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Showing posts from March, 2012

2012 Post-Convergence Wrap Up

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Another Convergence has come and gone. This just happened to be the largest Convergence ever with over 10,000 attendees, and 40% of those attendees were existing Microsoft Dynamics GP customers. This was our 10th consecutive year sponsoring Convergence and each one provides us with something new. Some of the big announcements Microsoft had this year included a demo of Microsoft Dynamics ERP running Metro UI on a tablet. With Windows 8, Microsoft is pushing the Metro user interface which features a cleaner and more refined layout that is optimized for tablets and mobile devices. Another big announcement was GP 12/2013 web client. This will allow Dynamics GP to run from a browser, which will have to be Internet Explorer. Microsoft is also stating that all GP windows and third party add-on products should be available to work right away. Not everything was business, and we had time to party, sponsoring the Rock-N-Rave party, which was held at Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar and Lucky Strike Lane

Oakland County offers Facebook workshops

Business owners and entrepreneurs are invited to attend workshops in April offered by the Oakland County Business Center. This month, they are offering a series of three Facebook workshops in addition to the regular monthly seminars. held at the Oakland County Executive Office Building Conference Center 2100 Pontiac Lake Road, Waterford Township. For registration and location specifics, visit www.oakgov.com/peds/calendar or call 248-858-0783. Center for Empowerment & Economic Development (CEED) Microloan Orientation — Many small business owners face obstacles when trying to obtain a business loan. Topics discussed at this workshop include the requirements and process necessary to apply and obtain a microloan. This workshop is 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 4. It is free, but registration is required. Business Research: Feasibility to Expansion is for those thinking of starting a business and business owners who want to benchmark profit margin and other measures agains

Success is the top priority

It may seem silly, but the pursuit of success often gets put on the back burner. Too often, businesses and workers go into complacent survival mode. Simply taking a step back and rethinking the approach to a task can usually make a dramatic difference in the outcome. At the very least, it can improve the worker's attitude. Sometimes it's impossible to take time for that. This should not be a constant scenario. There should be time periodically, to shift gears, evaluate what's happening, listen to new ideas and be open to change. While planning is good, there shouldn't be too much time spent in planning or research or else the goal gets too far away. When describing a solution to a team, use examples either visual or spoken, to "show" what you mean. Use a trial run, to test an idea. Priorities should center on what brings success. If an activity doesn’t seem to be productive, then ask why does it need to be done. If a process seems cumbersome, maybe there is a

Tips for taxes without tipping the government

American Institute of CPAs offers 10 tips for filing your 2011 tax return   Tax season is here again. While individual tax returns are not due until April 17 this year, America’s CPAs remind taxpayers that not waiting till the last minute will make filing easier and the process smoother. Here are 10 questions and answers from the American Institute of CPAs to help make sure you pay no more taxes than you should and to give you peace of mind that you’ve done everything required. Q.        How do I get ready to file my tax return? A.         Gather your W-2s and 1099s . The simplest thing to do is also the most important: Keep the W-2 and 1099 forms you receive where you won’t lose them and where you can easily find them. You can’t complete or file your returns without them. Q.        What else do I need to do? A.        Collect your other records: Round up all of the receipts, canceled checks and other documents that support the income, deductions, and credits you’ll be reporti

eSource 3 to Launch at Convergence 2012

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At Convergence 2012 in Houston Azox will be unveiling its latest e-commerce solution, eSource 3, which helps Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 users by connecting their Sales Order Processing and Inventory with their web store. This will be the tenth year Azox has been a sponsor at Convergence and the latest solution adds easier online setting and catalog engine management, mobile store capability, linked attributes for narrowing of search results (i.e. make/model/year), swatch capabilities for displaying multiple product styles, and shorter URLS which will help improve search engine optimization. Stop by Booth 1210 to learn more about Azox latest e-commerce release and how companies can connect e-commerce and Microsoft Dynamics GP and how it can help businesses grow online.

Five ways to know when you’re done

Submitted by Dottie DeHart of DeHart & Company Public Relations Click here for a review of Your Best Just Got Better Hoboken, NJ (March 2012)—There simply aren’t enough hours in the work day (or even the work week!) to accomplish everything on our to-do lists. Worse yet, when we finally do get on a productivity roll, there always seems to be a distraction (or two, or three) waiting in the wings to throw us off course. But the reality, says Jason Womack, is that we could actually accomplish a lot more each day if we would just learn to recognize and acknowledge when we’re done with what we’re doing. “One of the biggest time wasters we all face is spending too much time on those things that don’t require it,” says Womack, a workplace performance expert, executive coach, and author of the new book Your Best Just Got Better: Work Smarter, Think Bigger, Make More (Wiley, February 2012, ISBN: 978-1-118-12198-6, $24.95). “It often seems that we put off the most important things on our to

Sending photos to The Oakland Press

Working at a newspaper, I receive many emails with photos. It’s nice that people typically email them as .jpg files. Those are the best. (We can also use tiffs). The quality of submitted photos is usually pretty good but sometimes not good enough for the process that photos go through to end up on a newspaper page. The printing process can stress the quality of a good photo. For starters, the size of the photo needs to be 300 KB or larger, unless it’s a portrait picture of an individual. Even those need to be larger than 50 KB. We can't use photos that are copied from a website. The next big thing is focus. If it is blurry to look at it, it will not print well. Digital cameras are great and inexpensive. But there is one thing people often don’t realize. You need to depress the shoot button slightly, to engage the automatic focus before taking the snapshot. That makes a sharper photo. Photos with people in them are always preferred. We need the names of anyone in the photo, from lef

Stop By Our Booth and Win Prizes from Azox Customers

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Stop by our booth 1210 at Convergence from March 18-21 and win prizes from our customers Electra Bike, Five Hour Energy, Klim, Taurus USA, and Okeefee's/Gorilla Glue.

Business calendar

March 6: Detroit Economic Club meets The Detroit Economic Club presents The Honorable Fred Hochberg, chairman and president, Export-Import Bank of the U.S., 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 6. The cost is $45 club members and $55 for guests of members; $75 for non-members. Visit w ww.econclub.org or call 313-963-8547 for additional information. March 7: Real Estate Investors host Mr. Landlord “Mr. Landlord” (Jeffrey Taylor), a nationally known landlording expert and author, will speak on finding qualified prospects , having tenants leave the property in move-in condition and how to increase monthly cash flow when filling vacancies at the regular meeting of the Real Estate Investors Assoc. of Oakland 5:30-9:30 p.m. Thursday, March 8 at Club Venetian, 29310 John R. Road, Madison Heights. The seminar is free to members and $20 for nonmembers. Visit www.REIAofOAKLAND.com or call 800-747-6742 for information. March 8: HR summit Walsh College presents an HR Summit 8 a.m. t