Though paper may be a security blanket for some firms, digital documents present compelling opportunities and challenges. The accounting profession has been one of the last to adopt digital content management systems, and clients are starting to voice opinions about how firms can improve their service offerings and security.Consumer electronics are driving demands for business technology. In the past, advancements in business technology resulted in a great deal of new technology in the home. Today, search capabilities, portals, social networking and videos are exposing your clients to new ways of utilizing technology. Is your firm a leader, late adopter or resister when it comes to technology?

The movie, “Minority Report,” showed what technology could be, someday. No, this is not arresting before they commit crimes. It’s about scenes in which Tom Cruise’s character walks through a mall and animated holograms address him by name. Technology isn’t quite that personal, yet. But there are signs in the emerging generation of computing and telephony devices of yet-another revolution in hardware and software. Two devices have the potential to change our platforms: Microsoft’s Surface computer and Apple’s iPhone. Most of us are not going to be using iPhones to make calls, or using Surface technology to turn our coffee tables into computer devices soon. But the incredible clarity of the display of the iPhone and its wafer-thin profile and it ability to shift its image when the phone is turned, and Surface’s touch-screen technology in Surface, which is beyond what most of us have seen, will force technology companies back to the R&D labs. Surface is harder to grasp. At Microsoft’s World Wide Partner conference, Surface was on displayed to enthralled crowds. One demonstration involved what looked like glass blocks being shuffled across the computer’s surface. Separate, each showed the same picture. When put together, the picture grew to the size of the number of blocks that were contiguous “Like an insect’s eyes,” I remarked. “Exactly,” responded the demonstrator. I said I could see an immediate market—places like Casinos that have money and need “flash.” Indeed, a casino is one of the early buyers. The screen showed a graphical map of the facility, tailored so an individual could find show times and restaurants, make reservations, and accumulate and spend the points awarded valued gamblers. Mobile technology was already in turmoil before the iPhone. Surface is likely to have a less direct impact, and will be incorporated into other devices. This comes at a time when the role of operating systems and applications are likely to change dramatically over the next three years, certainly the next five. Or take the iPod, whose newest version can hold 20,000 songs. Of course, most teenagers won’t spend 99 cents a song: Hopefully, they’ll copy songs like most already do. No, this is about what the new capacity enables us to do that we couldn’t do before, and probably hadn’t thought of.

CCH has integrated its CertiTax software and Sales Tax Load Utilities with Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0.The company's CertiTax Plug-in for Dynamics GP 10.0 provides an interface from CertiTax, CCH's hosted sales tax calculation system, to the Dynamics GP 10.0 sales order process module.

Cougar Mountain Software released Version 2.6 of its Denali line of accounting software, with a new bank reconciliation module.The module lets Denali users cross-reference business transactions against bank statements, and reconcile checks and deposits. It collects information from other Denali modules and creates customizable reports.

The lightning flashed across the western plains sky with boom rolling into Denver . But rain never game. It was all flash, no substance. Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver this week has been a lot like the storms—all flash. Oh, there are thousands of people here. But this is a show that has never gained focus.

CCH said it will begin reselling tax exemption certificate management software and services from Imaging Science and Services Inc. on an exclusive basis worldwide.The products automate the organization of sales tax exemption and resale certificates. They include TeamsExpress on Demand, a hosted system for managing a database of tax documents, and LineLinkXL, a Microsoft Excel add-in.

Thomson Tax & Accounting released Version 8.0 of its ePropertyTax software, adding extra edit, query and data entry features to the Web-based system for commercial property taxpayers.The upgrade expands the mass-editing tool to help users copy, paste, import and export data throughout the system. Users can now customize queries in any data field to search for information.

Before the advent of the personal computer, computerizing a business' accounting was a daunting experience, costing thousands of dollars just for the software component. Many companies hired a team of programmers to either customize a "turnkey" system of hardware and software to their specific requirements, or to write their own accounting applications.All that changed when the first PCs hit the market.

INTUIT ROLLS OUT NEW LACERTE TRIAL BALANCE UTILITYIntuit Inc. has introduced a new trial balance utility for Lacerte tax software users.

