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Document Imaging is for Work, Paper is for Play. IDT's Digital Document Scanning & Conversion Services can quickly reduce your paper document backlog.

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Fun Facts

93% of small businesses rate reliability of product and services as the most important consideration when choosing a technology vendor according to a study conducted by The Wall Street Journal.

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According to Webs.com, today's business owners are using social media in these top 4 ways: 40.8% to attract new customers, 27.6% for promoting company brand, 15.7% to communication company news, and 11.3% for keeping in touch with existing customers.

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From groundbreaking to opening day, Disneyland was built in just 365 days and had 18 major attractions. Today, there are more than 60 adventures and attractions.

Integration Insider

September 2011

2011 has certainly shaped up to be the year of WEATHER. Regardless of where you live or work, you've probably experienced some sort of adverse weather such as

  • devastating tornado outbreak in the spring
  • floods in the Northern Plains and Mississippi River Valley
  • fires in the southwest and Texas
  • earthquakes
  • record setting heat
  • and recently Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee bringing massive flooding across the south and east coast.

In light of all that, if you haven't thought about disaster recovery for your business, especially for your financial data and customer records, please contact us for assistance or recommendations. We want to work with you to ensure your business survives any unexpected weather (or other) conditions. Check out this excellent government website, Ready Business. The section titled "Plan to Stay in Business" could be especially relevant to man-made or natural disasters that could affect the continuity of your business functions.

Sincerely,

Michael Ciabattari
President
Microsoft Silver Certified   

What Am I?

Writes like pen-on-paper. Replaces paper wherever you use a clipboard, scanner or fax today. What am I?... Click here to find out: http://t.co/QX9pHbi3.

Tablet

But Everyone Else Is Doing It!

Who hasn't thought at some point in time that they should do what everyone else is doing so they don't get left behind? Lately, the hot topic has been social media. No matter where you turn you are hearing about social media, whether it's the movies, the news, or even while you are shopping. For some time now people have been connecting using Facebook, posting their thoughts to a blog, or sending out tweets to keep their friends updated.

More recently businesses have started to figure out how to capitalize on using social media to reach their customers which has created a rush similar to the late 90's when companies were creating web pages because everyone else was doing it. In most cases, some of those early websites were pretty bad. People savvy enough to use the web would see that and make judgments about the company based on the presence they created for themselves.

Fast forward to today and the same idea applies to social media. When you visit a blog and see that there is only a random post every few months, or that nothing has been tweeted in 6 months, what image does that portray? When it comes to social media, reaching your audience is critical to its success. Not only does a good social media presence make you more visible in Internet searches it helps customers or prospects feel connected to you.

Before you create your social media presence you may consider reading this blog post Social Media: Finding the Right Fit for Your Small to Medium Business. Melissa Zieger has a great perspective on social media and what you should consider before you jump in.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Launches New "Cloud CRM for Less" Offer

Are you on a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) product from Oracle, Salesforce.com, or SAP? Now is your chance to save some money and switch to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online! Until March 31, 2012 qualified organizations can get $150 USD for each CRM Online license they purchase. Imagine the savings -if you purchase 50 licenses you would receive $7,500! You can then use this money to help accelerate the implementation with the help from a Certified Microsoft Partner like us. You can read the full press release or if you are interested in more information please give us a call at 877-SCAN-IDT or send an email to [email protected] to discuss your options.

Microsoft Launches New ERP Focused Website

Microsoft launched a newly refreshed website dedicated to the Microsoft Dynamics� ERP product lines. When you visit this new site at http://www.microsoft.com/erp you will find a new layout that has all of the resources that you are familiar with. There are also many great links to information that you may not have been aware of. From webcasts to industry resources to videos, give it a try and let us know what you find!

Take a Guided Tour Of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

It's not often that you get a guided tour of online software but that is exactly what the Microsoft Dynamics� CRM team is offering. The CRM (Customer Relationship Management) team has been busy; they have taken the time to put together a great resource that helps you find the information you need when considering Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online. There are recorded videos, relevant downloads, and links to web resources.

The topics covered include:

  • Installing and Using the Microsoft Outlook Client for CRM 2011
  • Streamlining CRM 2011 Online
  • Configuring Business Units and Security Roles
  • Creating Workflows
  • Data Import
  • Extending CRM 2011

With such a great tool available it doesn't hurt to give Microsoft Dynamics CRM a try. You can find the information on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Blog in this post Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 ~ Online Test Drive Guide. If you are interested in a free trial let us know and we can help you get started today. Give us a call at (877) SCAN-IDT or send an email to [email protected] we look forward to hearing from you.

