Acumatica Cloud ERP Video Tip: Setting Up Automated Email Reports

On Friday June 11th, Net at Work sponsored the 12HoursOfTech conference as part of NY Internet Week. The event was produced by SmallBizTechnology and was targeted at providing small and medium size business (SMB) with insight and actionable information about how to effectively use technology. Here are some valuable highlights from the day’s presentations: Amazon.com style selling Personalized selling (like Amazon.com) is driven by understanding customers Amazon turned a market place into a community by being obsessive about their customers The difference between a great organization and an average one – Great organization find a way to say YES to their customers If an interaction is not recorded it is not strategic – ever interaction needs to be stored CRM is the system of record for customer interaction CRM must be a “way of life” for a company Don’t just collect customer feedback and ideas – Act on them CRM implementations are never complete – they need to evolve as businesses mature and change Obsess about customers. Empower employees. Be diligent about understand changes Concentrate on core competencies and engage experts, when needed Online/Social Media/eMail Marketing Build credibility with your community before problems occur Authenticity is a key to trust Marketing has changed from yelling at potential customers to listening to and participating in a community God gave you two ears, one mouth – listen twice as much as you talk Create, distribute, share, & comment on content with real value Always give more than you ask in return While search ranking (SEO) is important it is not the key factor, especially if you don’t reach the right prospects Schedule and coordinate marketing efforts across all channels – get maximum exposure with minimum intrusion Create a publishing calendar for social media marketing In eMail marketing subject line is the most important part of the message Break your eMail message into short segments of copy Buttons instead of text – increases response by average of 6% Add eMail opt in to your Facebook community page Use “We’ve missed you” eMails to reconnect with customers Know the source of people on your eMail lists – target them with different campaigns SMS (Text Message) Marketing There were 1.5 Trillion Text Message sent in the US last year “Short Codes” are 5-6 character numbers that are standard addresses across all carriers Mobile Display Ads are less effective than Browser Banner Ads – hence have lower costs (CPM) Permission is critical to success with SMS Marketing Effective Mobile Marketing tactics include; Coupons, Reminders, Event Alerts, Polling, & Contests Make sure to add Mobile Marketing Call to Action (text XXXX to 9999 to receive valuable offers) to all marketing communications Case studies show real ROI for SMS Marketing – $15 text blasts resulted in +$1,000 in revenue Online Reputation Management 90% of people trust recommendations from people they know 70% of people trust recommendations from people they don’t know 67% of people buy more if you have customer product reviews on your site Make it easy to collect, respond to, and showcase customer feedback Don’t be afraid of negative feedback Most often people post negative to get problems resolved 90% of negative reviews can be turned around Be the first to address mistakes and comments – customers appreciate engagement Use customers as competitive weapons Franchises can benefit from centralized control over customer review responses Online Video Production Length of average online video = 4 minutes Be sure your videographer is insured Be aware of building/business restrictions on filming at a location Post a waver/disclaimer when filming at an event Make sure that standard release forms are used in interviews Make sure that any music is cleared and royalty free or licensed Stay focused and “on-message” Local Search Business owners can create a free account at biz.yelp.com Placements in local search often fail because they focus too much on image and not on content You can find the agenda for the event here: http://www.12hoursoftech.com/agenda.php

Sage announced the addition of Sage SalesLogix KnowledgeSync alerts, the Sage SalesLogix Customer Portal and additional Web administration enhancements for Sage SalesLogix Cloud and on-premises users. The features are the latest in a series of ongoing enhancements that extend CRM flexibility and business value beyond traditional SaaS offerings. Sage SalesLogix KnowledgeSync increases the usefulness of data by proactively monitoring Sage SalesLogix and notifying specific users when key sales opportunities are identified, customer support issues need addressing or important activities within a sales cycle are due. KnowledgeSync users can define dynamic business rules and criteria including dates and dollar amounts within the CRM system that trigger alerts and determine who they are sent to. Businesses using Sage SalesLogix Cloud CRM can improve their customersí support experiences and reduce service costs by offering 24×7 self-service through the Sage SalesLogix Customer Portal. Customers can view, add, or edit tickets and submit comments and attachments via the Web and the Sage SalesLogix Customer Portal will automatically assign tickets to support representatives based on defined criteria. Additional Sage SalesLogix Cloud Web administration enhancements improve flexibility for creating user, team, and group security profiles that govern who can access and edit data, and what actions they can perform within specific areas of the CRM system. Enhanced Standard Problems and Resolutions functionality and Lead Qualification capabilities further improve ease of administration and user productivity. Learn more about SalesLogix CRM Cloud  

Gartner’s latest annual CIO Agenda survey of more than 3,000 CIOs in 98 countries found that 95 per cent of CIOs expect digitalization to change their jobs. IT delivery is seen as a given, with the two-key transformation in the role being change leadership and the assumption of greater and broader responsibilities. Growth the priority The number-one priority – reported by 26 per cent of CIOs – is growth. The upside of digitalization is that it enables new products and services. This means new ways to generate revenue, new ways to deliver business value and new ways to engage with customers and stakeholders. The key challenges, according to Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst Andy Rowsell-Jones, are scaling up from digital experiments, and ensuring that organizations have the right culture to make the required changes a success. “A wall exists between those early digital experiments and pilots, and those that have achieved digital scale [CIOs] must recognize existing cultural strengths and position cultural change as ‘the next chapter,’ rather than a massive overhaul,” he noted. Looking beyond IT Some 84 per cent of CIOs now have responsibilities beyond traditional IT – typically for innovation and transformation. Accompanying this is a shift in accountabilities to take encompass business outcomes as well as IT delivery (the ideal split between these two is 56 percent business, 44 per cent IT). As these responsibilities expand, business intelligence and analytics have become the most important technologies for differentiating a business from its competition. “Data and insight drive the creation, delivery and life cycle of digital products and services,” said Rowsell-Jones. “Analytics connect the CIO and the IT organization to far-flung parts of the organization where they can cultivate new relationships.” To make these changes happen, 71 per cent of top-performing CIOs favor a separate digital team, usually reporting directly to the CIO. Key trends: Security and AI Digital security ranked high on the CIO agenda, with 95 per cent expecting cybersecurity threats to expand and to threaten their organizations. 35 per cent say they’ve already invested in digital security and 36 per cent saying they are planning such an investment. AI is the other key trend CIOs expect to impact their organizations, and it was ranked the most problematic to implement, followed by digital security and the Internet of Things (IoT). The factor common to all three is that each requires new skills which are hard to find in the employment marketplace. It’s a time of great change for CIOs and the overall message is clear: if they want to survive and thrive, things must change: their roles, their teams’ roles, their company culture and more. It’s a challenge, but one all CIOs should be confident in meeting.