Tekoa Software Enterprise Web Management

What Enterprise Systems Can Do for You

2011-07-06T13:09:00.000-07:00

An Enterprise System is a system that focuses on the entire organization, not just a certain part or group. Enterprise Systems are an important element when it comes to the processes of the organization. They support the organizations by helping them coordinate and communicate “among different functions” (19) as well as make data easily accessible to everyone involved in the process. There are three roles in which Enterprise Systems are involved.

Execute the Process
Companies have become so dependant on Enterprise Systems because throughout the process they are able to stay organized and up to date with what they need to accomplish and how to do it. “Enterprise Systems help execute the business process by informing people when it is time to complete a task, providing the data necessary to complete the task, and in some cases providing the means to complete the task” (20). Enterprise Systems play a critical role in executing the process. Since the system and the process are connected, it is vital that the system is functioning at all times. If the system stops and is not functioning, the process will not be able to be completed.

Capture and Store Process Data
“A process is a sequence of activities or tasks that takes a set of inputs and converts them into the desired output” (6). They create data that is important to the functioning of the company. What the Enterprise System does is capture that data and store it in the system. There are many different ways in which data entry can be “captured and stored”, but using Enterprise systems allows the user to only enter data once. Once it is entered and stored any user in the process can easily access it. Also, when the data is entered, feedback and recommendations about the entries are given to help in decision making and staying current on company needs.

Monitor Process Performance
Enterprise Systems contribute largely to the indication of what stage in the process we are in. It helps us see where we are, where we need to be, what we need to accomplish now, and how well we are carrying out the process. “An Enterprise System performs this role by evaluating information about the process” (21). “Not only does it help monitor a process, but it can also detect [and diagnose] problems with the process” (22). To do this, it takes information given by the company about where they want to be and their expectations of where they should be. The system will detect whether of not the process is on par or if they are falling short of the expectations.

Enterprise Systems are a very valuable component to many organizations. They are an important tool when it comes to processes because they are able to help companies accomplish tasks and activities, save and store process data, and keep track of how the process is performed. The knowledge of Enterprise Systems and processes is an important understanding to possess. It allows one to collaborate and communicate with others, understand the organization, and recognize how your work contributes to the achievement of the process.

Jennifer Benson
About the author: Jennifer is a Business Professional in the Pacific Northwest.

What it means to be a Good Knowledge Worker

2011-06-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

It is common knowledge in today’s business environment that the market has gone global. Even small, seemingly local businesses have ties overseas and across borders. As businesses expand all around the world, the business processes grow increasingly complicated and complex. As a result, many businesses are using information technology to tie together and coordinate the many business processes taking place all around the world.

Employees in these companies then tend to fall into one of two primary camps: those that cannot keep up with the rapid technological advances, and those that can. Those that can are able to filter through the onslaught of overwhelming quantities of information provided by these systems and mold that information into relevant and applicable content that will aid in decision making. Need for these capable individuals is mounting.

These individuals are what is called Knowledge Workers.

A Knowledge Worker:

1. Uses information and Communication Technology to make, access, or utilize data to increase their and the company’s productivity (Magal, Essentials of Business Processes and Information Systems). They use both structured and unstructured information, meaning that they use easily accessed and obvious information as well as information that is tougher to realize that you need or is difficult to find a way to access.

2. Will perform nonroutine jobs everyday. They have to think through their problems and work and work outside the box. Technology is advancing so quickly that Knowledge Workers are often swimming in uncharted territory. To access and appropriately utilize the necessary information the workers have to be able to work outside dictated parameters and find their own trail to the answer (or even the question in order to find the answer) that they require. Each task performed can vary and requires the Knowledge Worker to be constantly on their toes.

3. Constantly pulls data from numerous sources in an attempt to form relevant conclusions. This is key because the Knowledge Worker has to be able to determine: 1) the appropriate question; 2) what information is necessary to answer the question; 3) what resources are available that contain said information; and 4) to pull that information and draw significant conclusions. This is called information literacy.

4. Knows the big picture of the company and their place within it. This is central to being a Knowledge Worker because it aids in determining what constitutes relevant information. This is called thinking strategically. This is called communication and collaboration and is one of the most important parts of being a knowledge worker. It puts the rest of the work done into perspective. No one process or function is isolated anymore. No one operates in a functional silo. Recognizing this fact assists employees in increasing communication, collaboration, and productivity.

Being a quality Knowledge Worker is expected of most graduating Business students. Employers assume that these graduates have a capacity for thinking strategically through any problems thrown at them, especially given their fresh perspective on business processes and their more recent (i.e. less outdated) education. Knowledge Workers are expected to know how to process information to provide strategic conclusions.

