The best first step to getting started with the cloud might be to address remote access and mobility
It can be a confusing and convoluted trip if the first steps to cloud enabling the business are not the correct ones. Rather than stumbling about and approaching the problem with trial and error, it makes sense to start by enabling the solutions already in place, creating secure remote access and mobility for the desktop solutions the company has already invested in.
Extending workflows to embrace mobile workers and remote offices is the first step to developing an efficient anytime/anywhere business. Once the organization has developed an understanding of how remote teams work best together and has put in place the processes and framework within which they will operate, then it make sense to take the next step to investigate new applications and tools which could further improve and streamline operations.
Address remote working and mobility first to better understand what the other benefits and impacts might be with cloud computing models in the business. Then, when the business is operating from a more informed position, does it make sense to map the strategy to more fully embrace cloud technologies.
There is a lot of talk among IT professionals of “big data”, and discussions at many business conference tables center on how the organization might find greater benefit and advantage from the intelligence buried in the business systems and information. It is a two-part problem, where the collection and the analysis each play essential roles in developing real business intelligence.
“So what’s getting ubiquitous and cheap? Data.
And what is complementary to data? Analysis. ..”
Hal Varian, Chief Economist at Google and emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley
The information technology and systems in a business support the operation. Software and computers help people do their jobs, and the information collected in and generated by those systems becomes the foundation for developing business “intelligence”. Today, businesses must reach beyond their own direct operational support systems and consider the full realm of data to be collected, including IoT sensor data or social media data.
Business intelligence is gained from the analysis of the critical business data – analysis which helps owners and managers make better and more informed decisions which are based on an understanding of the business and market. Business intelligence was a term popularized in the 1990s, but the key was the analytical component (business analytics), which gained focus in the late 2000s. Today it is big data and big data analytics, where organizations are working with massive data sets not previously even imagined.
“…one of the most significant challenges facing enterprise IT teams today is how to efficiently support and enable the “science” of big data, while providing the confidence and maturity of more traditional (and often better understood) infrastructure services.”
The volume and velocity of information collection is ever-increasing even in the smallest of businesses, creating a great need for tools which can structure and correlate data so that it might render some insight. Simply storing and managing these huge and growing data sets has become a challenge, and there isn’t one right way.
Once the business has the data, then it must find a way to analyze the data, which generally involves also applying visualization tools. Many IT departments are feeling pressured in the development of new skills and capabilities around data collection and management, yet it is more frequently the business user who provides the analysis and applies visualization tools to the task.
“Data collected by the Aberdeen Group, found that employees in organizations that used visual data discovery were more likely to find the information they need, when they need it. These same companies were able to scale their use of scarce IT skills more effectively.”
The use of business intelligence and advanced analytics continues to grow in every segment of the market – from small business to enterprise – and plays an increasingly important role in supporting business success.
Until this point, most businesses didn’t have the technology or the data to enable significant quality or business transformation, but the times are changing and deployments of data collection, analysis and visualization software and tools are expanding with it. This is a fundamental aspect of business digital transformation and fuels the next step, where intelligence is applied to conditions revealed in the data and activities are automatically performed guided by that intelligence.
There is a big trend in software integration these days which involves automation – turning connected systems into free-flowing conduits for data to move intelligently into and out of with ease. Well, maybe not quite that, but the key is the unattended and intelligent movement of data from one system to another. People don’t have to get involved in order for the information to flow from one system to another… it just goes by itself. Like a robot.
Having software and systems connect to one another isn’t new at all, and businesses have for many years recognized the value of being able to have information entered in one system available in another. Entire ERP frameworks have been created based on this concept of entering data once and using it in many ways. The trick is when there is more than one system or software product involved.
A simple example might be someone who owns a web store and does their bookkeeping with QuickBooks Premier. The webstore isn’t running QuickBooks; it is running an e-commerce solution or shopping cart system that allows customers to buy things online. However, the webstore does create sales orders and charge transactions, and may even have to manage an inventory of saleable items.
Getting the information from the webstore to QuickBooks and vice versa is often a task business owners take on, either by entering the information manually themselves or hiring and employee to do it. This manual re-entry of information introduces a large potential for errors in the data entered and is time-consuming and costly.
“It was just awful,” said David Clothier, treasurer of the Knoxville, Tenn., company, which operates more than 500 Pilot Flying J truck stops nationwide. “There were humans everywhere.”
