I recently read an article in Software Executive magazine about customer success. While this information related specifically to the software industry, it could easily be applied to virtually any business. The story talked about going beyond just answering your customers’ questions and focused more on getting the users of your product to use more of the capabilities built into your product.

At Red Wing Software, we have a team that focusses on creating helpful information for using our software. This includes installation instructions, getting started guides, online documents and videos that help our users navigate through the processes of getting information into the software, and running the reports needed to make informed financial decisions for your business.

In addition to these helpful documents, videos, and “How2” instructions, we offer multi-day classroom training, one and two-hour webinars on specific functionality, and on-site professional services. While we try to make it as easy as we can to use the software, we are spending additional resources to help our customers get more out of their software investment.

I challenge everyone to take a look at the product or service they sell and look for ways to help your customers get more out of your offering. You have invested a lot of time, money, and energy to create the products your business offers. Are your customers taking advantage of all the effort you have invested, or are they just using enough to get by?

I also challenge all of our customers to take advantage of what we have created over the last 39 years of software development. Poke around a little in the many reports in the system. You can’t hurt anything in your data by running reports, and you might find some valuable information about your business that you can use to be more profitable.

West Ridge LLC, of Bellingham, Minnesota, was featured in the July 14, 2018 issue of Dairy Star magazine. In the story entitled, “Sand Bedding, Activity Monitors, 3x Milking Make More Milk for West Ridge,” the Barthel family describes the steps that led to success in dairy farming.

Reinford Farms featured in Progressive Dairyman magazine.

Reinford Farms, of Mifflintown, Pennsylvania, told the story of their sustainability success, in the June 12, 2018 issue of Progressive Dairyman, in the story, “Reinford Farms’ Award-winning Sustainability Efforts are the Total Package.”

In July, a few staff members from Red Wing Software participated in two different conferences discussing current accounting and technology issues. The first event was a meeting of Certified Public Accountants that takes place every other year. I was fortunate enough to be a presenter on two different panels during this conference, talking about current technologies specifically related to accounting. The other conference was a meeting of professionals dealing with standards for gathering and reporting financial data for specific vertical markets. Dick Moore, Development Manager, and Julie Strain, Sales Engineer, presented information on management accounting implementation and challenges.

At both meetings, one of the major topics of discussion was the effects and consequences of the new tax laws on businesses. These discussions ranged from new depreciation rules, to the issues on the effect of taxes owed by a C Corporation, S Corporation, and Sole Proprietor. It was clear that there are still many questions about some of these new rules, and how they will be interpreted. We are still waiting for some guidelines from the IRS on how some of these changes should be handled.

I’m no tax expert, but one thing is clear: it will be more important than ever to be working with people that are experts on the subject. The best thing that each of us can do in our business is to keep the most accurate records possible, so when we work with our accountants and consultants to calculate taxes owed at year-end, we can provide the level of detail these experts need to accurately help us complete our tax forms.

The online Virtual Classroom provides you with in-depth information and explanations that allow you to learn more about CenterPoint from any location where you can access the internet (high-speed internet connection recommended). The Virtual classroom offers the following live training sessions (the live sessions will also be recorded and sent to you so you can refer to the information afterwards.)

Direct Deposit Processing for CenterPoint Payroll
Tuesday, August 14, 2018
9:30 am – 10:30 am CDT
Price: $39.00

Customizing CenterPoint Reports
Thursday, August 23, 2018
2:30 pm – 4:30 pm CDT
Price: $59.00

Click here to register for these sessions.

The Virtual Classroom offers pre-recorded training sessions as well as live training sessions. This gives you the flexibility to access the training at any point after the original live session was offered. The pre-recorded sessions can be purchased with 30-day access and can be viewed as many times as you like during the 30 days.

You can view and purchase pre-recorded sessions from our web site at www.redwingsoftware.com.