http://www.broadpoint.net/ This blog is a way for us to communicate with our clients and the online community through a series of articles, tips and tricks, news postings, and event announcements. Enjoy! en skane@broadpoint.net Copyright 2010 2010-02-26T18:29:19+00:00 http://www.broadpoint.net/site/b2b-marketing-university/ http://www.broadpoint.net/site/b2b-marketing-university/#When:18:29:19Z BroadPoint is proud to support the March 3rd B2B Marketing University sponsored by our strategic partner, The Annuitas Group.BroadPoint's partner, The Annuitas Group and other notable marketing organizations like SilverPop have joined together to offer an incredible free half-day seminar for B2B marketers. The series, B2B Marketing University, provides world-class marketing education with insights around best practices and innovation for marketers. The B2B Marketing University presenters will cover strategies that are critical to succeeding as a B2B marketer in the current environment. And the best part is that B2B Marketing University is free of charge to qualified B2B marketers. It's being underwritten by Silverpop, and we promise 100% pure education for serious marketers – no product pitches, just learning. Hope you can join us next Wednesday.  Register here. 2010-02-26T18:29:15+00:00 http://www.broadpoint.net/site/broadpoint-supports-untech10/ http://www.broadpoint.net/site/broadpoint-supports-untech10/#When:15:40:46Z Dedicated group of volunteers keep the ASAE Tech Conference alive through the UnTech10, the unofficial alternative to the canceled Tech 10.Even Snowmageddon couldn’t blanket the enthusiasm of the ASAE Tech 2010 participants. In response to the regrettable but appropriate cancellation of the DC-based event due to the weather, a dedicated group of volunteers organized UnTech10, the unofficial alternative to the canceled Tech 10. Almost 400 participated in the two day onsite and virtual event continuing today. BroadPoint is proud to support this grassroots effort and is presenting the session “Association Business Intelligence and SQL Reporting Services” today, February 12 at 1:15 PM. If you would like to attend, register here .  The session will demonstrate how SharePoint can be leveraged to provide business intelligence and reporting for your association.  John Herbstritt, Chief Solution Architect for BroadPoint will show you how to create a digital dashboard using SQL Reporting Services to pull and display data from across your organization.  You will see the benefits of one clear, complete view of your organization consolidating information from your Accounting System, AMS and other data sources.  Hope to see you there. 2010-02-12T15:40:15+00:00 http://www.broadpoint.net/site/broadpoint-team-presenting-at-the-asae-technology-conference-expo-february-/ http://www.broadpoint.net/site/broadpoint-team-presenting-at-the-asae-technology-conference-expo-february-/#When:18:36:46Z The conference equips associations and nonprofit organizations with the tools they need to strategically use technology to better serve their members, effect social change and uphold their missions.The ASAE's high-tech learning experience of the year is fast approaching.  From February 10-12, 2010 at the Walter E Washington Convention Center the 2010 Technology Conference & Expo will bring renowned thought leaders, representing a diverse cache of technology industries, for two and a half days of networking, interactive discussion, and hands-on learning all focused around the most pressing technology issues affecting organizations today.  The conference equips associations and nonprofit organizations with the tools they need to strategically use technology to better serve their members, effect social change and uphold their missions. And the BroadPoint team is honored to be presenting during this don’t miss event.  Join them on Friday, February 12, from 10:15 – 11:30 a.m. in Room 207A for the Technology Idea Lab: See What You're Missing: Rethinking Your Online Marketing While many organizations are using social networking and online tools, the most successful ones have adopted a perspective that sees all these efforts as pieces of one powerful, all-encompassing unit. This session highlights some of these organizations and provides you with templates, models and tools to help you begin to reshape how you look at your AMS, social networking, and email marketing. See how they fit into an integrated online effort with a coherent message that can generate great results. AMS administrators and marketing professionals won’t want to miss this strategic session designed to help you tap into the power of social media. BroadPoint's Allison Brown, senior account executive, and Todd Hager, VP, will be joined by Andy Steggles, COO & social strategist from Higher Logic, LLC to present.  See you there! 2010-01-29T18:36:15+00:00 http://www.broadpoint.net/site/broadpoint-technologies-and-cordia-partners-announce-strategic-alliance/ http://www.broadpoint.net/site/broadpoint-technologies-and-cordia-partners-announce-strategic-alliance/#When:18:57:21Z BroadPoint Technologies and Cordia Partners announce a strategic alliance to provide outsourced Software as a Service accounting services to the Not-for-Profit community. BroadPoint Technologies, the leading Not-For-Profit technology business consultant in the mid-Atlantic and Cordia Partners, a leading provider of outsourced accounting services to Not-For-Profit organizations in the mid-Atlantic, are partnering to provide Not-for-Profits cloud computing accounting services. This allows Not-for-Profits multiple options to lower accounting and technology expenses while providing state of the art compliance, reporting and accounting services specifically geared to the complex Not-for-Profit environment. 