You rush around at conferences collecting business cards from exhibitors and your peers. In the back of your mind you promise that just as soon as you get back to the office you’ll key in all those contacts to your computer.

Did you know there’s an easier way to enter in that contact information?

Some business cards and advertisements now contain a tiny bar code symbol called a QR code. This is Quick Response code.  They bar codes can embed more than what they’ve been traditionally used for — either inventory item numbers or tracking numbers.

Using a free web site like ZXing you can input your own contact data and create a free bar code.

Here’s my contact information that I’ve created using the site above.

Now all you need is free scanning software for your smartphone. On Android I use Bar Code Scanner and on iPhone Red Laser is good (both are free).

Once you start the scanning application on your smartphone you simply hold it over the QR image and within seconds if the QR code contains address and contact information that data will display on your phone.

There are obviously some challenges to this concept of doing away with re-keying business cards – mainly that people need to use the QR codes on their cards and your smartphone (assuming you have one) needs free third party scanner software.

Gradually we (hopefully?) ‘ll see more widespread adoption of QR codes – and less re-keying.

Via: Sage Summit 2011 Diary

© 2011, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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Have you (or someone you know) recently received an urgent email claiming to be from the IRS. Sometimes the email asks for personal information. In other cases it directs you to call an 800 number. In the most scary situations there’s an attachment known as the “Zeus Banking Trojan” that the scammers hope you’ll download.

Well don’t fall for it.

According to Connecticut CPA Thomas Scanlon – a widespread scam preys on the belief that if someone does not respond to an official looking email that there could be penalties.

Thomas’s recommendation – discard emails claiming to be from the IRS unopened.

Why the IRS does not send email and IRS Site FAQ

© 2010, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

We publish an email newsletter each Tuesday at 3pm – join here.

Members of the group initially met at the Sage conferences. Over time we noticed that we’d be sharing a lot of tips and tricks via email. Suddenly what used to be an email to three people had 15 CC: email addresses.

Realizing that this wasn’t a scaleable solution we moved to Yahoo Groups (which we still are using) to automate group emails. Instead of having to be sure that we “reply all” to group messages — Yahoo Groups (free) manages our group and provides one email adress for all members to mail.

In return Yahoo emails out the message to all group members. Or members can elect to read the messages on the web.

This has worked – and continues to work – pretty well for technical emergencies where one of our 27 member companies has a question about an error message.

Where we start to bog down as a group is in the chit chat and off-topic messages. Each month we’re exceeding over 500 messages sent and for individual members that becomes a burden to wade through when all they may want is to see technical tips.

So what we’re now looking at is a free service from Socialcast that is similar in layout to Facebook.

Messaging in Socialcast is private. We are able to form groups for different topics depending upon member (sales, technical, etc).

What’s better about Socialcast is that it also:

Integrates a profile so that any of our 415 individuals can know more about a member they may never have met. This includes phone number, messages the member has sent, a list of specific skills (you can add your own fields – and they are all searchable):

Better applications – while similar services also offered mobile applications – those offered by Socialcast seem to allow for reading threaded messaging with a little less effort. There are also integrations to Microsoft Outlook and Sharepoint for those old school members who don’t yet have smartphones (iPhone, BlackBerry clients are available).

Sadly there’s no Android application (you have to use a mobile optimized web page for Android) – however Socialcast hints that something should be here by the end of 2010.

Socialcast also lets you import almost any of your Social Media feeds (Twitter, Facebook Digg, Flickr) to any of your streams. What I use this for is to setup the group’s technology feed so that any of the items I share in Google Reader go right to the specific group that hosts general technology tips.

By making a separate tech feeds group in Socialcast I don’t over-share with people who may join the group only to learn about the latest technical issues with Sage ERP.

Here’s what the feed setup looks like:

We’re still in the evaluation stage for whether Socialcast will replace our group’s email delivery. Some of the push back we’ve received is that people don’t want “another place to check” or another login and password to remember . The beauty of the email delivery that we were used to is that there was none of the extra place to check or login. Naturally the downside to email is that if you become active enough you start to drown in messages — not all of which are relevant to your interests.

For more information on Socialcast — http://www.socialcast.com

Costs:

Free for unlimited users

Costs start at $299/mo for groups of up to 100 and add primarily support and customization services.

© 2010, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

We publish an email newsletter each Tuesday at 3pm – join here.

This information can be useful in diagnosing system level problems or in restoring data files from a backup should you experience problems with Paperless Office.

WARNING: Do not make any changes to these files unless you know what you are doing. Consult a qualified Sage Business Partner for assistance. This information is believed accurate at the time of publication. Use at your own risk. Schulz Consulting takes no responsibility for damage that you may do to your data files.