As firms begin to plan for 2007-2008, they should be wary of relying on previous strategies for technology. Technology will remain an important tool as the accounting profession transforms; but remember, it must be employed with vision, leadership and strategy. Technology can't fix problems associated with poor leadership, management and the inability to attract quality people.The profession has been stuck in "me too" mode in terms of technology. Firms that differentiate themselves have invested significantly in end-user training and digital content management - including the use of client portals. They also have adequate IT support for end users, either from internal or external resources.

I am still surprised by the number of CPA and IT professionals - from firms both large and small - who are unable to articulate their core values, or the guiding principles of their firm. That is why I wanted to write this article, in the hopes that you would be motivated to define, communicate and then model your firm's values.WHY WOULD YOU?

The end of the Doug Burgum era in accounting software era has come with a jolt, and a probable change of direction. Microsoft reached into the Microsoft Business Division, into which Burgum’s Microsoft Business Solutions has been nested for some time, and pulled out Kirill Tatarinov, corporate VP of Microsoft’s Enterprise Management and Solutions group and the leader of MBS, which markets the Dynamics accounting software and CRM lines. Tartarinov joined Microsoft in 2002, coming from BMC Software, where he was senior vice president and chief technology officer, a background with some relevance. The big guns were rolled out, notably Jeff Raikes, the vice president who is one of the top three executives and responsible for about $15 billion in revenue. There’s not much to be learned in a 15-minute phone conversation with someone at Raikes’ level in a joint call with Tami Reller. But it shows a commitment to MBS, especially at a time when people are leaving, including Reller, a corporate VP over the Dynamics lines and a long-term Burgum team member.. Key people have left MBS in the last two months. Craig McCollum moved to the worldwide small and midmarket solutions and partners group. Lynn Stockstad, VP of strategic marketing, is now in charge of worldwide marketing for the enterprise customer segment marketing. Whatever will happen, it is going to happen under people who have not worked with the channel and who seem to have in common a much stronger technology background. Back in March, in what can only be described as a botched public relations effort, the company slid in Klaus Andersen, a Copenhagen-based VP to the position of VP of sales and operations just as Satya Nadella was being yanked away from his intended role as Burgum’s replacement. At the same time, the channel is changing. Witness the June acquisition of Iteration2, a $27 million reseller. by Hitachi Consulting earlier this month. I once said that Iteration2 made its living poaching off the bottom of the Oracle market and that is an important concept. Coupled with the personnel moves, and the continuing gossip in the market that AX is the product of the future, the element that could tie these things together is that Microsoft will move upstream aggressively to take business away from Tier 1 companies. Look at Tatarinov’s largely enterprise experience. After all, the lower end of the market is being closed off by products like QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions. In the middle of the midmarket, everyone is competing in the same price range. But for Tier 1 customers, AX is a bargain. From a strategic point of view, it makes sense—that’s where the most money is--if Microsoft can steal business away from the likes of Oracle and SAP. As they say, follow the money.

Online business management applications provider NetSuite has filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its planned initial public offering. NetSuite said that Credit Suisse Securities will be lead manager of the IPO and WR Hambrecht + Co. as co-manager. The number of shares as well as the price ranges have yet to be determined. Copies of the preliminary prospectus for the offering, when available, may be obtained from Credit Suisse Securities at (800)-221-1037.

Sage Software has released the latest version of its billing application, Timeslips by Sage 2008. The new offering allows greater capability for determining when clients should be billed based on billing criteria set up by users. For example, Timeslips can be set up to create bills for clients who have not been billed in 30 days, when they hit an established billing limit, or other user-defined billing scenarios. New user-defined accounts receivable and funds reports allow businesses to create customized summary and itemized reports within Timeslips. The ability to create AR or funds reports in Timeslips eliminates the need to export data into Microsoft Excel and encourages a more efficient collection process, the company said. "There were a lot of improvements and enhancements to our existing features. What we did is really give them the ability to build their type of reports by summary or itemized information," product marketing manager Shannon Lindner told WebCPA. Lindner explained that the enhancements were based on customer feedback. Lindner said this new version allows users to view multiple customers on the program's main screen, instead of just one customer as offered in the previous version. Users will also be able to skip a step when printing out their labels and envelopes. With the new version, once users print out their bills, the corresponding labels and envelopes will be printed out as well. "We gave them the capability of automating the process," Lindner said. For more information call (800)-285-0999 or visit www.timeslips.com.