Rather than having a person re-type the information from one system into another, software-based integration programs may be available to help users map the data and move it from one solution to the other. Using a software program to transfer the information is much faster and reduces the error rate, increasing the overall value and usefulness of the information.
Automation isn’t the only requirement that makes this all robot-like. The additional requirement is the intelligence. If people still have to get directly involved in order for something to happen, then all the happening is still based on human performance. No robots here.
Intelligent integration of information occurs when the systems on both ends are capable of making decisions and acting on them. For example, a business might use a solution that allows vendors to submit their invoices electronically. Through a base of rules that match invoices to requests and approvals, the system is able to issue payment and record the transactions automatically and without human intervention, saving hugely on personnel and processing costs. Robots (the automation solution) wouldn’t make up all the rules, but could follow them repetitively and without question once established.
…software can help businesses operate more effectively. “If you think like a human, there are only certain things you can do. When you think like a robot, many things are possible.”
It isn’t a new paradigm for building businesses – this doing of things a bit smarter than before and leveraging technology to get more done in less time. The difference is that the pace of change is increasing, giving businesses less time to stand by and rub the chin and consider whether or not this new fangled technology makes sense. Robots, you say? Meet your new part-time bookkeeper.
The Department of Labor is finalizing a rule to update overtime protections for workers. “In total, the new rule is expected to extend overtime protections to 4.2 million more Americans who are not currently eligible under federal law, and it is expected to boost wages for workers by $12 billion over the next 10 years.”
This is a difficult subject for everyone involved – workers and business owners alike. Increases in minimum wage, increases in employee health care costs, and adjustments to wage and hour regulations all serve complicate and cost businesses more. Fair payment for time worked, a living wage, and protections for workers from employer abuse are things that are expected – deservedly so – by employees. Definitions vary, as do circumstances, so a one-size rule never really fits all and someone, somewhere, feels the burn.
A USA Today article on the subject describes Labor Secretary Thomas Perez as saying “the salary threshold was originally intended to exempt high-paid executives but instead has denied overtime to low-level retail supervisors and entry-level office workers who often toil 50 to 70 hours a week.”
On the other hand Dan Bosch, head of regulatory policy for the National Federation of Independent Business, was described as saying that “many small businesses can’t absorb the added cost and will instruct employees to work no more than 40 hours a week, bringing on part-time workers to pick up the slack”. From Trey Kovacs, policy analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute: “The Obama rule puts a huge cost and regulatory burden on employers, who will face pressure to cut back on benefits and full-time employees”.
A bill was introduced on Thursday by Republican congressional leadership hoping to block the proposed overtime rule. The proposed legislation, Protecting Workplace Advancement and Opportunity Act, is intended to ensure that the Department of Labor takes a “balanced and responsible approach to updating federal overtime rules.” Sponsors of the legislation include members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Part of the bill’s consideration may be the burden of record keeping and information management that just keeps growing ever larger. The current DOL changes, for example, now suggest that businesses must keep time and attendance records in detail for their salaried employees who might qualify for overtime compensation. Getting employees to keep time cards or complete timesheets may not be an easy thing to do, yet punching a timeclock and tracking their hours may become their new normal. Some employers, on the other hand, will elect to simply raise workers’ base pay to the new threshold, avoiding paying the overtime and skirting the need to keep detailed time records.
The extension of overtime protection to another 4.2 million Americans, and boosting wages by $12 billion over the next 10 years is the expectation for the new rule’s impact, although opponents suggest that employment (and employers) will suffer, reducing their workforces while absorbing costly HR management processes just in order to comply.
The rule is likely to touch nearly every sector of the U.S. economy, with the most notable adjustments occurring with nonprofits, retailers and hospitality (hotel and restaurants), as these are the industries generally having management-level workers whose salaries are at or below the new threshold. Whether the outcomes of the rule will be as expected remains to be seen, but it is certain that many businesses must now put in place software, systems and processes which will help not just help them comply with new wage and hour rules, but deliver enough intelligence to support better personnel management, employee scheduling and labor cost containment.
The office for a small business used to be where all the work got done. The hub of activity and productivity for a small business, the office was where you could connect with team members and co-workers and generally keep on the same page with what was going on in the business. Customer orders are taken, those orders are fulfilled, and bills are paid – all from the small business office. Yet today’s small business isn’t tied to the office location any longer.