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

We publish an email newsletter each Tuesday at 3pm – join here.

It can be confusing enough to understand exactly how Twitter and Facebook work without also having to use their sometimes painfully slow web interface.

Thankfully there are a number of third party software programs available that let you manage your Twitter and Facebook accounts (view, post) from the desktop without ever having to log into the web.

Seesmic Desktop is one such standalone program and the developers have just added Facebook integration to what is already a great desktop Twitter client. I love Seesmic because it runs on Adobe Air which means the same program can be used on either Windows or Mac. The interface is nice and clean and free of a lot of icons that perform features I might never use.

The real power of Twitter is in search. And the Seesmic Desktop allows you to create as many searches as you like and save all of them off to the side. You can optionally open separate windows for each search and view the results as they update in real time. This type of monitoring is helpful for when you might want to monitor Twitter feeds for your company name, product or other important topics.

Sadly missing from Seesmic is any type of Twitscoop integration. This handy site shows the top trending topics in Twitter and is remarkably accurate at picking up on breaking news. While you can “Like” friends Facebook posts – you’ll have to wait for a future release to comment on them.

Seesmic Desktop is still a preview which means that it’s undergoing further testing before full release. To download a copy, follow the link below.

Seesmic Desktop Preview

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

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This really is a job posting. It’s a non-paying job — but it’s a job.

The only blog that I write for every morning from 4:30 to 7:30am (and often during the day) is looking for some volunteer writers.

What the hell does this have to do with Sage or accounting software?

• How many of you have web sites?
• How many of you update them every day?
• How many of you publish email newsletters?

Uh-oh — I don’t see many hands up on the last two questions….

If you’re in marketing, sales or just technical support — trust me when I tell you that the ability to write and publish online is THE skill for the coming years.

You don’t even have to write WELL – you just have to DO IT.

A huge (almost 100%) of your competition doesn’t do this because they never get started…..well, they get started — with excuses….lame stuff like – I don’t know how or what to write.. .or. I can’t spell/type/compose a sentence.

I was a “C student” at best in English. It was the subject I hated with a passion. Still do. Now it’s my most useful marketing tool ever.

If you’re thinking about how to get started writing/blogging — the web site I write for has an excellent opportunity to get your feet wet and learn how it all happens.

YOU have to make the effort though.

You’ll learn how to write stories, use WordPress, edit yourself, come up with interesting topics (if you think writing “how to select accounting software” twice a month is an interesting topic to most customers – you’re dead wrong)

Sure, the economy sucks and clients suck and business sucks and employees suck.

Perfect time for you to learn a new skill

Interested? Read more at the following:

http://www.geardiary.com/2009/03/27/help-wanted-gear-diary-contributors/

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

We publish an email newsletter each Tuesday at 3pm – join here.

Twitter is a short messaging (maximum of 140 characters) service that allows users to casually communicate with each other – usually in the form of brief updates that tell what the user is doing.

The short message feature is ideal for conferences where it’s often difficult to find people or learn about newly added sessions  other users recommend attending.

Search Twitter for Insights 2009 Conference News

If you’re not on Twitter (which is free) – you can still read the messages coming from the conference. There are two methods for doing this – and neither require that you create an account.

The best way to follow the conference is by using this #insights09 Twitter Search link.

The second way you can follow  conference news is by viewing the official Sage Insights Twitter feed at http://www.twitter.com/insights09

Wayne Schulz on Twitter

Schulz Consulting owner Wayne Schulz is on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/mas90guru

via: 90 Minds

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

We publish an email newsletter each Tuesday at 3pm – join here.

Hall Web Services has proposed  the official “hash tag” of Sage Insights 2009 be #insights09.

A hash tag is nothing more than a short keyword which is preceeded by the # symbol so as to become unique. During large conferences a number of users agree upon a common tag which enables those attending to easily search Twitter messages and see what is happening at the conference.

Those users “Twittering” during the conference are encouraged to use this tag in all of their messages for easier following by those looking to keep up on the conference.

If you’re not a user of Twitter – you still can follow the messages. Simply log into http://search.twitter.com and perform a search for #insights09.

For an explanation of what Twitter is – see this excellent video.

To join Twitter (completely free) – visit http://www.twitter.com and you can view Wayne Schulz’s Twitter stream by following @mas90guru in Twitter.

Search Twitter for all messages related to Sage’s Insights 2009

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

We publish an email newsletter each Tuesday at 3pm – join here.

