Thinking Tech

Most businesses now days have or are building a list of email addresses to market to. The question is, how often should you promote your products to those lists? How often should you send email newsletters? Quarterly? Monthly? Weekly? Daily? There’s no hard and fast answer, except for “It depends.” “On what?” you might ask. [...]

I was reminded again today about the reason we’ve been recommending that clients continue to ask for Windows 7 32 bit. We were helping a client install PFW for Windows 5.9 when we got a “Runtime error 449″ (I think that was it). A Google of the error returned the information that 5.9 client was [...]

Companies that keep their software up to date seem more satisfied overall with their systems. I’m not sure why this is, but I know that it helps them avoid all kinds of issues. Older versions of software seem to cause more software compatibility problems these days than in the past. Here’s the pattern I see: [...]

Let’s face it, the IT industry has enough things going on to frustrate people. Viruses, SPAM, popups, phishing, and cyber attacks, just to name a few. And that’s not even to mention the possibility that your personal information, or lewd pictures that your underage daughter sent her boyfriend (or that your son sent his girlfriend, [...]

DGG will begin offering quick tips (30 minute webcasts) on Thursday afternoons. We’ll begin with casts covering the products Sage ERP ACCPAC, Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise Solution, and Microsoft Dynamics NAV. We’re looking at some other potential offerings. The Q1 2012 schedule is available now at http://www.dgginc.com/cms/webcasts.htm, and you can register at http://dgg.eventbrite.com. Join us.  

I really think that businesses have two basic ways of thinking about business software and technology. Either it is a glorified typewriter and bookkeeping system or it is a strategic asset that will help reach goals. Most businesses say it is the latter (a stairway to their goals). Think with me for a minute about [...]

I truly believe that every business can be more successful with less work. In fact, I’ve spent the last 25 plus years of my career helping businesses do this. Don’t get me wrong. What I do isn’t without pain for businesses. I’ve yet to meet the client that wakes up on Monday morning thinking, “I [...]

Many of the clients we work with are the proud owners of dying systems. Dying, I say, because they are 15+ year old and the person or company who created them are (sometimes literally) dying. Old versions of Unix, AIX and XENIX, and the hundred different operating systems and software packages that sprang to life [...]

For some time now, we’ve anticipated the release of MS Dynamics NAV 2012. Microsoft announced earlier in the year that it will likely ship in the 4th Quarter of 2012. One new development is that it will run completely inside a browser (IE 9). This will make it easy to run both on premise and [...]

According to the latest word from inside Sage, the release of its ACCPAC ERP software version 6.1 has been delayed until at least the middle of next year, most likely June. We expected it. This version is an ambitious (and very good for ACCPAC users) upgrade in plumbing. It’s the right thing for Sage to [...]

As a follower of all things digital that affect business, I was interested in the article below. Interestingly enough, I found it through Google+. So I guess there will soon be a Data Guidance Group page on Google+. More later. Why Your Brand Should Use Google+.  

Rumor has it that Sage ERP ACCPAC will soon be “rebranded” Sage ERP 300. According to the SAGE ACCPAC group on LinkedIn, we will have Sage ERP 300. What is now Sage ERP ACCPAC 100 will become SAGE ERP 300 Standard. Sage ERP ACCPAC 200 will become Sage ERP 300 Advanced, and Sage ERP ACCPAC [...]

We seem to be getting a lot of questions lately about installing software on new computers. Computer vendors like Dell and HP install Windows 7 64 bit on most machines they ship these days. If the machine is capable of 64 bit, they ship it with 64 bit. Once the machines come in, clients call [...]

This is probably nit picking. Too bad. I’m hacked! DGG has an old Okidata Color Laser Printer (C5150N). It’s a great printer, particularly since I think I paid something like $700 for it, a duplex unit, and an extra tray. It’s been having some problems lately. Actually, I’ve been having some problems lately. It needed [...]

We had a client with a problem: a history file had corrupted records in it. The accounting software’s “Data Integrity Check” came back “NOT!!” The database software vendor’s tool just hung after reading about 3,000 records into the file. But…no problem…the database vendor had a tool to remove the corrupt records. And we did. Instantly, [...]

Most vendor promotions for business and accounting software aren’t anything to write home about. A free user here. Some free modules there. Ten percent back to use for implementation services. The last month or two, though, a couple of the big dogs in the market, Sage and Microsoft, have released some really significant savings. Microsoft [...]

On November 18, 2011, I’ll be presenting at the IMA / TSCPA joint CPE event at the Fogelman Executive Center. This annual event raises funds for the IMA’s scholarship fund, which awards scholarships to accounting students at a number of local colleges and universities. If you are a CPA or CMA and need CPE before [...]

I’ve worked with manufacturing and distribution businesses for more than 25 years. The biggest asset these businesses have is often inventory. Inventory enables them to run their businesses, but also ties up capital that could be invested in additional product, advertising, capital projects, or expansion. Managing inventory is tricky, since too little inventory means that [...]

A few days ago, I did a webcast on How to Select Accounting Software or ERP Software to maximize your profit. It covers the traditional way of selecting software, the pitfalls, the things your vendor may not want you to know and a host of other things as well. The webcast is about an hour [...]

I ran across Chris Keller’s blog post today. It’s an interesting post on how small businesses should select accounting software. His number one criteria…drum roll, please…is cost. Well, how about that? You should buy accounting software based on cost. The second item in the list is learning curve. I guess I buy the idea that [...]