April 3, 2018 By

Turn Prospects into Customers

Implementation Specialists has created new software to help you better manage the Prospect to Customer lifecycle. wsTOOLS Prospect program takes a proactive approach to help businesses seamlessly connect tasks, quotes and contacts, allowing your sales and service departments to follow through on each prospect, from the initial contact to the end result – a satisfied customer.

Conversations with HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, and other related industry experts steered our team to design processes and products to integrate Field Service, Sales, and Accounting across a single platform, making more efficient use of your time.

The April 4 webinar will show you how to integrate this new software, forging a strong internal team who knows the next step in the process to turning a prospect into a customer.

Over the next few weeks, our wsTOOLS team will unveil our new DispatchCenter functionality driven by direct customer feedback, such as a module to synchronize prospect information between GP and KEY2ACT.

In our Webinar Series we will share customer experiences, complete with hands-on demonstrations, testimonials, and webinars to give you peer-driven solutions to overcome common productivity bottlenecks between departments.

Join us for our first topic on Wednesday April 4th at 12PM CST.

First look at the new Prospect module

 

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March 8, 2018 By

New IRS Withholding Calculator for completing new W-4 forms for 2018 Tax Year

The IRS has released a new W-4 form and an updated W-4 Calculator. Reviewing and completing a new W-4 form is encouraged to do every year, even more important this year, because of recent changes to the tax law for 2018. The Calculator helps you identify your tax withholding to make sure you have the right amount of tax withheld from your paycheck at work.

If employees choose to adjust their withholding, they can now complete and submit the revised Form W-4 to their employer.

The IRS also posted new Withholding Calculator Frequently Asked Questions.

“Following the major changes in the tax law, the IRS encourages employees to check their paychecks to help ensure they’re having the right amount of tax withheld for their personal situation,” Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter said in a statement.

The IRS is not Requiring employers to obtain new W-4s from their employees, however it is recommended employers notify employees, using the W-4 calculator and if necessary, submitting a new W-4 to their employer’s payroll department is encouraged for a more accurate withholding of taxes for 2018.

Links:

2018 W-4 Form https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w4

W-4 Calculator https://www.irs.gov/individuals/irs-withholding-calculator

W-4 Calculator Frequently asked questions https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/withholding-calculator-frequently-asked-questions

Changing Income Brackets https://www.shrm.org/ResourcesAndTools/hr-topics/compensation/pages/fica-social-security-tax-2018.aspx#article-section-8

 

I hope you found this information useful!

-Margi Jandro, Consultant with Implementation Specialists

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized
March 20, 2017 By

wsTOOLS will be at GPUG Amplify & presenting at DocLink Evolution 2017 this week!

wsTOOLS Team to Sponsor Evolution 2017, Altec’s Annual Conference for DocLink Customers and Partners

The wsTools team will demonstrate “Creating Efficiencies and Simplifying Work in Dynamics GP” at Evolution 2017 from March 20th-23rd, 2017 in Newport Beach, CA.

Hawley, MN — March 20, 2017 — wsTOOLS, the development arm of Implementation Specialists, announced today its sponsorship of Evolution 2017, Altec’s annual DocLink customer conference. The event will take place from March 20th-23rd, 2017 in Newport Beach, CA at the Newport Beach Marriott Resort and Spa.

DocLink document management is a powerful solution that allows organizations to transform outdated business practices to increase efficiency in the workplace. Streamlining document routing and automating workflows supports corporate compliance while providing secure and easy access to all documents. Evolution 2017 will unite DocLink users and partners for four invaluable days of learning and networking. With a schedule boasting a convenient Expo center, technical help at DocLink Interact and 40+ expert-led sessions on separate, focused tracks, the event aims to help businesses progress with actionable takeaways.

Channel partners will have the opportunity to take advantage of tracks designed specifically to equip resellers with the best tools and strategies to deliver first class solutions, such as DocLink and wsTOOLS to their clients. DocLink users will learn how to expand and optimize their systems, explore creative ideas on new use cases, hear best practices from other DocLink users, discover the complementary applications of ISVs such as wsTOOLS and be inspired to evolve their businesses as DocLink grows with them.

wsTOOLS will showcase its enhancement tools for Dynamics GP at Evolution 2017. In addition to exhibiting each day in the Expo center, wsTOOLS will present a breakout session on Tuesday, March 21 from 11am-12pm (Pacific) titled “Creating Efficiencies and Simplifying Work in Dynamics GP.”

“Last year’s inaugural Evolution conference was a giant success, providing our customer and partners with important information about our flagship DocLink solution,” stated Don Howren, President and COO at Altec. “We are delighted to once again be able to offer our customers and partners the information and support vital to grow business through DocLink and complementary applications such as wsTOOLS,”

About wsTOOLS

For more information about wsTOOLS, please visit https://www.iscorp.biz/solutions/wstools/

For more information about Evolution 2017, please visit http://www.doclinkevolution.com

About Altec

Altec is a leading provider of integrated document management and workflow solutions. Its flagship product, DocLink, enables companies to capture, archive, workflow, and route any document for any process, anywhere. Connecting data for thousands of customers globally, Altec also enjoys strong, collaborative partnerships with ERP solution providers such as Amtech, Epicor, Microsoft, Sage, and SAP B1 to provide the most comprehensive enterprise document management solution. Learn more at http://www.altec-inc.com.

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Implementation Specialists’ Annual User-Conference, Another Success!
November 25, 2016 By

Implementation Specialists’ Annual User-Conference, Another Success!

