Software And Coffee

I was heading to St. Petersburg last week, and came up on a road crew cleaning out ditches. I came to a stop, watching a line of cars heading my way. It was pretty obvious where they should merge back to the other lane. There were bright orange cones gently nudging them back into the proper lane. Regardless, a member of the road crew was motioning with his hand, reinforcing what the cones made obvious. I kind of chuckled, then a memory sprang to mind. About a year ago, I came up to some road work on a four lane road, but there was no crew. No cars were in front of me, and I wasn’t sure which side of the cones to drive on.

Those orange cones are like your business plan. You lay them out. Move them. Change how the traffic flows. The traffic represents your managers and employees. They are supposed to be following your business plan. It’s a good idea to step in from time to time and motion them on. Encourage the flow of traffic. It’s better to be proactive than reactive.

Thanks for tuning in,

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc

Reading this post by David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer of Google made me giggle. Yes, Google made me giggle. Basically, Mr. Drummond is asserting that Microsoft may attempt to exert “inappropriate influence” on the internet, hearkening to their monopoly practices.

Quite frankly, it’s hard to muster up any sympathy. Google wasn’t the first search engine on the scene, but they are the definition of the web searches. Just today my father-in-law said “I haven’t googled that yet”. And what about google ad-words? It seems they have their own share of virtual red hotels.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending Microsoft. I’ve chosen open-source technologies over Microsoft solutions whenever it provides my client with equivalent or greater capabilities.

I use Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo products everyday, and will continue to do so (for now). I just have a new search definition: “Giggle it; just a little bit….”

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc

Are we are or aren’t we? That is the question. Whether we are in a recession, heading towards a recession, in a market correction, or coming out of a recession, investing in your business makes good sense. As any good investor will say, “Invest in what you know”. Hopefully, your business is on top of your “knowledge list”. So, how should you invest?

Maybe it’s an investment in hardware that allows you to complete jobs 50% faster. Perhaps it’s hiring a manager, or restructuring your organization. Maybe it’s implementing a software solution to streamline processes or increase your service offerings.

In any case, ROI (return on investment) is the key. It may be cost effective (read cheap) or it may be a large investment. It’s the end results that matter. If a one-time $2500.00 investment yields a $3500.00 profit increase annually, that’s a no-brainer. If a one-time $50,000.00 investment yields a $40,000 profit annually, you’ll realize $30,000 the second year, then $40,000 each year thereafter.

Get out of the office, grab some java, and break out that yellow notepad (I prefer a spiral notebook of graph paper). Find an IT consultant, business consultant, etc, you can trust, and ask for ideas. Take the best ideas, and determine the ROI. Then invest in your business!

Feel free to post any questions or ideas here, or contact us below if you’d prefer to fly under the radar. Thanks for tuning in…

Contact us with to learn more about software ROI.

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc

When I speak with Presidents/CEO/Business Owners, there are various motivations for their technical choices. Some have promised a customer something they can’t deliver. Some want the latest tech gizmo. Some are driven solely by price. While these are all important, they should never be the sole deciding factor for technical directions.

1. Match your technical decisions to your annual and three year plans. Your IT manager/consultant should understand and comprehend your business strategy. (I know. Good luck…) Your tech solution should be solid, but flexible.

2. Automate, automate, automate. Many times you can incur a one-time cost to automate a business process, and save money in the short and long run.

Automation can also facilitate growth. As your business grows, the automated process remains at that fixed cost, yielding greater profit margins.

3. Bite the bullet. Sometimes several small steps lead to a dead end. IT should be a strategy, not a series of band aids.

4. Cause problems. Trying a new idea doesn’t have to be expensive. Try it using a manual process. If you get flooded with work, automate it.

This is merely a guideline, but the emphasis is making solid business decisions.

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc.

If you’ve ever been in line at a Books-A-Million, you might have heard the phrase “I need backup!”. The lone cashier is alerting fellow employees help is needed up front. I generally giggle, flashing back to “Starsky and Hutch.” But I digress…

Recently I met with a Realtor. I mentioned she needed to backup her data. I don’t provide these kind of services, so I had nothing to gain. She went on and on how she had copies of her data all over the place. She couldn’t comprehend the impending doom of sync: if you delete something you need, the delete is synced to all your copies. Reading this fox news article revived this suppressed memory.

You need to backup your data to tape. A tape drive is not cheap, and you will need a server. Here is the concept: all of your important data should be stored on the server. This data will be archived to tape every night. You rotate tapes each day, and weekly or monthly take one tape off site.

There are other options, such as using USB memory sticks, CD’s or DVD’s as a backup medium. I prefer tape, since the backup is automated.

Whatever your choice, develop a backup plan and follow it. Test a restore of your data quarterly. These are general rules. If you are unsure, contact an IT consultant to help you develop a plan.

If you don’t have a trusted IT consultant, contact us and we’ll make a recommendation.