ProAdvisors span the nation, consulting with many of the 3.7 million QuickBooks customers on how to get better use of their software. Now Intuit hopes to convince a portion of those 40,000 ProAdvisors, as well as resellers of competitors’ products like Sage Software’s MAS line and Microsoft Dynamics GP, to add QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions to their toolkits. Could this plan be realized, or is it just a pipedream? Intuit began beta-testing this channel strategy a year ago, and by its QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions user conference in San Diego earlier this month, announced that 94 people had signed on, including a handful of the competition’s resellers. The goal is to hit 250 around the time of its 2008 user conference and 750 by July 2010. Unlike its competitors, Intuit essentially is starting from scratch in its attempts to formalize its channel. “We didn’t have a bona fide VAR program with a clear role for the channel,” channel director Jim Gregg acknowledged during the conference. “We don’t have much flesh on the bone right now.” That leads to a challenging path ahead. The QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program began in 1999 and provides members with product discounts, free training and an online resource center to help accountants market and run their practices. These members have formed a community over the years and some even compete with each other to be first to acquire the latest certification. Now Intuit must push them to either upsell their current clients who have outgrown the lower-level application or convince users of more complex and expensive products to switch. What’s challenging is that many accountants who hold the ProAdvisor title are uncomfortable with the selling stage of engagements and are dependent on Intuit for help, according to Gregg. While the vendor aims to provide its channel with 50 percent of their leads, it expects them to generate the other 50 percent, he says. Program participants receive a 25 percent margin, which could jump to 50 percent if they sell two deals per month, and Intuit plans to offer coop marketing assistance in the future and expand the Intuit Developer Network to encourage VARs to sell other products. Sounds fair enough. But when you look at Sage’s highly structured channel program, which offers sales training, marketing coaching and clearly defined plans to help its partners succeed, Intuit’s program looks like the little engine that could—or at least that might. Add that to the fact that Sage execs at their May partner conference in Orlando discussed plans to bring Peachtree Quantum into the channel, and the hill grows a bit steeper for Gregg’s team. He says he hasn’t seen much competition from Quantum yet, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t coming. Dynamics resellers, however, are demonstrating interest, quickly returning inquisition calls from Intuit, according to Gregg. That is not hard to believe being that Microsoft’s channel is so large it doesn’t need to nurture it. What can Intuit do to entice Sage resellers to take on its mid-market product when Sage has its own and rewards partners who sell only its products under the Sage Select program? It might benefit by providing more individualized attention to VARs, demonstrating a clear commitment to helping them grow. It’s on the right track, with plans to add a marketing manager, channel manager and training manager in the next three months. But it’s going to take a lot of steam for this little engine to catch up with the locomotives.

Online business management applications provider NetSuite Inc. has launched NetSuite 2007.0, an offering that focuses on three key areas: an enterprise resource management system focused on ease- of use; a global customer relationship management and partner relationship management; and built-in suite analytics designed for the small to midsized market. The company, headquartered here, also has developed new NetSuite Assistants, a component of NetSuite 2007.0 that eases the setup, data import and ongoing administration of complex tasks. In addition, NetSuite has added assistants for complex ERP areas such as multi-dimensional product configuration and transactional form layout. Orders, forecasts, quotas and commissions can now be managed on a per-country basis in local currency to help streamline the management of global sales operations. In addition, all countries can then be rolled-up into a single dashboard for a consolidated global view across the entire organization. In a related launch, the company has also released SuiteAnalytics, a business intelligence tool that integrates pre-built dashboards and pre-configured key performance indicators with new analytics capabilities, - including the ability to embed Excel-like formulas in any NetSuite Performance Scorecard or saved-search report. For more information about NetSuite 2007.0, visit www.netsuite.com/2007.0.

Write-up and payroll software provider Universal Business Computing Company said it has added a data importing/exporting feature to its applications. UBCC said that its data importing/exporting feature enables users to send reports to paper, PDF, CSV/Excel files with partial-run capability by date range, by state, labor distribution codes, and employee. For more information, call (800)-827-8610 or visit www.ubcc.com.

M5 Networks Inc. wants to get rid of your phone system.

OSI UNVEILS TRAVERSE 10.5

How a firm deals with an underperforming partner defines the strength of its management. Well-managed firms deal with it in a professional manner, rather than ignoring the problem.