2010-01-08T18:57:15+00:00 http://www.broadpoint.net/site/automating-budgeting-processes-increases-productivity-and-decreases-costs/ http://www.broadpoint.net/site/automating-budgeting-processes-increases-productivity-and-decreases-costs/#When:18:52:41Z See how Educational Services of America (ESA), the nation’s leading provider of K-12 and post-secondary alternative and special education programs, yielded direct costs savings with PROPHIX budgeting and data consolidations.Educational Services of America (ESA) is the nation’s leading provider of K-12 and post-secondary alternative and special education programs. ESA owns and operates more than 130 schools and programs in 17 states. ESA provides highly personalized academic and behavioral services for students through the following branded areas: ESA Exceptional Schools, Ombudsman Educational Services, and Spectrum Center Schools.   Prior to PROPHIX, ESA did not have a true budgeting system. It was purely based on Excel spreadsheets, which became too time consuming. Melissa Harrell, Corporate Controller, is responsible for distributing templates and consolidating the various budgets from different locations. “What’s frustrating with Excel is the time consuming template maintenance and data consolidation. Users were able to change formulas, delete lines, and adjust formatting, which made it an even longer process because we needed to verify data accuracy,” explains Melissa. “Plus making one change is a hassle, because it needs to be done to all templates.”   ESA needed a robust system that required as little IT maintenance as possible and offered the automation of tedious processes. Also having investigated Forecaster, Budget Maestro, and Tagetik, the team chose PROPHIX for a number of reasons. Some have had experience with other PROPHIX products in the past and thought the SQL Server version, in particular, would suit their needs. PROPHIX offers powerful offline capabilities and having over 100 regional managers, this proved to be an essential feature to the company. Melissa describes, “Another reason why we chose PROPHIX is the customer service. We can see from even the sales standpoint, that PROPHIX has a great customer service oriented business.”   After completing the first phase of implementation, ESA discovered the ease of installing the product and working with PROPHIX. “I have been involved in six different software implementations in my career and PROPHIX has, by far, provided the best project plan I have received from a software company,” says Melissa.   ESA already has already realized how budgeting and data consolidation in PROPHIX would yield direct cost savings. Melissa explains, “In my old system, it took a whole day to add a location. I added two locations in PROPHIX, and that took about 15 minutes. That’s a huge time savings.” Sherri Cunningham, Manager of Corporate IT Operations, adds, “PROPHIX obviously helps with the budgeting piece, but it also seems to be fitting very well with our forecasting process; our actuary is thrilled.”   For more information on how PROPHIX Software may be the right solution for your company, please contact your BroadPoint Account Manager or you may contact Kim Owens at kowens@broadpoint.net.   Microsoft Dynamics GP, Client Services 2010-01-08T18:52:15+00:00 http://www.broadpoint.net/site/good-habits-for-a-greener-pc/ http://www.broadpoint.net/site/good-habits-for-a-greener-pc/#When:19:44:07Z You can reduce power consumption and achieve significant energy savings when using your PC simply by acquiring a few good habits. Read the handy tips below.The monitor In a PC, the display is greatly responsible for overall energy consumption. Some estimates for laptops show that the monitor accounts for 40% of total energy consumption. The figure is not much different for desktop PCs. LCD monitors typically require between 15 and 60 watts, while a CRT (cathode ray tube) screen requires between 50 and 125 watts. In order to reduce energy consumption and in particular battery consumption, it is recommended to not change the standard configuration set by the manufacturer. In fact, after a certain period of inactivity, the monitor automatically “goes to sleep”. In this mode, it consumes just 1 to 3 watts of energy. Windows operating systems, in particular from Windows XP onwards, allow you to easily adjust the monitor’s sleep cycle. To lower consumption, you can shorten the idle time, activating the sleep phase earlier and so saving energy. Another important factor in energy consumption as regards the screen is its brightness. It’s natural to write in black on a white sheet, but a very bright page is heavy on consumption, and strains the eyes.  Therefore, experts suggest that screen brightness be reduced until your eyes are comfortable. In this way, especially for laptops, battery consumption can be greatly reduced and battery life lengthened. PC hibernation mode The most effective way of reducing consumption when your PC is not in use is to put it in hibernate mode. Rather than shutting down your PC every day, restarting it, then re-opening all your applications, it is much better to “suspend” PC activity, because energy consumption in this mode is roughly 5 watts for a desktop PC and 1 watt for a laptop. In Windows Vista and later systems, you can also save energy by setting your PC to awaken from hibernation to execute scheduled tasks. For example, with the TV program recording function, you can set your PC to activate itself and record your favorite program at a set time. After completing the recording, the PC returns to hibernate mode. Switch off the Wi-Fi antenna Today’s laptops and some desktop models are equipped with antennas for transmitting and receiving data via radio waves using