Hurricane Irene and Software Problems: Not So Different

It may be crass to compare a fierce natural disaster to your accounting solution but I am going to do it anyway.  I understand the physical and emotional damage an actual hurricane can impose and in no way am I saying that a “software hurricane” can cause the same type of destruction.

What I will say, is that within the confines of our cubicles, office walls and excel spreadsheets, a software hurricane can inflict incredible damage to your business as well as your personal reputation.

Imagine you are working on closing out the month end statements.  Everything is going according to plan when suddenly your system crashes!  Data is flying everywhere, transaction entries disappear, employees are panicked and deadlines are approaching with no chance of meeting them.

This type of disaster would cripple an accounting department and start a chain reaction of delays, and back-ups throughout an entire company.

It only makes sense to be prepared for such a disaster just as you would be prepared for and actual hurricane or other real-life natural disaster.  Rather than boarding up your windows and doors, you can install field-level security.  Rather than stocking up on food and water, you can make data back-ups.

With Microsoft Dynamics GP, these perks are built-in.  You don’t have to worry about a disaster.  In other words, installing Microsoft Dynamics GP is like moving to a natural disaster free zone.  Instead of scrambling when a disaster strikes, prevent the disaster all together with Microsoft Dynamics GP.

 

 

Still Using QuickBooks Pro? Ouch!

QuickBooks Pro is a very practical and inexpensive accounting solution for start-up companies who don’t want to exhaust their budget on unnecessary software.  QuickBooks provides the basic functions and processes to run a small business without many hiccups.  The problem, and it’s a big one, is that once your business begins to grow, QuickBooks doesn’t have the capabilities to grow with it.

Small businesses around the world have this problem every day and the most common solution is to manually adjust the various problems QuickBooks incurs with growth.  This band-aid approach works but at what, or who’s expense?

If you are a small business owner, officer, executive or manager than you know your most important resource is time, followed very closely by money.  Some will say its the other way around but for general purposes let’s keep it in that order.  Now, if your accounting solution isn’t able to automatically handle daily tasks your either going to have to enter the data yourself which takes up time or you can hire someone to handle the duties which in turn costs money.

Throwing resources at the problem is a short-term solution or as I said earlier, a band-aid solution.  Eventually though, the money or time is going to run out and the problem is still going to be there.

The fix?

Think long-term and upgrade your accounting solution now.  The initial costs of upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics GP or another advanced accounting solution will pay for themselves within a year and you will be saving a lot of time as well.  Additionally, the transition will be far less painful now as opposed to down the road when you have months or even years of extra data to worry about.

Forecasting is important in every area of business.  Your accounting solution is no different.  Be smart, plan ahead and save those precious resources.

A Quick Thought Regarding Accounting Processes

Accounting isn’t exciting.  It is understandable that plugging numbers and analyzing income statements are not the highlights of your day.  That is normal and to be honest, if it was the highlight of your day I would be a little worried.

Being a Microsoft Dynamics GP Blog, we talk about accounting and accounting software a lot.  We discuss data migration and report writing and business process analysis and software upgrades and the difference between Business Essentials and Advanced Management and…ok you get it, it’s not that exiting.

The discussions from this blog will not be the highlight of your day.  They will not excite you.  They will not be something you talk about on Friday night.  What they will provide though, is an opportunity to leave more time in your day for the exciting stuff and the highlights.

This blog, along with Microsoft Dynamics GP are designed to make your life and job easier.  This blog will teach you things like how to eliminate unnecessary steps when posting transactions and how to share pertinent information with employees with the click of a button and how to hide it with another click.

So, when you read this blog, understand the goal is not to be the highlight of the day but to get you to that highlight a lot sooner.  Exciting right?

 

 

Analyzing the Efficiency of Microsoft Dynamics GP

Right now I am writing this blog, eating my lunch, listening to smooth jazz all while scanning e-mails.

Why do we multi-task? Why don’t we focus all our attention to one task at a time? The answer is efficiency. We are programmed to be efficient (or at least we “want” to be efficient). If you are more efficient than the next person you can accomplish more with less time, increasing your opportunity for success and leaving more room for recreational activities.

Efficiency is no different with a business. Specifically within the accounting department of a company, efficiency is more important than ever. Whatever industry you are in, accounting and finance are critical components of running a successful business. Lets examine how Microsoft Dynamics GP increases efficiency within those departments.

Microsoft Dynamics GP gets you up and running quickly and offers a proven, stable solution that helps fuel your operational efficiency by automating your business- critical operations, adapting to fit into your type of business.

Provide insight into the most relevant, business-critical information for everyone in your organization, for effective decision-making:

• Enable your people to have role-based access to the information they need to do their jobs in a format that makes sense.
• Automated alerts proactively notify your people when problems needing immediate action arise.

Automate and integrate your processes so your people can be more effective:

• Free your people to focus on what matters most by allowing employees to take routine tasks online, reducing paperwork and data re-entry.
• Automate relevant processes across teams for streamlined business processes.

Easily customize the solution for your unique business needs:

• Extend your solution without the need for a developer or programming.
• Integrate with non-Microsoft® applications using simple connectivity tools.
• Incorporate your existing websites and applications, even if they are built on non-Microsoft platforms.
• Match your unique business needs with an ecosystem of industry-specific offerings that enable you to satisfy your business needs with broadly adopted solutions.

 

Do You Take Your “Back” For Granted?

This past weekend I hurt my back. “A strained lower back muscle” the doctor said. Needless to say, I couldn’t do anything for the rest of the weekend. I couldn’t go to the gym, had to cancel golf on Sunday, and even had trouble walking around my house. Thankfully, my back is feeling better and I have been able to resume my normal activities.

This injury, however, led me to start thinking about what would happen if I couldn’t return to my normal routine. What would happen if I couldn’t resume my normal daily activities? The question then arose: Do I really take for granted such simple things as walking, sitting upright and going through normal daily activities? The answer, in short, is YES. We all do.

Nobody appreciates their back, yet it is one of the most vital parts of the body.

Translate this scenario to business. Your financial software is the “backbone” of your business. When running smoothly, your company is able to operate like a well-oiled machine. When it isn’t running smoothly, everything is affected.

The point here is that you can’t take things for granted when running a business. Just because a certain problem hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it never will. You have to be prepared for everything, especially, the most basic operations such as internal accounting and financial operations.