Elusive information
QuickBooks 2011
Intuit Inc.
www.quickbooks.com
Information may want to be free, but that doesn't mean it wants to be found. QuickBooks 2011, the latest version of Intuit's market-leading accounting software, recognizes this, and includes a number of new features to make it easier to access elusive and enlightening data. Its Customer Snapshot and Customer and Vendor History views offer consolidated, at-a-glance access to important metrics, while the new QuickBooks Search lets users quickly locate customer, account, report or invoice details with a simple keyword search. The new release also has a number of features to make it easier to find customers' money, including batch invoicing; integration with Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail; and a Collections Center for quickly identifying overdue and almost-due invoices. And Intuit's new QuickBooks Connect solution, sold separately, lets users access and interact with QuickBooks data online or from mobile phones. In addition, Intuit has also released a new version of its QuickBooks Accountant, which now lets users work in two different company files at the same time.
Abundant information
Profitably.com
www.profitably.com
It isn't hard to generate more data than you can easily make use of; small businesses accumulate too much just as quickly and easily as large ones. The difference is that the large ones can afford expensive business intelligence and analysis software. Cloud-based business analysis platform Profitably aims to change that by offering QuickBooks users simple and intuitive insight into their QB data, so they can easily discover, for instance, the profitability of each individual customer, key spending areas, and much more.
Protected information
MobileVault Cloud Backup Services
Continuity Centers
www.continuitycenters.com
You've set up a data recovery and backup system in your office, right? But what about all the data that's going rogue - on laptops that are taken home, or to client engagements? It's off the grid, and a single laptop is a lot more likely to be lost than your whole in-office system. Continuity Centers' new MobileVault backup service, powered by cloud backup solutions developer Asigra, makes sure that data from these footloose computers gets saved automatically whenever they're connected to the Internet, with an easy-to-use interface for quick data restoration.
Save on chairs
RC Series Mobile Powered Workstation
Newcastle Systems
www.newcastlesys.com
At first glance, the RC Series Mobile Powered Workstation might merely look like a useful tool for warehouses or retail locations. It's essentially a wheeled desk that you can move around with its own eight-hour rechargeable power supply on board, and can come with holders for a keyboard, laptop, flat screen and barcode scanner. Then you start to think: It's essentially a desk. How much more flexible and less expensive would it be to just have desks that you can move around? The savings on chairs will be enormous, and it'll bring new meaning to the phrase "mobile workforce."
Mark-to-market mayhem
Chatham Financial valuation platform
Chatham Financial
www.chathamfinancial.com
In theory, mark-to-market makes a great deal of sense. In most cases, the present value of an asset is a more useful figure than its value at some point in the past - unless, that is, you can't figure out what its present value is. To help nail down those elusive values, Chatham Financial has greatly expanded its valuation platform for financial instruments. It now values over 20,000 debt and derivative transactions on a real-time, daily, monthly and quarterly basis, with technology designed to comply with all the appropriate accounting standards.
Easier amendments
ftwPro Amend
Wolters Kluwer Law & Business
www.ftwilliam.com
Those involved in pension plan administration know how painful making amendments can be, so the addition of ftwPro Amend to Wolters Kluwer Law & Business' ftwilliam.com portfolio will be welcome news. The module automates the creation of customized amendments by selecting specific changes made to the plan document checklist. It can automatically prepare a plan amendment, and generate a board action and a custom summary of material modifications.
New and improved!
The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters has released its Sabrix Tax Rate Calculator, an online tool for immediate determination and calculation of the latest tax rates. ... EMA Softech has released DataReconciler Lite, a free version of its DataReconciler Pro online data reconciliation solution.
