This month I had a number of topics for this newsletter floating around in my head, but, after this weekend, only one seemed important.

On behalf of myself and the entire staff at Red Wing Software, I have a short and sincere message to all the men and women who have served, do serve, or will serve their country in the defense of freedom: Thank You.

- Ken Hilton, President

We are fast approaching the end of 2013, and I want to use my space this month to communicate some important information that needs to be considered before year-end, or shortly after the beginning of a new year.

Whether your company operates according to a calendar year, or a fiscal year, there are a few things that need to be considered to prepare for the new calendar year:

• How is your budgeting process going for the new year? Will next year be the same as this year, or should you be planning some much needed changes to make it better?
• Have you installed all of the latest versions of your software? You don’t need to wait until after the first of the year to get up-to-date. Doing it now saves pressure later.
• How about benefit changes? With the new health care laws, you may need to pay more attention to your insurance plans. How about retirement plans, and other items important to you and your employees? It is harder now than ever to find good employees, and we need to remain competitive in the marketplace to keep them.
• It is a good time to remind employees to update their W-4 information for changes that have occurred during the year like getting married, having children, buying a house, or anything else that might change their withholding needs.
• How is your budgeting process going? Oh, did I already mention that? I read once that “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always be where you already are.” Is it time for a change?

So, update that important technology today; review procedures and policies, help employees be better managers of their information, and plan for the New Year.