hotspots, microcells equipped with Wi-Fi antennas that comply with wireless standards 802.11 a/b/g/n and allow Internet browsing in bars, airports, at work, or in the home. Radio antennas consume a lot of energy and battery power when they kick into operation. Windows Vista and Windows 7 natively support the ability to disable the laptop antenna when not in use. This ability to disable the antenna for short periods of time helps to prolong battery life. New Windows PCs normally have the Wi-Fi antenna enabled for best performance, meaning they are not configured for power saving. So it is up to you to use your wireless antenna in a way that maximizes battery life. If you don’t need to browse the Internet or connect, you can switch the Wi-Fi antenna off completely. Regulate Windows Search indexing One of the most interesting changes in Windows Vista is the ability to index all PC content, from e-mails to documents to images. This is a task that Windows Vista performs in the background or while you are doing something else, but it’s a task that inevitably consumes energy. There are three possible settings for the Windows Search indexing system: Maximum Savings: Windows indexes only files defined as high priority or e-mails. Balanced: Windows indexes files defined as high or normal priority. Maximum Performance: All indexing functions are active, including searching for new content on the Internet.   Selecting a sensible indexing status, depending on the electrical or battery connection, can help you better manage and prolong the useful working life of your laptop.  Power Savings Features in Windows 7 Windows 7 runs with fewer background activities so your PC processor doesn't work as hard and draws less power. Other innovations include less power-hungry DVD playback (handy on long flights), automatic screen dimming, powering off unused ports, and a more accurate battery-life indicator.   Tips & Tricks, Client Services 2010-01-04T19:44:15+00:00 http://www.broadpoint.net/site/happy-holidays-from-broadpoint/ http://www.broadpoint.net/site/happy-holidays-from-broadpoint/#When:15:20:51Z Click to launch your holiday wish!      Client Services 2009-12-21T15:20:15+00:00 http://www.broadpoint.net/site/dynamics-gp-11-is-coming/ http://www.broadpoint.net/site/dynamics-gp-11-is-coming/#When:22:57:03Z  Microsoft Dynamics GP is coming this May.  As a top Microsoft partner BroadPoint will be able to show you the difference, benefits and important changes. Microsoft Dynamics GP 11 is set to hit in May of 2010, it extends the reach of insight, productivity, and collaboration across your entire business, helping ensure that people—and the different ways they work—are your most powerful asset. New capabilities deliver faster access to personalized business intelligence, enhanced ways to streamline business processes, and built-in tools that speed deployment and customization. Equally important, Microsoft Dynamics GP 11 takes full advantage of Web-based innovation, community, and collaboration to connect the entire enterprise—employees, customers, and vendors. We keep it simple, but we deliver the new way to do business.   Enhance insight  Bring personalized business insight to key roles in your organization and extend access to information to everyone in your company. Make it easier:  Automate business processes with rich new features that make it easier to work faster and smarter. Remove barriers:  Dissolve traditional boundaries to build business relationships that connect people, information, and processes across applications and systems.   Let BroadPoint be your guide to leveraging Dynamics GP 11  2009-12-18T22:57:15+00:00 http://www.broadpoint.net/site/microsoftdeals/ http://www.broadpoint.net/site/microsoftdeals/#When:21:49:58Z Microsoft is offering discounts on new users and modules, but time is running out! Customers considering new user or modules for their Microsoft systems soon should be sure that they are aware that the significant discounts on users and modules being offered by Microsoft are about to expire next week!    Because these offers are so terrific , I didn't want you to miss the benefit of at least exploring this offer.   The last day to place discounted orders is December 23rd, don't let this pass you by.   Contact  yourr account manager ASAP to discuss how to take advantage of this significant discount!   Account Managers: Nadia Isata (301) 634-2404 Kim Owens  (704) 987-9989 Tunesia Winn (757) 413-2090   If you are not currently a customer please call 1-888-920-2784 for more information. Microsoft Dynamics GP, Client Services 2009-12-15T21:49:15+00:00 http://www.broadpoint.net/site/interview-with-an-expert-series-mitch-vassar/ http://www.broadpoint.net/site/interview-with-an-expert-series-mitch-vassar/#When:14:00:10Z Mitch Vassar discusses what can go wrong during an implementation...What industry/industries are you currently focused on?  - No focus, I do work for clients in various industries What is the first question that you would ask someone who is considering a new solution for their organization? Have you checked on how the system works with your processes and which processes you may need to change to work within the system? What was a small mistake that you’ve seen an organization make with their systems that had a big consequence?    It's not small, but a lack of strategic planning is easy to overlook while trying to achieve immediate results.  The missed opportunities can be crippling.  Luckily BroadPoint consultants are good at catching these opportunities that other implement –only shops can overlook. What is your background picture on your computer right now? - Splashing water Peanut butter:  Crunchy or smooth? - Prefer crunchy, have to buy smooth for the kids. 2009-12-11T14:00:15+00:00