SoKy Local Business or "SoKybiz"

As my "little company" continues to grow, I and discovering a need to manage information more effectively. The volume information available to small business is somewhat overwhelming at times and getting a grip on it is like catching a greased pig in a mud pit. As a Microsoft Partner, I am allowed to install and review all sorts of software that is useful for small business and the latest one is Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.

I've been avoiding the change from Outlook 2000 because the new interface introduced in 2003 was exceptionally different than I was used to. Outlook 2003 came installed on the Dell computers we purchased at start up business in 2004 and everyone seemed to like it. With dozens of e-mail accounts and hundreds of daily e-mail, I was "afraid" of the upgrade process.

Last time I changed e-mail client software, I had to manually set up all accounts, all rules and all folders for organization. I thought it would take hours to migrate from 2000 to 2007 so I was waiting for the right conditions where I had plenty of time to make the move. I found out yesterday that my fears were unwarranted.

Techno Babble Explained: An "E-mail client" is the software used to fetch and send e-mail messages. An "account" would be the mailbox on the internet which the e-mail client uses to communicate with the world wide web. A "rule" is a processing condition that is used to automatically process incoming e-mail. (There are many ways to use rule which are not limited to incoming e-mail.) "Folders" are the standard and customized places to store sent and received e-mail.

Because of the many changes in my organization as well as a need to better manage e-mail, contacts, and appointments, I decided that a quiet Saturday was the right time I was waiting for. I found my Microsoft Office CD, inserted it in the drive, took a deep breath, hovered my mouse over the Outlook installation link, closed my eyes and clicked.

I don't know if it was because I was so reluctant to upgrade or my dread of all the things I will have to fix when this screwed up my accounts and rules, but it seemed like the little installation progress bar was moving in slow motion. In reality, it took about 15 minutes for the "installation complete" words to come up on my monitor.

Installation complete! I clicked okay and nothing happened. No blue screen, no lock up, nothing! It's looked like my same desktop as before except the old Outlook 2000 icon was missing. That's interesting. Looking in my "Quick Launch" box, I noticed a new icon so I clicked it.

Microsoft Outlook 2007 came up a little slowly, I assumed it was processing the rest of the installation, and though the screen was exceptionally different than the 2000 version, I could see that all of my e-mail was there (including the archive), they were in there proper folders and everything appeared to be just right.

Well that was too easy.
As I looked at everything on my screen, it seemed like everything was were it was supposed to be. Being skeptical, I clicked the "send and receive" button expecting it to fail. It didn't! As a matter of fact, it worked perfectly and seemed faster than before checking several accounts at once.

Found the glitch! My rules were not processing properly. For some reason, the new version didn't like my rules. Simply put, I have many rules that route e-mail to a custom folder depending on what account they are received from or which e-mail address the e-mail was sent to. I clicked on the rules button expecting a complicated and time consuming process of rewriting my rules but they were all there!

The rules interface us much better than before! Basically, it lists all of the rules and highlights the ones with problems. When you single click on the listed rule, a little preview box at the bottom shows the rule and allows you to select the condition with the problem. This is apposed to having to double click each rule to discover the issue and then backing out to the list.

Since the broken rule issue was related to "when received from account," all I did was click the account link, and then select the correct account all from the little preview window. It was simple and took about 3 minutes to modify 10 or more accounts. Not all had issues, but the ones with issues were clearly marked and easy to find.

There are many great things about this new version that I could highlight and probably will in the future. I love the new calendar and task lists! I love the new layout! I love the way signatures, themes and formatting are managed. I do however have one more feature that is indispensable and likely my favorite of all... the junk mail filter!

Getting rid of Spam.
As I mentioned, I have dozens of accounts and receive hundreds of e-mail every day. I would venture to say that most of the e-mail I receive is junk. I am so very careful not to publish my e-mail address online anywhere, almost to obsessive compulsive standards, yet some accounts have been discovered none the less and I am inundated with junk mail. It is exceptionally bothersome.

The way Outlook handles junk is wonderful! Even though I don't completely understand what is happening nor how Outlook decides which is junk and which is not, it seems to work very well. There are overrides so if a good e-mail is sent to junk, you can right click and select "not-junk" so that sender will be ignored in the future. Alternatively, junk that makes it through the filter can be flagged as such and sent directly to the place is belongs.

One other nice thing about Outlook is the fact you can select which way you want to display your received e-mail. On the topic of junk mail, I was exceptionally uncomfortable with the auto preview because of embedded graphics, pictures and other ways the spammers track they statistics. On the junk mail folder, I have removed the preview screen but still get a little text sample of the e-mail allowing me to troll through the folder looking for those e-mail that may have been junked inadvertently.

Yep, I'm happy I upgraded! I have lots of work to do because I will be installing a local Exchange Server as well as automating the process of publishing a public calendar to the web. One step at a time, the first step was installing Outlook 2007 on my own computer and testing it out, now I can move forward comfortable in my decision and start installing it on the other computers in the office.

Labels: change, Microsoft, Outlook, outlook 2007, small business

This was posted by SoKy : 10:14 AM  0 comments links to this post

The value of of good record keeping in small business is sometimes hard to see until you actually need the information. I love good books that are complete, easy to understand and readily available. As a one horse operation however, it's easy to become lax and put things off in the name of productivity. It's a mistake.