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc

Data falls into two categories, detail data and group data. Detail data is limited to a single entity or transaction. A customer, invoice, and payment would all be considered detail data. Group data is an aggregate of the detailed data. For the most part, any report shows group data. Examples would be sales, accounts receivable, and inventory level reports. Group data is dependent on detail data points. If the detail data points are not set correctly, you cannot derive the group data. Here’s an example:

“Moe Autos” sells cars. Here are the data points the software solution uses:

Moe has three cars for sale: a white 2004 Dodge Durango, a red 2003 Ford Explorer, and a green 2005 Chevy Suburban. They each have 14,000 miles on them and are automatic. So far, this fits the data model fine. The Durango seats 7 people, the Explorer seats 5 people, and the Suburban seats 9 and is a four-wheel drive. Since there are no data points to store the number of people and drive (4WD or 2WD), this information is lumped into the description field.

A customer calls, and wants a list of all vehicles that seat more than 5 people. Another customer calls, and wants a list of all four-wheel drive SUV’s. With three cars, it’s pretty easy to scroll thru inventory, or stroll across the lot. Let’s say we bump his inventory levels up to 50 cars. What about 100? 200? Now what happens? You have the data, you’ve taken the time to enter it, but you can’t quickly access it. You need to know what models are selling, to know how to replenish your inventory, but your Sales By Item report is omitting important information.

When you are choosing a software solution, make sure it can track all the data points you need to run your business. Also, make sure the provided reports can operate on the data points you need.

Contact us to learn more about what data points can do for your business.

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc

As we look forward to 2008, tis the time for resolutions. A few pounds lost, less overtime, more exercise, and on and on. I’d like to bring up your online passwords. How many websites to you have passwords stored on? Amazon, your bank, paypal, credit cards, google accounts, and a host of other “unknown” websites. While I don’t have first hand knowledge of the “big ones” listed, it’s safe to assume they store your passwords in a secure manner. But what about that “unknown” list? How secure is your password? Do they encrypt it? How complex is their encryption scheme? I’ve seen quite a few sites that store user’s passwords in clear text (IE no encryption). That means that Johnny IT guy can rip thru the database and see your password.

Most people use the same password scheme across the board. The passwords used to login to their computer, accounting system and email are closely related with their online passwords. How close is yours?

Here’s your New Year’s challenge: come up with three different password schemes. One for your internal use (computer login, accounting system, and email), one for “high clearance sites” ( bank account and credit cards), and one for all the rest.

You’re on your own with your other resolutions, but good luck regardless!!

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc.

I’m currently building a custom application for a new client. Part of the process is data conversion, which is moving the data into the new system from the old system. This particular conversion is pulling data from a DOS application. Theoretically, it’s a simple process. You just need to create a “map” to link the fields from the old application to the fields in the new application. Practically, it can be difficult. Limitations in the old app can cause users to enter invalid data. For example, users have entered 02/02/1902 in this DOS application to denote a transaction was taken in an abnormal location. This results in bad data, which is difficult to translate into useful information. (In the new application, a location can be specified for all transactions.)

Some software providers will tempt you to “throw away” your existing customer information. It makes it much easier for them. Don’t do it. You’ve spent years developing relationships with your customers, and this information is vital to analyzing your business trends.

Ninety percent of the time, your data can be converted. I generally create rules that cover the bulk of data, and handle the exceptions by hand.

Contact us to learn more about the possibilities of converting your data into useful information.

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc

Websites are a fantastic way to communicate with your prospects and customers. Users can find details on your products/services, place new orders, check existing orders and submit information to you. In short, a website is a great tool. But, what if you could make this tool an employee?

To transform your website into an employee, it must integrate with your internal software. There should be no “human” massaging or copying/pasting of data from an email form. It must understand your customer database, be able to enter new orders, and provide shipping information and order status.

The more automated your website is, the greater workload your business can process at the same cost margin. I’m sure you’ve done the math, but that equals greater profit.

Things to look for:

• Your website uses PDF or other printed forms that are faxed in
• You use a third party shopping cart
• You receive customer data via email

Contact us to find out what your website options are.

Stephen Tuttle
DS Technologies, Inc.

Is custom software an art, science, or some mixture of the two? As if there weren’t enough gray areas already, the answer is: both.

There is a science to software development. Your software provider should follow the systems development life cycle (see Software Development Process). They should have a standard system to determine your business needs, and translate those needs into a solution.

The art is in the translation, and falls mainly into two areas. The first area is documenting the business processes. Every business is different, and it is fascinating to learn their nuances. New ideas can streamline your processes, create new service offerings, and cut costs. The second area is in the design phase, also known as the “coffee and whiteboard” stage. Putting your business into software components definitely has an artistic flair. The components must be robust, extensible, and fast.

It truly is a fun process, and can be extremely exciting as both you and your provider work together to create a solution.

Stephen