Microsoft Office Web Apps – Excel and Such…

So thanks to a comment from TempWorks Software CEO, Gregg Dourgarian, I decided to give Microsoft’s Sky Drive a shot to be a potential replacement for my obsession with Google Docs. In using it for a whopping 15 minutes or so, I found a few pros and cons:

Pros	Cons
Storage Space (25GB)	Web Apps is only available to a select group of Live users. My team can’t fully use it yet.
Shared Security based off of Windows Live Messenger Contacts and Categories	Word is not available yet
“Pretty” User Interface with Large Buttons and Familiar Graphics	Can share folders only, not individual files
Power User features that Google Docs lacks	Can’t set different security for subfolders, only root folders
Familiar User Interface (Ribbon menus)	No integration with Mesh’s storage
Drag & Drop file uploading	Slower than desktop version
	No “invite people” link
	No master list of documents; all folder-based.
	Doesn’t work on Google Chrome

 

As a user who is accustomed to working hand-in-hand with other users, the lack of a clear sharing workflow, the inability for all of my users to use the web apps due to the “preview” piece, and the lack of cross-browser support has put me off of Web Apps… for now, at least.

In my ideal world, Microsoft will fix up their sharing and collaboration workflow and integrate with the other cloud computing products out there, such as Mesh, and it will make this a much more viable option for me. Until then, Google Docs reigns champion still.

Microsoft Falls Short of Google in Document Collaboration Arena

 

Software giant, Microsoft, is falling short in this blogger’s eyes, when it comes to document collaboration and project management software in the cloud computing world. Live Mesh Beta from Microsoft helps close the gap, but unlike Google Docs, Live Mesh doesn’t provide us with real time document collaboration. It provides a decent synchronization engine, along with some nice features such as a proprietary remote computing environment and Windows Explorer integration, but still can’t compete with the simplicity and usefulness of Google Docs for real telecommuters or project managers.

The Paperless Staffing team uses Google Docs to help coordinate the “many hands in the cookie jar” aspect of our business so that we are always on the same page with everything. From weekly processing, to onboarding and underwriting, everyone needs to be in the know. This means that multiple people will have documents open and will be editing them simultaneously. With Google Docs… no problem. With Mesh… no way.

Come on, Microsoft. Crank it up a notch.

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Though two years have passed, your memory has not. Fallen, but never forgotten, Rachael. May you rest in peace. I miss you.

Social Networks: Unleashed

Get the most bang for your buck! Yes, I know. Social Networking is free by definition. But you still have the buck you spend on your time fully utilizing any social networking platform. While there are truckloads of solutions available for you to capitalize on, I am only going to touch on one a few of the main ones here.

	Twitter	LinkedIn	Blogger	YouTube	Facebook
Status Feeds
Article Postings
Supports Gadgets/Apps
Supports Multimedia
Paid Advertising Options
“Group” Networking
Viral Content
Second-Tier Networking
Primary Market	Business	Business	Both	Consumer	Consumer

 

Now, before you jump on me about how the platform you love is either not listed, or is listed but is missing a checkmark, let me point out my caveat to the chart. While most of the platforms support most of the options above, they don’t necessarily make them part of their overall strategy in the marketplace, so if it isn’t a primary function of the site, it’s not listed. Here are the key points I am trying to make:

1. Social networking platforms have a target audience, so make sure you know what audience you are hitting. Facebook is for the people market, LinkedIn is for the professional market. Does that mean you won’t find business executives on Facebook? No. But the primary audience is your high school child.
2. Viral content makes or breaks any networking platform, in my opinion. If you cannot easily reproduce or send content from someone else to your network of contacts, then you’re missing a big piece of the networking puzzle. Why are viral videos, re-tweets, and application invites so popular if they don’t work? Twitter doesn’t have the options some of the other, more feature-filled networks do, but their content is viral, so it works.
3. Facebook is the only social networking platform of size that offers free second-tier networking. What I mean by this is that your comments on your network also flow to the people in the network of your network. When you comment on a person’s status, that comment is seen by all of their friends too, not just yours.
4. To get the audience you want, you need to use multiple networks, such as blogging (like I am doing now), twitter/facebook status updates about your blog (which I will be doing in a minute), and if you’re the type that likes to do so, making a YouTube video about your topic (like Staffing Software CEO Gregg Dourgarian does frequently).