Caitlin Richardson
Accounting Systems and Theory
Whitworth University

2010-11-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

Tekoa Software announces new Online Backup Services

If you take a gander at the Tekoa Software website, you’ll probably notice a new Tekoa Logo being added to their already familiar corporate one. It is for a new service of online backup services the company is offering for very reasonable costs – and they are one of the few such services that can accommodate everything you want to throw at it – including servers and their complicated databases. Other similar services through competitors will be happy to backup your desktop units, but can’t handle the sophisticated structure of a server. Tekoa can. That’s significant.

Once you’ve set up your backup account (and there’s even a “mini” (200 MB max) 5-day free trial if you just want to try it first) you can backup an UNLIMITED number of computers on your account – no need to open an account for each user in your company. That’s a significant feature for a small to medium business with a dozen or so users and a couple of servers. Much more economical to do it all under one account!

The new software feature gives you the ability to either backup your data to their online servers (in 10 data centers around the world) or to store it locally to your own facility’s external USB drive, a local network location, a USB “stick” or even an iPod. Their software handles everything for you from a very easy to understand web screen.

You can specify a specific schedule for the backup to occur automatically; monthly, weekly, daily or even hourly. It even allows you to tag special critical files with their “Live Protect™” feature which will automatically monitor the file for changes and immediately back it up online each time you save a change to the file. What a great time-saver for you as you don’t have to remember to do special backups for those critical files. And for those of you in the medical community, our backup is so secure that it even meets the new HIPAA standards!

All backups are saved forever – none are ever deleted. You can restore to any point in time just by selecting one of your old backups to restore. What a great tool for looking at things in the past – just like real-time!

You can even give someone else permission to restore a specific file on a one-time basis and use the service as a “file sharing facility”.

This feature-rich service is billed to your credit card monthly and the charge is calculated by the amount of disk you need. Why not go to http://onlinebackup.tekoasoftware.com and take a look? Or call us at 888-811-2998 (or 509-340-3580) and talk to us about it. We’ll be happy to explain it to you in detail.

Facebook Marketing 101 for Business

2010-05-31T10:41:00.000-07:00

While enjoying a cup of coffee or catching up with a business associate, you probably have heard about businesses marketing on Facebook. With over 350 million users, Facebook is a behemoth social networking tool where your business can market your products, but that said, marketing on Facebook is not like other marketing techniques and getting it wrong will potentially have less than zero results, but actually get you a reputation as a pest.

So if you were wondering how to get your business on facebook and are looking for the basic principles behind Facebook marketing, read on. Here are some principles for marketing a business on Facebook.

1. Focus.
Keep in mind what Facebook is and don’t stray from its purpose. When considering Facebook marketing keep in mind that it is a social networking site where online relationships are developed, and not a poster board for displaying your most recent advertisement. Facebook is about relationships, and the key difference between marketing on Facebook and regular business marketing is that your business should be trying to setup relationships with potential customers. Simply splashing your logo and products, or making regular announcements is not how its done. You want to start dialogues about your products, not just blindly post product summaries.

2. Engage.
Because Facebook is social, you have to come across to your customer base as helpful, informative and a useful resource; and do it in a genuine way. People have to believe you are the genuine article and truly interested in being the “go-to company” for the need your business fulfills. To be successful on Facebook, you have to engage in helping customers, be willing to answer questions they have, and provide real-world usable answers. This can be a challenge for businesses used to strong arm sales. Just remember you want to start conversations and be helpful, not necessarily jump straight to “close the deal”.

3. Develop.
First thing you want to do is, of course setup a Facebook page and open it to the public. If you have all the content already written, it shouldn’t take you too much time to get on Facebook, create an account for your business and adjust the security settings to make your business profile public. Don’t skip this step and make sure the information you provide on the business profile is complete. Half-hearted or incomplete profiles are viewed as a waste of time by social users. So take the time to post as much content as you can, upload images, videos, etc. and complete a basic summary of who you are and what your business does.

4. Friends and Fans.
Once you have setup your public profile on Facebook, you have to start trying to link up with friends and fans. If you have existing customers that you know have Facebook accounts, ask to be freinded or ask them to become a fan of your new Facebook page. Once you get a base of fans and friends, remain diligent in expanding the connections. Search Facebook for complimentary products or services, manufacturers, etc. and offer to link up with them.

5. Content.
After you have started a friend and fan base, start publishing helpful information about your products. Share ‘How To’ articles or talk about tips and tricks related to your products. Write up customer testimonies and ask questions of your fans and friends to get an idea of what they are looking for. You might be surprised to know that people have little or no knowledge about the bare essential facts about your products, so go back to the bare bones basics and start conversations about features, ask if there is anything your organization can do to assist with the correct use of your products, talk about how to get help or maintenance. The point is to publicize generic but informative content about your products that will grab the attention of fans and get them to notice and read your posts.

6. Keep it Going.
The longer your history on Facebook and the more insightful your content, the better your viral marketing will bloom. It may take some time to generate a significant history of helpful information, but keeping at it and continually adding new and interesting information will increase the information “real estate” your business has on Facebook.