Let Microsoft Dynamics GP Manage Your Business

Curious about the "real" business benefit of a new financial management solution? Want to "try before you buy"? Microsoft has an excellent interactive demo available for your viewing pleasure. In a very easy fashion it walks you through several steps while you click on the screen as if you were actually using the software. This helps you see what the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 interface looks like. The demonstration covers a few sample scenarios that many executives encounter. Utilizing the company overview dashboard of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 and the integration of other Microsoft platform products, executives can easily:

  • Observe trends in key metrics
  • Delegate tasks
  • Prepare for a meeting

Visit the Microsoft Dynamics ERP page to try the Manage your business video as well as other interactive demos that will help you decide if Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 is the right fit for you.

9 Financial Rules to Keep Your Business Strong

Did you know that at the end of the 20th century, only 10 years ago, research showed that half of small businesses failed in the first five years? Recently, similar research showed the mortality rate for small businesses had increased by 20% to half failing in the first four years. So if you don't want to become part of this sobering statistic, check out the 9 financial rules for keeping your business strong from Jim Blasingame.

I'll share the first 3 right here:

  1. Produce regular (at least quarterly) and accurate financial statements (balance sheet and profit-and-loss).
  2. Hire an accounting firm to help you. Too expensive? How expensive is failure?
  3. Purchase and use one of the financial management software programs. Ask your CPA for a recommendation.

If you haven't implemented one of the financial management software programs, it's time to check out Microsoft Dynamics GP. An award winning solution, Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains) enables you to make smart decisions that have a direct impact on your bottom line-increasing margins and improving your cash flow - which, as Jim mentions in his financial rules, is critical to staying out of the business obits. Simple to learn and use, Microsoft Dynamics GP works with your existing technology and is ideally suited to small to medium growing business. For more information on Microsoft Dynamics GP, check out our website at http://www.idt-inc.com/products/erp.asp.

Advanced Searching Technique

If you have ever tried to look up something using an Internet search engine like Google or Bing you know that depending on what you type you are bound to get to broad results. If your search term is bringing back results that aren't relevant there is an easy way to exclude those from your results. First type your search term into the search box. If you are using Google all you have to do is add the "-" hyphen directly in front of the word you don't want to have included in your results making sure there is no space between your word and the "-" hyphen. For Bing just add "-()" around the word you want to exclude. For example if you were to search on the word "example" you would see the first entry is from Wikipedia and that it is about a musician. So if you try the search again using one of the lines below you would get a different result.

  • Using Google the search would look like this: example -musician
  • Using Bing the search would look like this: example -(musician)

Give it a try using just the word example and you will see the difference.

Useful Excel 2010 Shortcuts

If you spend much time working with Microsoft Excel you might know how handy shortcuts can be. Here are a few you may not have been aware of:

  • Ctrl+D - Uses the Fill Down command to copy the contents and format of the topmost cell of a selected range into the cells below.
  • Ctrl+R - Uses the Fill Right command to copy the contents and format of the leftmost cell of a selected range into the cells to the right.
  • Ctrl+K - Displays the Insert Hyperlink dialog box for new hyperlinks or the Edit Hyperlink dialog box for selected existing hyperlinks
  • CTRL+; - Enters the current date.
  • CTRL+9 - Hides the selected rows.
  • CTRL+0 - Hides the selected columns.
  • CTRL+SHIFT+( - Unhides any hidden rows within the selection.

The companies of IDT (Integrated Document Technologies, Inc.) support small, mid-market and enterprise firms in achieving maximum efficiency by offering fully integrated ECM, ERP and CRM solutions.

 

Founded in 1992, IDT's initial focus was helping companies effectively apply automated enterprise content management solutions to eliminate paper and better manage every business transaction. With the inception of IDT Consulting in 2001, the company offers ERP and CRM solutions and in-depth knowledge of how financial systems work and how to streamline the accounting process. Today, IDT Consulting is a Gold Certified Microsoft Partner specializing in Dynamics GP, Dynamics CRM, and Microsoft SharePoint. Visit our website at www.idtconsulting.com.