GPUC 2016, has come and gone.  This year’s annual user-conference was full of energy, intelligence, and great information!  Dynamics GP users were able to interact with the Implementation Specialists’ team, sponsors, as well as individuals like themselves!  Our team, along with Microsoft presenters, covered a vast array of topics dealing with Microsoft Dynamics GP.  Topics included:  Excel, Macros, Power BI, Payroll & HR, AR/AP/GL, Accounting, Year-end Closing, Tips & Tricks, SQL, SSRS, SmartLists, and much more!  Here are some of the comments from our customers:

•”It was nice to see tips and tools that we didn’t know about in Microsoft Dynamics GP.”
•”Power BI is a cool tool that we would love to learn how to use.”
•”The session on 50 Tips and Tricks included great ideas that we will look into.”
•”The session on How to Excel was end-user focused and efficiency focused.”
•”GPUC 2016 covered some things we are not currently doing, but should be!”
•”The session Creating a View in SmartList Builder gave us some good tips of building reports either through SQL or in SmartList Builder.”
•”Excel Report Builder should give us some options of how to do some daily reports instead of daily reformatting.”

We are very excited about next year’s GPUC!  Join us for GPUC 2017 on November 15th – November 17th, 2017!

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Dynamics 365 compared to Dynamics GP
September 29, 2016 By

Dynamics 365 compared to Dynamics GP

For quite some time there has been a lot of buzz on how the soon-to-be launched Dynamics 365 compared to Dynamics GP and if it is GP’s replacement.  After participating in ReIMAGINE, Microsoft’s premier Dynamics GP Partner Conference, last week the differences became apparent and each solution will address the needs of their target audiences for years to come.

Dynamics GP is Not Going Away

Rest assured, the message from Microsoft is that development on Dynamics GP will continue as long as customers still want it and Partners keep selling it.  The product road map for the Dynamics solutions (shown above) was shared at the conference and the product road map for Dynamics GP shows ongoing development to 2019 and beyond.

But beyond Microsoft’s announcement we think that Dynamics GP will most likely be developed even more so by partners than it ever has been in the past.  Customers direct their Partners on how they want their ERP solution to work and the platform supports the transformation of those ideas into new functionality for improved business processes and industry specific needs.

So why keeping Dynamics GP makes sense for Microsoft:

  • Protects the Microsoft stack – GP sits on Windows and runs on SQL and Office. The message of “One Microsoft” is still intact but is changing in order to stay relevant.  GP protects the stack and Dynamics 365 is trying to keep or gain customers who don’t want to own or manage the stack themselves.
  • Proven solution – GP is built on accepted business processes developed over 20 years.  We are confident that Dynamics 365 will offer great value to its users because that is what Microsoft is known for and it won’t change in any shape, form or fashion, but the tenure of GP gives customers an extra level of confidence.
  • No one size fits all – No single solution has a path that supports every permutation of customers’ needs. That is why Dynamics GP has the strong Partner and ISV community built over decades.  Microsoft is interested in providing the general functionality but needs to rely on Partners to provide the unique features, fit and finish that customers want.  It will take some time for Dynamics 365 to have the same Partner and ISV involvement that GP has today.

So What is Dynamics 365?

Debuting this fall, Dynamics 365 – Business Edition is a SaaS-based business management solution for small & mid-sized businesses that runs on Microsoft Azure. Fully integrated with Microsoft Office 365, Dynamics 365 – Business Edition is a new entrant in the space from Microsoft to compete against other cloud-based solutions such as QuickBooks and Xero. Designed under the previous code name of Project Madeira, the initial release of Dynamics 365 will focus primarily on the financial modules of GL, AP and AR.  There won’t be customization capabilities but additional modules from Microsoft such as payroll (which isn’t available with the initial release) and enhancements / solutions offered through ISV partners will be downloaded from an App store as they become available in the future.  The beauty of Dynamics 365 as a SAAS solution is that Microsoft can push out enhancements or bug fixes automatically to the system without user intervention and it has been designed to work anywhere at any time on any device. Customers pay monthly for the service (cost per user per month) and there is no upfront cost for hardware, SQL Server, or other platform components which eliminates the higher upfront cost associated with an on-premise solution.  So Dynamics 365 is a good fit for those wanting a cloud-based solution that they pay monthly for and who do not have complex needs.

Reasons to Stay on Dynamics GP

Dynamics GP, with over two decades of development history, has rich functionality with a full suite of modules, hundreds of ISV solutions that integrate with it, customization capabilities and multiple reporting options.  Customers who are using Dynamics GP with manufacturing, sales, inventory, service management, payroll or human resources, or are using an ISV solution to meet a required need today most likely won’t be a good fit for Dynamics 365 until additional functionality is built into Dynamics 365 and/or ISV partners get their solutions built to work with it and downloadable as an app.  GP provides flexible deployment options.  If there is a desire to not have the maintenance responsibility of an on-premise solution or a desire to pay for the Dynamics GP solution monthly, then there are several partners and options available to host Dynamics GP along with integrated ISV solutions, customizations, etc. for you out in the cloud and to pay monthly for it.  Just please let us know and we can help you with that.

Conclusion

While Dynamics 365 is an exciting announcement and offers a solution to compete in the SAAS market, it most likely won’t be a replacement, at least in the near future, for Dynamics GP users who have requirements beyond core financials.  The products are positioned for different audiences.  Microsoft has assured the GP community that Dynamics GP will continue on as long as there is interest in it.  So the decision on which product is best for you really depends on your needs.

If you would like to discuss your needs and see which solution is a better fit for you, then please give us a call at 218-486-5095 and we would be happy to help you.

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