Top 10 Things a Business Person Can’t Live Without

Okay.. so maybe that’s a little melodramatic, but I really do believe that there are certain things which make business so much easier that giving them up would be foolish. Here are my top 10 things I wouldn’t want to work without:

10. Coffee – Nothing quite like a caffeine high when you come into the office in the morning to get you started on a productive day!

9. Business Card Holder – Okay, so this is the “Paperless” perspective, but sometimes, a good old fashion rolodex or business card book is just convenient. Take trade shows for example, everyone gives you business cards! Now, since it is the Paperless Perspective….

8. ScanR – Easily scan business cards, documents, whiteboards, and more from your cell phone. Convert your business cards into contact records, change your documents to PDFs, and even send faxes from your blackberry!

7. A Good CRM  - Okay, have to throw a TempWorks ploy in here because it’s what I use, but if you use Salesforce, or if you create a homegrown system out of Microsoft Access, it doesn’t matter as long as it does what you need!

6. Social Networking – No longer is it just for your teenage daughter! If you don’t have a blog, a twitter account, a LinkedIn account, or a facebook account, you are missing out on valuable contacts, information, prospects, and advice!

5. Wireless Headset – Stuck to your phone by a cord--having to hold up a handset—no thanks! On conference calls, I need to pace around, write on whiteboards, type on a keyboard, and sometimes throw darts at my magnetic dart board that I got from my secret Santa, Maria Dourgarian, last year. To do this, I need a headset that doesn’t tie me down!

4. Adding Machine – What!? Is that old-school or what? Okay, so I know formulas. I know programming. I know operations and payroll and taxes. But for the life of me, I can’t do numbers. A little paper track of what I am doing math-wise is very helpful for when I FUBAR some numbers.

3. Lumbar-Supportive Chair – It’s amazing how much you can pay for fancy looking, crummy chairs and how little it costs to get a chair from Office Depot that is 100 times better than the fancy ones! A little support goes a long way for a computer geek like those I work with.

2. Remote Desktop  - If I was unable to do some work from home every once in a while, I would never be able to leave the office. Sometimes, the most productive I get is when I am not at the office and have no phones ringing, no emails popping up, and no people needing help with something. You can get a lot accomplished when there are no distractions.

1. Good People – If you work with people who don’t like what they do, and don’t think of their role as a career, then you are going to be miserable coming into work. You see, bad moods are contagious. Surround yourself by good people and good things will happen.

What wouldn’t you want to live without? Let me know if there are some things I need to download, buy, try out, etc. I am always in the market for new innovations for business productivity!

Run Your Company Like the Military - No Drill Sergeant Needed

"Drop and give me 20" isn't a phrase you will hear me say to any member of my awesome payroll funding and payroll processing team. However, there are plenty of things that you will see around here that come from a military ideology, such as strong leadership, outstanding training, a hard work ethic, integrity, open communication, teamwork, and disciplined approaches to serving our customers.

I have reappropriated (military code for "stolen") these things from the military just like some of the other successful businessmen and women around the country. A perfect example of one such successful business owner who embraces military customs is The Reserves Network owner, Don Stallard. A TempWorks Software customer for the long-haul, Don comes from a 17-year tenure with the Air Force Reserves and served five years of active duty as well. A recent case-study about his company can be found in the September, 2009 issue of Staffing Industry Review. TempWorks is proud to be a partner with The Reserves Network as they look towards doubling in size over the next five years to become a $150-$200 million company!

Payroll Outsourcing Basics

Why on Earth would you outsource your payroll?

• Cost Savings
• Expertise
• Automation
• Information Management

Get the scoop from San Diego Small Business Strategies Examiner, Betsy Brottlund, here. Then, give us a call when you decide it is right for your business. With our extensive knowledge of payroll processing, we can take the workload off of your staff, allowing them to focus on revenue-generating activities, or, if more appropriate, allow for a reduction in your full-time workforce.

Baby Boomers Causing Boom in Medical Staffing

I listened in on the weekly webinar from TempWorks Venture's VP of Sales, Jack Terrana today. The topic of conversation was medical staffing, and with the surge in medical staffing underwritings that have come across my desk as of late, I felt like I would share my two cents with you.

