The Attivo Blog

A few months back I wrote about MAX and compared its relationship with QuickBooks to a superhero duo.  I thought I had expressed my feelings towards MAX and what a cool product I think it is.  I thought there was nothing more that I could say. That is until I found out that MAX released its latest version 5.0.7 and I found out that it now offers User Designed Fields.  This gives the user the flexibility to create their own user defined database fields and add them to existing MAX screens and reports.  I ran to my computer like Usain Bolt ran the 100m in the 2008 Olympics to write this blog! MAX with User Designed Fields is like popcorn with butter, or ice cream with chocolate syrup.  It makes something really good even better and makes MAX that much more powerful of an application.

A few weeks back I blogged about my 5 favorite manufacturing applications that integrate with QuickBooks and referred to them as the “Fab Five.”  Now if you follow my blog on a somewhat consistent basis you will note that I have already given JobBOSS and MAX their own postings.  Not wanting to be accused of nepotism (I was an employee of Exact Software for 5 years) I felt it was only fair to give the other 3 members articles of their own. I put Acctivate!, MISys and BatchMaster’s names in a hat and drew to see which one I would start with.  The winner was MISys which is an application designed to fit the needs and budget of small manufacturing firms.  Pretty cool to have an application that automates your manufacturing processes, integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks and is cost effective to boot! Another pretty cool feature of MISys is the fact that it is modular.  So in other words, you only need to purchase what you need from the package.  That is awesome for small businesses with manufacturing needs. So now that I have covered 3 of the “Fab Five,” I think it is safe to say that small manufacturers have plenty of options out there.  Stay tuned for more blogs on the “Fab Five.”   Please don’t let the anticipation for them keep you up at night!

When I first heard of the term “cloud computing” I wasn’t really sure what to think?  At the risk of sounding ignorant the first thing that came to my mind was sitting on a puffy cloud while using your PC or Mac.  I know, I know, completely idiotic, but I am just being honest.  I soon found out that “cloud computing” can be a pretty efficient and cost effective way to manage the IT infrastructure of your business. So what on Earth is “cloud computing?”  Simply put it is moving software applications which would typically be on the user’s network infrastructure out onto the internet by having control remote servers to maintain data and applications.  Did I say simply put?  I know, confusing! So basically you are having your IT hardware being shared amongst many companies.  By sharing costs including electricity, internet bandwidth, data storage, security and IT management, cloud computing can provide higher quality resources at a lower cost than most companies can provide with their own resources. Another example to explain this would be if you want milk, do you need to have a cow living in your backyard?  No, let the grocery store handle that for you!  Another advantage to “Cloud” environments is that they are generally managed in a secure, disaster-ready environment.  So if a major flood, tornado, or earthquake takes place, your equipment will remain safe. Now that you know that “cloud computing” isn’t working with your computer up in the sky, it is up to you to decide whether or not it is right for your business.   A lot of business’s today use a combination of “cloud” and “on-site” technology to handle their needs.  Whatever your choice is, it is nice to have an option of having your own in house infrastructure or sharing it with other companies.

Every day we have certain choices to make and often face crossroads that we need to decide which direction to go.  These crossroads don’t always have to be major and most of these decisions have positive and negative outcomes. Let’s take a decision like whether or not you would like to live in New York City.  Sounds like a great idea right?!  After all, what’s better than the glitz and glamour of the big city, the amazing night life, Broadway, great restaurants and diversity that only New York can offer? Too good to be true?  Let’s take a look at some of the negative aspects of living in NYC.  Rent and cost of living is very expensive.  People can be very aggressive and often times unfriendly and traffic in NYC is far less than ideal.  When weighing the pros and cons of living in New York, it makes the decision a little tougher to make. A decision or cross road that many businesses have to make in today’s world is whether or not to use Social Media Marketing.  Venues like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube are commonly being used by businesses to market their company.  But are these forms of media right for your business? Some advantages of SMM are low cost, quick turnaround, community sharing/connectivity and the ability to express creativity using various platforms.  Some disadvantages of SMM include current lack of filters creates problems finding the best content, writers often have problems delivering content consistently, and anonymity can sometimes lead to polarization and hate. For many businesses whether or not to use this form of media is a tough decision to make.  As society and technology moves forward it is very important to stop and think which direction your company wants to go and whether or not you want to embrace this form of media.

I was asked to write a blog on a job shop application called JobBoss.  Feeling up to the task I visited search engines like Google and visited websites like Wikipedia to study up on the product and job shops in general.  After a couple of hours I felt I had gathered enough info and completed the initial draft.  I have to admit that I was fairly pleased with my first attempt.  I didn’t think it was award winning of course but not bad for my first blog ever written.  Needing a second opinion I walked into my co-workers office and asked if she would read it.  She smiled and asked me to read it to her out loud.  Feeling like I was back in my 5th grade English class I began telling her all of the amazing information I had gathered, like how JobBoss is the industry leading shop management system for job shops, contract and make to order manufactures.  I explained that over 4,000 shops worldwide use JobBoss to manage their custom make to order manufacturing needs.  I even threw out a couple of definitions of the word “job shop.”  She stopped me half way through and in the nicest way possible said she would rather watch paint dry then to listen to one more sentence.  Unfazed, I countered with the fact that JobBoss fully integrates with QuickBooks!  She didn’t seem as excited about that fact as I was. My confidence bruised I left her office and took my motley little blog into a meeting I had with a marketing “guru” who is helping me along with my first few months here at the Attivo Group.  I meekly asked him for feedback on my writing and hoped that JobBoss’s seamless quoting, order entry, shop floor control, and real time data collection would be enough to peak his interest.  Five seconds in he handed me back the sheet of paper and said that in his 20 years of marketing this was possibly the worst blog he had ever seen written.  He also told me not to be too offended because he is very blunt.  Well in that case, no offense taken I thought! I realized that instead of facts and information sharing a personal story I had with JobBoss might be the more interesting way to go. Several years back I attended Exact Software’s user “Engage” conference and there are only a few things that I still remember well.  One of the things that stood out was the passion/excitement of the JobBoss employees and the happiness of their customers.  I quickly learned the reason for this.  Businesses that manufacture unique, custom made parts are very excited to have an application that can streamline every function in the shop from developing quotes for new jobs to sending invoices for completed work.  I realized these people must be this happy because either JobBoss works and handles all of their custom, make to order needs or they just think the name JobBoss is as cool as I do!