Motivation for this blog post: This post is inspired by a loss of control for the past 6 months. On the heels of tax time and spending two days digging through stacks of receipts, statements and invoices, I am reminded how important good record keeping practices are. As an Internet consultant to small business, I tend to look for software solutions to aid in the organization and storage of my sales, contact, schedule and yes, financial records.

As my business grows, I am continually looking at better ways to keep up with the financial records of my companies. There are dozens of tools that can be used to making invoicing, bill paying and general bookkeeping easier, the most popular of these is QuickBooks.

There is much more to "record keeping" than just the financial books! From daily communications with clients, sales leads and customer resource management, there are many details that could and should be 'kept' organized and structured.

I've set up and/or used QuickBooks for several companies. From service oriented travel and web companies to retail and eCommerce, I've made QuickBooks work. The key phrase however is "made." The fact is, because QuickBooks is so popular, it seems to come off as a rubber stamp approach to financial management. Then, one must buy add-on products to handle other areas of business.

My "struggle" with QuickBooks has been the lack of integration with other records such as email and customer data. So I began to look for options. As a member of the Microsoft Partner Program, I am offered information about a wide variety of products from programming and development tools to simple accounting and contact management. Needless to say, this has me leaning toward a Microsoft solution, though I'm not afraid to look elsewhere.

At first glance it makes sense to use Microsoft product integration. All of my companies or those I have worked with have used Microsoft Office for the most part. They have used Microsoft Word for writing letters, MS Excel for spreadsheets and MS Outlook for email, calendar and contact management. Wouldn't it be great if there was a Microsoft product that would do invoicing, bank account management and accounting? Well, there is.

I am migrating from QuickBooks to Microsoft Office Accounting Professional 2007 which will be closely integrated with Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager. I could go on and on about the advantages and features of this combination but will allow you to decide for yourself.

My main objective is to simplify the process! I intend to integrate my banking records, online bill pay and credit card transactions into the new accounting process and procedure. All invoicing, expense records, contacts with clients will all be easily accessible by using tools that "talk to each other."

I have personally witnessed some of the most horrid setups of QuickBooks! Alternatively, I've seen some great setups that were under utilized. Frankly, I think the small business owner should invest a good amount of time learning and understanding sound accounting principals as well as effective contact management. It's from that core knowledge that a sound process and procedure can be created, established, taught to employees and then managed.

For many entrepreneurs, this record keeping and bookkeeping thing is too much trouble. For many, it's not the fun part of building a business that's for sure. Many people hire consultants, accountants and/or programmers to take care of this kind of thing. While that's a good solution in most cases, learning the why's and wherefore's of the process can help your business be more profitable.

Solutions
There is a company in town that does assist with setting up your computers, network and software. They have a thorough knowledge of Microsoft Office products as well as the many options available to small business. They also write custom software solutions for those businesses who need a specific solution. David W. Doran is a friend of mine and willing to help small business get set up, secure and productive. ISTT is a "Microsoft GOLD certified Partner" which is hard to come by in our area. Give David a call, let him know that I sent you! ISTT, Inc. 846 Broadway Ave Bowling Green, KY 42101 Phone:270-781-5096 FAX:270-781-5641 http://www.isttechnology.com/

I am still on the look out for a technically savvy small business accountant with skills and patience to help small businesses set up their own accounting policy. Frankly, I have not looked that hard but will keep my eyes open.

Banking
Online banking is a key part of my personal formula and will be it's own blog post in the future. I selected USBank a little more than a year ago and have decided to move my accounts to a local area bank. There are many considerations when selecting a bank, one of the important ones for me is online banking as well as electronic statements that can be easily imported into the software I use.

Since I am in the process of moving or establishing accounts for three different companies, I don't have enough information or experience to make a recommendation. I am leaving USBank primarily due to a lack of personal attention, unresponsiveness to my needs and the many extra unexplained charges I find on my statement. Also, I recently requested an Excel spreadsheet of my 2006 banking records and was told it was not available but I could get printed copies for $6.00 per page.

I can highly recommend American Express!!! I have been using them for years and have had as many as two business accounts with them at the same time. Their online banking is the best I've ever seen! And yes, I can get an Excel Spreadsheet of my spending on the card any time I want. While I do get the occasional customer service representative in India, they are very responsive to my needs.

Taxes
I know it's a little late to make a recommendation for a tax man, but really it's the tax season that inspired this post. I have been a client of Mike Buser for years. He is absolutely wonderful and very affordable. The specialize in tax preparation but also "dabble" in bookkeeping and payroll. Give Mike a call any time and he will patiently listen and offer advice as to what your small business requirements are. Thinking about next tax season now will not only help you be prepared, but could save you a million headaches later. If you call Mike, let him know you heard about him from me. Professional Tax Service, Inc. 600 31-W ByPass BOWLING GREEN, KY 42101 Phone - 270-781-4141 Fax - 270-842-4497 http://www.1040.com/protax/

It's all in the PLAN!
I've written many times about the importance of a good business plan. A very significant part of this plan is the accounting policy, process and procedure. It falls in the operations section of the business plan. Establishing a method to the madness of accounting is the first step in staying organized. While organization may not be important to some people, knowing where your money is coming from, where it is going and how it is being used can reveal a great number of opportunities to make changes that will make your business stronger.

Labels: Accounting, bookkeeping, Bowling Green, ISTT, Microsoft, Outlook, QuickBooks, small business, software

This was posted by SoKy : 2:53 PM  0 comments links to this post