As the number of Americans aged 55 to 64 are continuously increasing--and expected to increase by 40% by 2014, we are seeing a major boom in new staffing agencies getting born to fill the need to take care of our baby boomers. Over the past several years, hospitals have been cutting their staff to bare-minimum levels, but home health care, medicare/medicaid deals, and the need for LPNs, RNs, and CNAs has skyrocketted. I wouldn't doubt that this niche market will start seeing some nice profits, as the demand for nursing staff is expected to be about 29% higher than the supply by 2020.

Now, before you hop on the gravy train and move your focus from light industrial and clerical to medical--or even jump on the bandwagon of creating a new medical staffing agency, there are some questions you need to ask yourself:

• How will I differentiate myself from everyone else who sees this trend? What makes me better than them?
• How will I maintain a healthy profit margin with the increase in competition that this niche market will be experiencing?
• How will I deal with the bureaucracy and red-tape of medicare, medicaid, and Veteran's Affairs contracts?
• Is my staffing software going to support the complexities of healthcare staffing and everything that goes with it?
• How will I pay healthcare professionals a professional wage while waiting for the notoriously slow government to pay me? Do I need payroll funding? Who do I use?
• How will I deal with healthcare accounts where the client is a private party, goes six feet under, and the estate doesn't feel like paying the bill?

If you have some good answers to those questions, medical staffing might be a nice little niche to start looking at. If you don't have about 1000 more questions like that answered on your business plan, then you aren't prepared for the risks, and it might be time to run the other way.

Have you started a medical staffing agency lately or re-focused your business to medical staffing? Let me know how it went for you!

Want more networking opportunities, shoot off an email to Jack Terrana (jack@tempworks.com) to get involved in his weekly webinar.

All You Can Meat

TempWorks Software CEO, Gregg Dourgarian, recently wrote about a road trip from Minnesota to New York visiting prospects and customers along his way and raved about a couple of restaurants such as Geisha in New York and Meritage in St. Paul. You can read his post here. Coincidently, I celebrated my wedding anniversary this weekend and managed to convince my wife, who isn't a huge steak person, to try a restraunt we haven't been to before for dinner. While we didn't travel to New York and I have never been to Meritage, we did go some place that definitely makes my top 10 list.

Fogo de Chão (fo-go dèe shoun) in Minneapolis, MN is a Southern-Brazillian style steakhouse where Gaúcho chefs bring skewers of meat (some 15 different cuts) ranging from top sirloin, bottom sirloin, filet mignon, beef ribs, leg of lamb, and so much more around from table to table and slice you off a piece any time you want. It was a very unique dining experience with absolutely delicious meats. I would dub this my second favorite steakhouse in the nation now and have given it the unofficial (a.k.a. "corny") slogan of "All you can meat."

Topping the list of my favorite steakhouses, though, is Las Vegas' Prime Steakhouse at the Bellagio. While it is a bit more formal than "All you can meat," they house some of the best food I have ever tasted. From their mushrooms to their perfectly prepared filet mignon, I challenge anyone to find a better quality of food from a restraunt in the United States. Prices are a little on the hefty side, but it is definitely worth throwing on business casual attire and treating yourself to a meal you won't soon forget.

As an honorary mention here, the ChopHouse & Brewery in Denver, CO is also worthy of a visit if you happen to find yourself in the area.

Paperless Payroll for the Unbanked

The unbanked -- the 8 million or so U.S. employees who for one reason or another can't maintain a bank account can still be included in this "green" revolution of ours and are an important part of our Paperless Staffing Initiative. And, it ends up saving employers money too! Staffing agencies are undoubtedly the employer of record for a disproportionately high figure of these unbanked workers, although I don't have any fancy facts to support that claim as I write this. So it would go to reason that staffing agencies also have the most to gain by transitioning their employees without direct deposit to a paycard system or stored value card.

Now I am not going to go into detail about how the whole pay card system works, but I do want to highlight a handful of the reasons why you should adopt a paycard system if you haven't already, and get you to do some research on this on your own:

• Provide a benefit to your employees that will keep them from jumping ship to a competitor.
• Save approximately $175/employee every year in administrative costs.
• Save the environment: more than just avoiding paper checks, but also eliminating delivery costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Get brand name recognition with custom-branded paycards -- your employees advertise for you.
• Eliminate paper nightmares such as check stub reprints (which can be done with WebCenter online), lost/stolen checks, toner, check stock, mis-numbered checks, etc.
  
