fix it?  Or maybe you would like to know where to get great barbecue (the noun variety, not the verb).  Or even where to eat on your vacation in Myrtle Beach.
  • Webinars.  Adrian will be posting event details for our upcoming monthly webinar series.  A list of webinar subjects can be found here.

We will be adding a fourth section titled Customer Spotlight where we will feature one of our customers every month.  The section will contain an overview of our customer’s business and how Aries has helped them achieve their goals.

You may be wondering why would name our newsletter Ramifications.  Well, the first reason is that it is play on words based on our company name.  In Greek mythology, the constellation Aries represents the ram.  Secondly, the ramifications of a decision regarding a technology project can have dire consequences for your business if you do not have a thorough understand of the issues.  To use a medical analogy, would you want to have triple bypass heart surgery without a doctor giving you an extensive check up?  The same is true of technology projects.  Undertaking one without the proper diagnosis can result in the death of the patient:  your business.

The newsletter is being designed by Chad Barr and his awesome team at CB Software.  Chad’s company is an integral part of our internet marketing strategy including the design of our website.  Keep an eye out for my upcoming blog article about how to choose a great website designer.

Below is a mock up of what the newsletter will look like:

 

February 3, 2010

Announcing the Aries Webinar Series

Posted by John Shaver under Business Strategy, Technology, What's ahead for Sage and Sage Products?, Why Hire Aries? | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Join us for the inaugural Aries Webinar on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 11am EST.  The topic for this month’s webinar is focused on sales tax audit challenges and solutions to protect your company.

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:

 

January 21, 2010

Crystal Reports 10 Export To Excel

Posted by John Shaver under Technology | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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A tip of the hat to Jeff Schwenk at Bottom Line Software for finding this article about the proper way to export data to Excel using Crystal Reports 10.

Many of our customers have asked for a “how to” on using Crystal to export data from MAS 90, MAS 200, MAS 500 and Abra.  This article provides a straight-forward, easy to understand approach for exporting that data in an Excel-friendly format.

These exports could be used to furnish MAS data to Excel for CPA audits, 401(k) administrators, import into other applications, etc.

Crystal 10 Export To MS Excel

 

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 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 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.