Notes from the President

06 August 2021 khilton Notes from the President

Ken Hilton - President Red Wing Software

Last month, I mentioned that Red Wing Software transitioned to a work-from-home business model when over a year ago, the Minnesota Governor mandated, “If you can work from home, you must work from home.” Our transition was relatively seamless thanks to our experience of already having several team members working from home for several years and Larry, our amazing IT Manager.
We’ve been able to do a pretty good job of maintaining communications, but there still seemed to be something missing. The networking and “water cooler” talk was more difficult to replace with phone calls and electronic chats. For a relatively small company with a family atmosphere, that networking is important.
Connie, our Technical Writer, came up with a great idea to help re-establish some of this more casual networking. We have regularly scheduled internal team meetings each week that a few people normally attend. Now, before some of these meetings, usually three times per week, we have a ten-minute “virtual coffee break,” where anyone can join a video conference and catch up with others on what’s going on outside the office. Then, when the meeting is ready to start, they are welcome to stay on and participate in the meeting or log off and continue their regular duties.
We’ve only been doing this for a few short weeks, but it seems to be accomplishing our goal. It’s great to have staff members proactively come up with ideas to make Red Wing Software a better company.

Behind the Scenes - June 2021

13 July 2021 roxie-thoner Behind the Scenes
• Mike (Quality Assurance Manager) performed in his third ‘dads only’ dance (second row, first person on the left). Over the years, he has also performed in seven or eight dad/daughter dances.
• Ashley’s (Accounting Software Support Specialist) daughter, Paytin, and her mom went on vacation to Louisiana to visit her dad, who currently lives and works there. While in Louisiana, they toured two plantations, went on a gator boat tour, visited the French quarter and the WWII museum, ate at some great restaurants, and did some antique shopping.
• Roxie (Administrative Assistant), her husband, and friends enjoyed a few relaxing days at Pehrson Lodge Resort on Lake Vermilion.

NEW: Employee Portal for CenterPoint Payroll

12 July 2021 StephanieE Customer Information
We are excited to announce the recently released CenterPoint Employee Portal and would like to extend you an invitation to use this new functionality.
CenterPoint Employee Portal provides your employees a simple way to securely interact with their personal payroll information online.
This functionality is being offered for just $120 per year and is FREE to customers who are enrolled in our CenterPoint Time Clock or Publish Pay Advices service.
Employee Portal Features & Benefits:
• Employees have convenient links to CenterPoint Time Clock and Publish Pay Advices directly within the Portal.
• Payroll information, company announcements, and other information, can be added to the Home section and edited at any time by the payroll administrator, making it easier for employees to stay up to date on important company information.
• Employees can maintain their personal information, Federal and State Withholding, and direct deposit allocations from the Self-Serve section. Before creating a new pay run or updating employee setup, the payroll administrator is notified of any pending changes and can approve or deny them, making communication between employees and payroll administrators very efficient.
• In the Quick Links section, payroll administrators can create useful links for employees to any external website or file. This section can be used to communicate company policies or for providing benefit information such as health and dental insurance, flexible spending, IRS, 401K, etc.
Contact Sales at 800-732-9464 or email sales@redwingsoftware.com to get signed up and start using CenterPoint Employee Portal now.

Notes from the President

05 July 2021 khilton Notes from the President

Ken Hilton - President Red Wing Software

Last month I mentioned visiting with a customer looking for functionality that would make CenterPoint® Payroll software work better for their operation. In a meeting following that visit, our internal team that looks at new functionality at a high level discussed what we could do to encourage our customers to use our services to help them better use our products. Also, why are some people reluctant to call and ask questions when looking for functionality or have a question?
We stepped back and looked at customer service from a view outside Red Wing Software and came up with some thoughts and experiences of our own.
One team member commented that it took “forever” to get to a live person when trying to resolve an issue with an insurance company. Unfortunately, this happens so often that people have come to expect a bad customer service experience, and they are reluctant to put themselves through the agony of calling for help. At Red Wing Software, live support team members take more than 95% of all support calls as they come in without a call-back or a long wait time, and 100% of callers have immediate access to a live person during business hours.
Another popular excuse for poor customer service when calling for assistance, especially from large multi-national companies over the last several months, has been the lingering pandemic. I understand this has put a strain on many companies. However, when it comes to customer service provided primarily by phone, if a relatively small business, like Red Wing Software, can seamlessly transition to a work-from-home business model, why can’t a multi-national company with seemingly unlimited resources do the same? To steal a quote from our current president; “C’mon man.”
Please don’t hesitate to contact us for help with our products or suggestions that will make our software better. Of course, if you prefer to not talk to a live person, we’ll still be happy to provide excellent customer service, if you send us an email.
On behalf of Red Wing Software, I hope everyone had/has a safe Canada Day and Independence Day.

Customers in the News

23 June 2021 StephanieE Customers in the News
Customer: Cornerstone Family Farms, Salem, Indiana
Story: Know Your Numbers
Publisher: Agriculture.com, May 3, 2021
What the story is about: Cornerstone Farms has been using both CenterPoint Accounting for Agriculture and Conservis.
Customer: Wendte Farm, LLC, of Altamont, Illinois
Story: Women Farm Their Own Way
Publisher: Prairie Farmer, May 14, 2021
What the story is about: Two sets of sisters in two very different operations carve out their own niches in production agriculture.