• Prevent check fraud. Reduce the need for Positive Pay file processing.

Take a few minutes to explore your options... Happy googling.

Free Beer & Five-Minute Presentations

I come from a techie background and this includes more than my friends and coworkers. My mother, for example, works for a major player in healthcare in developing new technologies for their industry that take advantage of the boom of the social media revolultion. While talking about Search Engine Optimization, Twitter, Facebook, and topic specific social networking sites such as The Healthcare Scoop, she pointed me to an event called Ignite Minneapolis.

Basically, there are several of these events across the nation in which a bar or similar venue offers free beer to participants who listen to anyone who has something to say give a 5 minute presentation on their topic. Anything from How to Buy a New Car and Not Get Screwed to a topic which I am looking forward to watching, "Open Source Software Consolidation: The New Ritalin?" can be presented.

Each presenter gets 20 slides to do their speech, and each slide lasts for exactly 15 seconds. I'm thinking that events like this might actually show some potential for some savvy salespeople to get their message out to an audience without spending a dime. I'm tentatively planning on attending this one myself as it sounds like it could be very interesting.

Recession Survival in 2009

My wife has a habit of watching television programs that aren't on my top 10 list. As a matter of fact, she is addicted to Dr. Phil, Oprah, and other shows of that sort. The other day, she made me watch an episode of Oprah that she had conveniently DVR'd for me, to which I immediately rolled my eyes. I did, however, get hooked on it because of the topic. Oprah had a guest on her show named Suze Orman who is an internationally acclaimed financial advisor.

What caught me off-guard was the financial advice that Suze was giving American consumers. Things like:

"Pay only the minimum balance on your credit cards."

She was giving this non-standard financial advice to consumers so they can hopefully survive and possibly thrive in our recession. But if consumers are going to be trying to pay only what they are being forced to pay, then it won't be long before businesses won't be paying their bills unless you make them as well.

If a business doesn't pay their electricity bill, their service gets shut off. If they don't pay their rent bill, they get evicted. If they don't pay their phone bill, their communication lines are closed down. But what happens when they don't pay their staffing bill in a timely fashion? Usually.. not much. While the customer is profiting from your labor costs, you are forking the bill and not getting paid. Eventually, your cash flow dwindles to the point where you can't make payroll, pay your taxes, or pay your own occupancy costs and you could lose what you have devoted years of your life to--your business.

So how can you prevent this from happening? 

• Keep a close eye on your receivables and make sure your customers are paying the bill.
• Don't be afraid to cut them off if they don't pay their invoices, as it's not worth risking your entire business on a single customer.
  
• Outsource your receivables to have industry experts collect on your accounts. Make sure the money keeps flowing in!
• Secure invoice factoring or payroll funding so that you can get the cash up front and not have the cash flow worry.
• Do business with credit-worthy customers. It doesn't matter how great the profit margin is for you if the customer doesn't pay for your services!
• Maintain open communication with your customers after the sale. Not only does this help secure repeat business, but it also allows for open dialog regarding invoice disputes and payment inquiries without coming off as demanding.

Read more about Suze's thoughts on her website, www.suzeorman.com, or on Oprah's website.

Flooded with Vendor Advertisements

This morning, I received my copy of the March 2009 edition of Staffing Industry Review. I paged through it, and found myself flooded by 15 advertisements for staffing software and over 17 advertisements for payroll funding or PEO companies--all in a 78 page periodical. 

This got me thinking... if I owned a staffing agency, would I buy software or get my funding based on whatever company has the biggest ad in a magazine? Not a chance! I would choose my vendors based on what the leaders in my industry decided is best. 

Looking at the content of the articles, as opposed to the advertisements, the magazine offers great tips, advice, and knowledge to staffing agency owners accross the nation. Perhaps it's time to look at what those companies use to succeed, and not who has forked over the cash for full page ads in the periodicals.