WestBrook Technologies is hosting an online web seminar this Friday January 9 at 11am EST and 2pm EST that will show their innovative Fortis document management software.

We’ve worked with Westbrook Techologies previously supporting their accounting system. And their dedication to the document management industry is impressive – especially the fact that they use all of their own software and integrate it directly to Sage MAS 90 for processing of their journals and registers.

Document Imaging, OCR and MAS 90

Although the integration to Sage MAS 90 isn’t a native one (most of the journals and registers are printed to an imaging printer similar to how you’d print a PDF) – there’s never been a journal or register that this client has not been able to locate. It’s also impressive to see the system by which they store their source documents – all paperless.

Their Fortis Document Imaging is a next step solution for someone looking to take their entire company paperless.

For this web seminar they’ve paired with Paradatec who will demonstrate their PROSAIR-AIDA OCR software which integrates to Fortis for a complete solution offering:

• Intelligently read and convert documents to understandable text
• Automatically file documents into folders based on content and rules.

Register for Westbrook Technologies Fortis Document Imaging Web Seminar

Two sessions are being offered:

Register for 1/9/09 Morning Session – 11 am EST

Register for 1/9/09 Afternoon Session – 2 pm EST

© 2009, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

We publish an email newsletter each Tuesday at 3pm – join here.

For the last month I’ve been using a service called PhoneTag. When I receive a voice message my system (Gotvmail) automatically sends a copy (WAV or MP3) to a special address that I’m assigned at PhoneTag.

Then the service has my voice message transcribed and sent to me via email. This usually occurs within 5 minutes of the voice message being left.

Transcription isn’t perfect. People’s names can be tricky to transcribe. Whenever there is a word the system doesn’t understand it will put a (??) next to the word so you know that it may not be correct.

The big benefit of PhoneTag is that you can now read all of your voicemail instead of having to find a quiet place to call into your mail and listen to messages. In many instances this lets me know at a glance of my iPhone or BlackBerry Bold screen whether I need to excuse myself from a client apointment to return an emergency phone call or whether it’s only a routine message.

PhoneTag costs $9.95 per month for 40 transcribed messages (.25 per message overage fee). If you need more they offer an unlimited plan for $29.95 per month. Those who prefer to pay as they go can elect to pay a flat .35 per message transcribed.

I’ve found PhoneTag to be indispensable and a great tool for helping me manage my voice mail when I’m on the road.

Link: PhoneTag

© 2008, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

We publish an email newsletter each Tuesday at 3pm – join here.

Some of you know that Wayne Schulz is an active team member over at web site Geardiary.com where he reviews and writes about technology, deals and the occasional offbeat article.

Last night Google added free outgoing SMS text messaging to their Gmail Chat service. Wayne did a story on that over at Geardiary. He used the image of a contact record for Pat (our office manager) in this short news article.

Gizmodo, a popular gadget blog with over 6 million monthly readers worldwide, picked up the image from the article – turning Pat into a mini-celebrity of sorts.

The autograph line starts by the coffee machine this morning…

© 2008, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

We publish an email newsletter each Tuesday at 3pm – join here.

Click on the image to the left to see an example of my RSS feeds (as shown in Google Reader) that I use to keep up with technology. Notice that only the headlines of each article are shown.

RSS stands for Really Simply Syndication. In it’s most basic form what it means is that instead of reading the lengthy articles (message posts) you can use a special type of software to read the headlines. When you find a headline that is of interest you can click to read the entire article. (Read more about RSS at Wikipedia)

Fortunately you don’t even need to load any special software (although there are dedicated software RSS feed readers). Google has a free reader that is very popular both because it is simple to use and can be accessed via any web browser.

To setup your Google Reader account:

1. Log into the Google site via http://www.google.com/reader.
2. If you don’t already have a Google account, you’ll be prompted to create one.
3. Once you’ve created a Google account, click on any of the links below (I’d recommend adding them all) to have the RSS feeds from the new Sage Software MAS 90 Discussion Forum automatically added to your Google Reader.

A list of the Sage MAS 90 RSS feeds are as follows:

(After you’ve setup Google Reader – clicking any of the links below will add them to your feeds so they can be read at any time)

Core Financial Modules

Distribution, Manufacturing & Internet Modules

Customer Relationship Management

Unique Business Challenges and General Discussion

Personalization, Customization & Productivity Tools

Technical and Installation Discussions

Time Tracking & Job Costing Modules

© 2008, Wayne Schulz. All rights reserved. Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300 and Sage 500 are registered trademarks of Sage. Have additional unanswered questions about MAS90? You may contact Schulz Consulting here.

We publish an email newsletter each Tuesday at 3pm – join here.