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.

Notes from the President

04 June 2021 khilton Notes from the President

Ken Hilton - President Red Wing Software

Occasionally, I get the opportunity to visit some of our customers’ locations and discuss how they use our software and what they might like to see in the software to make it a better fit for their operation. Recently, Matt (Red Wing Software Sales Consultant) and I toured Tomatoes of Ruskin in Florida and had the pleasure of meeting with the people that use our software daily.
Tomatoes of Ruskin grows and packages tomatoes for wholesale distribution. They have been using CenterPoint Payroll for about eight years and had not recently had much contact with our support team. When we questioned them about not calling in for help, they enthusiastically indicated that the software was working so well that they didn’t need any help. We asked what we could do to make their payroll process better, and they mentioned an employee copy function that used to work better for them and was changed in an update about two years ago. To make a long story short, we drilled down a little, found that we had changed that functionality in a prior release. So, we came back and entered a new change request in our internal tracking software to reintroduce that functionality so they would have the option to use it like it previously worked.
The only other request they had was to have the ability to reconcile bank accounts within CenterPoint Payroll, and they were unaware that was already available. So, we showed them where they could access that functionality in the software. We like the questions with easy answers.
I mention these requests to bring up another point. Whenever you, our customers, would like to see changes or new functionality in our software, we encourage you to call or send an email with your suggestions. You certainly are not bothering us with your ideas. The best way for us to make our products better is to hear those ideas from you. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with your thoughts. While we can’t promise everything, we continually work to make our software better.
I want to thank the folks at Tomatoes of Ruskin for allowing us to interrupt their busy day, give us an excellent tour of their operation, and help us learn more about how people are putting our software to work.
I hope everyone enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend while remembering those who served our country to keep us safe and free.

Notes from the President

04 May 2021 khilton Notes from the President

Ken Hilton - President Red Wing Software

If it works, don’t fix it. I’m sure everyone has heard that statement, but is this philosophy always good to live by? That depends on what it is that “works.” In some cases, you can get away with letting things fail, and then take action to fix or replace them. In other cases, it’s a good idea to fix things at the first sign of trouble, and sometimes things should be “fixed” even before anything appears to be wrong. Let’s take a look at a few examples.
Let’s say the speakers on your computer are making a funny noise, and it’s not because you’re watching hilarious YouTube videos. It might be okay to put up with the noise because, it’s probably not critical to running your business if the speakers fail. Or, your car is making a noise that you have identified and it is not compromising safety. In this case, you can turn the speakers up and not hear the noise anymore.
Now, you walk into your house after a long day at work and smell gas. You can’t see anything wrong. The house isn’t cold, so the furnace must still work. But if you decide to ignore it and retire for the night, you may sleep for a very long time. This obviously needs to be dealt with right away, even though you see nothing wrong.
How is your computer running? I’ll bet it’s running just fine, so why would you need to back up your information? Computers rarely give you a sign that something is about to go haywire. That doesn’t mean you don’t need a backup. And, while we’re talking about technology, how old is the computer and/or software that your business is relying on? Eventually, the computer will fail, and the old software may not run on new equipment. Are you prepared to reenter all the information you need to run your business because your data will not move to newer software? Think about it.
Sometimes things need to be fixed, even if they still work.

Notes from the President

07 April 2021 khilton Notes from the President

Ken Hilton - President Red Wing Software

Spring is here according to the calendar. Although, with snow on the ground in many parts of the country, it may not feel like it. The arrival of spring prompts many of us to start thinking about doing some spring cleaning. Included in your spring cleaning should be a review of your financial information. Here are a few things to think about cleaning up.
When entering transactions, it’s easy to enter, as new, the name of a customer or vendor that may already exist in your database. This creates a duplicate of that name and may make it difficult to find transactions related to that name. Having duplicate names also skews the numbers when performing an analysis of the business you’ve conducted with that person or company. In CenterPoint, you can easily go into setup and combine duplicate entries, making it easier to find transactions for that name.
Another example is one that I recently completed with my personal data. Since I started keeping my personal records in our software (November 1987), I have had separate accounts (subaccounts) for “dining out” and “school lunches” under a “meals” account. Since I have not paid for a school lunch in over 25 years, it’s probably unnecessary to separate those expenses. Not a big deal, but it makes my data a little cleaner.
Of course, it’s also the end of a calendar quarter, and that’s always a good time to take a look at how your actual business is doing compared to the budget you created for the year. (You did create a budget, didn’t you?) Also, it’s good timing to check inventory that you have on hand against the information in your accounting program.
I’m sure you can think of several other things that can be completed as part of your spring (data) cleaning.

Notes from the President

03 March 2021 khilton Notes from the President

Ken Hilton - President Red Wing Software

Unless you live in a bubble (which I am sure it has felt like the last few months), you know it has been cold in most of the country the last few days. It is interesting how all things are relative to some perceived standard. As I write this, it is thirty-nine degrees in MN and feels like summer. Last fall, when it was thirty-nine degrees, it felt like the middle of winter.
If you are in a seasonal business, the year’s busy times can feel like you are on an unstoppable roll, and the slow times of the year can feel like things are bad and can’t get any worse. That is when you need to step back and take a high-level look at the business and get the perspective on where the business truly is and when it will get better.
Doing some trend analysis over several years can give you a clearer picture of where you have been and the long-term direction of the company. You can accomplish this using the multi-year balance sheets, cash flows, and income statements available in your accounting software. Using the optional Ratio Analysis in CenterPoint® Accounting will give you a great visual trend of many financial indicators.
Whatever method you choose to get perspective on the business, it is important to make decisions based on all available information.