If you are like me and actually read the articles and could care less about the advertisements, then you will notice that the staffing agencies you are likely to want to emulate have two things in common--great staff and great software. While we can't help you with the former, we got the latter covered. Take a look for yourself through the articles and ask those top-notch companies, such as Penmac Personnel, Link Staffing Solutions, or Manpower who provides their software and services and get prepared to hear "TempWorks."

Go Green & Save Green

Going green is more than a trend. It's a necessity for continued growth as a company, and as a community. Not only does going green eliminate waste, reduce pollution, and save our natural resources, but now, it can even save you money!

Take a look at TempWorks Paperless Staffing Initiative... by combining the best products this industry has to offer into value-added software and services, your staffing agency can save money, and help save the world at the same time.

• Start off your paperless initiative by having employees apply online through your WebCenter Applicant Portal. Eliminate the application paperwork and have confidence that your data will find its way into your front and back office solution properly. Eliminate data entry staff and wasted productivity.

• Have your applicants fill out onboarding documents through the DocCenter application. From W-4s and I-9s, to background checks and employment agreements, all of your documents now seemlessly flow into the TempWorks database for easy retrieval and secure storage. Utilizing electronic signatures and converting documents to PDF files, you can eliminate file cabinets full of junk paper!

• Utilize the Customer and Employee portals of WebCenter for time entry. Why pay one of your employees to enter data all day long when your temporary employees can report their own hours, their supervisor on site can approve the hours, and the data can go straight into payroll? Eliminate paper timecards, duplicate timecards, printed verification reports, and wasted time.

• Get accounts receivable funding through Paperless Staffing. We utilize e-mail based faxing eliminating paper on our end, send funds via ACH electronically, and can send invoices and statements to your customers utilizing our emailing functionality. Best of all, your timecards are saved electronically and are available as an attachment to your invoice emails as well as for future access and/or reprinting.

• Have your employees use their online web portals to access check stubs, advices of deposit, and W-2 information at year end. No more mailing of tax forms, excessive postage, reprinting fees, or lost forms or check stubs.

If you haven't started your own paperless initiative, now's the time to do it. Cut costs, improve efficiency, make your customers and employees happier, and help the environment all in one package!

Making Work Pay

President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to help stimulate America's economy. As part of this act, many Americans will begin seeing additional take-home pay as part of the Making Work Pay provision of the act. While the IRS has not mandated this change to be effective immediately, TempWorks Software has already implemented the new tax tables. The new tax brackets will result in a refundable tax credit of up to $400 for individuals and $800 for married taxpayers filing joint returns.

Unlike last years Economic Stimulus Package, the IRS will not send a check to each taxpayer, but employers will instead withhold less from the employee's checks. Read more about this new stimulus act on the IRS Website.

Is a tax credit in the form of less payroll taxes better or worse than a lump sum check like the one received last year? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

Factoring 101

We all know we are in a credit crisis. Getting loans from banks is difficult and expensive for companies who are growing beyond their own means and is virtually impossible for start-ups. So what happens when you get a Fortune 500 company signing a deal with your staffing agency for 100 temporary employees, but they pay on NET 30 terms? Well, your cash flow goes into the red! You need to pay those employees even if you haven't recieved payment on your invoice, but if you don't have the bankroll to cover it, you lose the deal. That's where factoring comes in to play.

A factoring company, such as Paperless Staffing comes to your rescue by offering to purchase your receivables and fund you within 24 hours. This lets you get your cash up front so you can pay your employees and not go out of business. Then, when the customer pays the factoring company, you get the reserve back.

An example would be you generate an invoice for $10,000.00. Your factoring company releases an initial percentage to you, say 85%. The remaining 15% is kept by the factoring company until payment is received. You now have $8,500.00 the day after you generated your invoice, so you can now make payroll! Your customer receives the invoice with the factoring company's remittance address on it and sends payment. The payment gets posted to the customer's account and a final release gets sent to you. This final release is made up of the 15% that was kept up front, minus the fees that the factoring company keeps as it's share. Tada!

Staffing agency owner's first instinct with invoice factoring is often, "My customer will think I am on the edge of going out of business." In reality, factoring means that you are exactly the opposite. It means that your business is thriving to the point where you need to bring in extra resources to continue to grow at the rapid pace you have established for yourself. And when you pair up with TempWorks Software, the industry leader in staffing software as well, you have managed to create a package of products and services that will leap you into the next level of business development and growth.