Mobility and the cloud now provide businesses with mobile office options that allow users to get their jobs done no matter where they happen to be. Business moves at a fast pace, and mobility and remote access solutions help companies be more nimble. Collaborating while on the go and exchanging ideas and concepts quickly helps businesses be more agile and better-able to meet changing customer needs. Successful small business owners leverage mobility and action to beat the competition.
The cloud and Internet-based computing lets small businesses access and benefit from IT solutions that were previously only available to enterprise organizations. Better IT means being more competitive, giving smaller businesses a leg up and positioning them among even the largest of competitors. For the business owner, the freedom of being able to manage the entire business from anywhere delivers a freedom and flexibility previously unimagined.
Here are some ways hosted and cloud-based IT can help small businesses overcome everyday business challenges:
Reduce or Eliminate the Need for a Physical Office
Starting a business is tough, and many small business owners decide to use their own homes as a business location rather than forking over a bunch of lease money to a commercial realtor. Using hosting application services and cloud technologies can help keep team members and co-workers working together, no matter where they are located. Many businesses are able to get off the ground and operating successfully without ever having an established office.
Work when it Works for You
Remote desktops and hosted applications deliver functionality to users no matter where or when they need to work. With ready access to everything needed to get the job done, workers are able to be productive even when they’re not at a desk (or even a computer!). Smartphone and tablet apps can make working from a mobile device highly effective, extending productivity and capability to workers whenever and wherever it is required.
Keep Everyone on the Same Page
When systems are centrally located and accessed, it is easy to keep everyone on the same version, the same edition, and the same page. No matter where users are located, documents and application data are kept in sync, ensuring that everyone is working on the most current information available. Mobile access to applications and data keeps information from being distributed to various devices, making revision control easier and providing better protection for valuable business information.
Mobile computing and the cloud make it easy for small businesses to have better IT that enhances productivity and supports growth. Reducing capital costs and exchanging large technology investments with affordable monthly subscription service gives small businesses the boost they need to implement the solutions and services which will develop and improve collaboration, streamline workflows, and reduce overhead costs while enabling a fast-paced and agile business ready to meet any challenge.
Is this email legitimate? QuickBooks Payroll ACH ID Changes go live on the 22nd!
Trusted QuickBooks Advisors – here’s another thing for you to help your clients with
Intuit recently sent an e-mail to QuickBooks Online Payroll (QBOP) and QuickBooks Full Service Payroll (QBFSP) customers about an ACH ID change. It kind of looks like a phishing thing, but it is really a legitimate email from Intuit, and it is important to pay attention if your company uses the impacted services and a banking feature called “debit filtering”. There isn’t much time to act, either, because the changes go live in 3 days (February 22, 2016).
Impacted services are QuickBooks Online Payroll and QuickBooks Full Service Payroll, so it is pretty important to address. Nobody wants their business payroll processes interrupted, and this could easily do just that.
Intuit has added some new ACH ID numbers for use with direct deposit and other processes which work with the bank, so customers using a fraud-prevention method known as “debit filtering” will need to contact their banks to add the new IDs or their bank transactions will fail.
Debit filtering allows customers to tell their banks which ACH IDs are allowed to perform transactions with the bank account, like removing or depositing funds. It is an extra level of fraud security that protects the bank account from unauthorized access, but it is also something that can work against the business if it is not managed. In this case, contacting the bank to add the new IDs is critical to keeping things processing and flowing smoothly. It is also important that the old IDs not be removed yet, as they may be tied to historic transactions that must be tracked and reported on for tax and other purposes.
“Is this really from Intuit? It seems like Intuit would have a better way to make such changes than to ask millions of subscribers to contact their bank”
QuickBooks users don’t have much time to reach their banks and supply the new IDs, so pull the email out of the SPAM folder and call the bank right away. Intuit won’t be sending notices to the banks, and they have no authority to add different IDs to your approved list, anyway… which is a good thing. If just anyone could add an approved ACH ID on your account, then just anyone could get to your funds. Better to make the phone call yourself.
The best first step to getting started with the cloud might be to address remote access and mobility
Make Sense?
There is a lot of talk among IT professionals of “big data”, and discussions at many business conference tables center on how the organization might find greater benefit and advantage from the intelligence buried in the business systems and information. It is a two-part problem, where the collection and the analysis each play essential roles in developing real business intelligence.
Make Sense?