In the end, business accounts on Facebook is about starting and maintaining relationships with customers . To be recognized by Facebookers and a relevant source of useful information and an expert in your industry is the goal. Following the steps detailed here will help your organization build social media relationships and expand relationships with customers.

eBusiness Management –What Customers Expect Today

2008-10-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

Communicating with customers in writing:

Now that we have discussed how important it is to be honest with your customers through your website, let’s take it to the next step – communications with those customers. Let’s assume a few things here for the purpose of illustrations and examples. First, let’s assume your main way of communicating with customers is in writing in either letters or emails.

No one likes to get a stiff, complicated and wordy business letter to read; especially if it is filled with acronyms, technical terms and jargon unfamiliar to the reader. When we get those, it usually tells us the author is stiff, serious and not a good communicator. Ever talk to an insurance salesman? Now be honest, how much did you REALLY understand of what he/she was saying? 10%? Maybe 20%? Don’t be like that to your customers! We should never allow our customers to think that of us if we are trying to sell them something! It furthers the misconception of the buyer that, “If I buy something from this guy, dealing with him will not be a pleasant experience.” They will most likely go elsewhere.

The best way to write any business correspondence is to write it the same way you would explain it to them in person. Practice it. It’s called “Conversational Writing” and has long been taught in good business schools everywhere. For some reason however, not everyone passed the course. Especially lawyers – they are trained to write thousands of words which mean absolutely nothing to the average Joe. That guarantees them that we must hire them to read and interpret what others (or they) write. Don’t make your customers feel like that! Be conversational and leave out complicated words, acronyms or jargon particular to your line of business. If you must use a “special” word, then make sure define it without demeaning them into feeling uninformed. They will be much more impressed with your ability to write plainly and clearly to them than they would be if you tried to “snow” them with overly complicated phrases or words, just to prove how smart you are. It will have the opposite effect, guaranteed.

Many have defined the perfect business letter as “Yellow, Red, Green.”
The first (YELLOW) part means put the greeting up front and briefly state what you will discuss with them and what you expect the letter to accomplish.

Next (the RED part) explain in detail (not too complicated) what you are writing about. Be specific and even add a series of steps for them to perform if necessary.
Thirdly comes the GREEN part. Thank them for their business and assure them that their business is important to you and your company. Leave them happy with a confirming statement.

That should produce a good business letter or email for you. Practice, practice, practice! Then re-read the letter to yourself as if you were the recipient. Is it plainly stated? Is it simple to understand and not contain unnecessary buzz words or technical jargon? Does it accomplish the goal you set for the when writing it in the first place? If you received it, how would you feel?

Terminal Services and MAS 200 Explained

2008-09-12T09:59:00.000-07:00

MAS 90 and MAS 200 from Sage Software are two of the most widely used midsize business management and accounting applications in service today. Both MAS 90 and MAS 200 share the same end-user capability and functionality. The primary difference between MAS 90 and MAS 200 is the back-end technology. MAS 200 is a client-server application which works more efficiently than MAS 90 on wide area networks and large user counts.

One method gaining popularity among business that own MAS 90 and MAS 200 is the use of Terminal Services to host MAS. There are a number of benefits to using Terminal Services for MAS 90/200. Here is a list of some of the benefits:

1. Improved Security
Something your MAS consultant may not tell you is that Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 require Full Access network security rights to not only the installation directory on the server, but often times the Program Files directory as well. Hosting MAS 200 on a Terminal Server improves security because network administrators can limit the terminal session to only execute MAS, and then close the session when MAS is closed - therefore it is not a problem that the user has full control rights because the only software they can run in the terminal session is MAS itself. Using the MAS 200 client directly on the network without Terminal Services exposes your network to either malicious or silly employee errors.

2. Remote Office Capability
Using TERMINAL SERVICES for MAS 200 also makes connecting remote offices and at-home users much more efficient and capable. IT pros familiar with MAS know that even the "thin-client" install of MAS 200 is not very efficient over a wide area network. Even with Sage's addition of a client server ODBC driver, the performance of the direct MAS 200 Client over a wide area network is not ideal and has frustrated many an end-user. Using Terminal Server to host MAS 200 is the "no brainer" solution for connecting home offices and remote offices to a centralized MAS 200 installation.

Search our article archive for more information about HOSTED MAS 200 solutions. Or come back again soon as we continue to discuss the benefits and potential problems associated with Terminal Services and MAS 200.

Welcome to the Tekoa Software Blog

2008-09-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

Running a successful online business is not as easy as you might think and requires a unique blend of expertise, insight and skill. Running a successful ebusiness is a unique blend of marketing, sales, technology and customer service.

The goal of this blog is to explore online business topics, provide tips, tricks and useful advice that when employed, edify online business managers and help streamline online business practices.

Take your online business to the next level and make it a real part of your business, a true source of revenue, an improved customer service tool, and an effective marketing avenue. Make your web site more than just an electronic brochure, make it an online business tool and leverage technology into new horizons for your traditional business.