The Tech Gap

Bill.com Offers Free Service to Accounting Firms

Rene' Lacerte certainly does know how to attract attention. The founder of payroll mainstay PayCycle went dark a few years ago and built a web service called CashView in beta --- and now released in production as simply Bill.com. I last wrote about Lacerte last October (here).

Along with the new name come a special pricing offer for the profession. Lacerte knows that accountants who actually USE a web-service are more apt to recommend that service. To that end he's using what to sales people is the "f word" --- as in FREE.

Here's the offer:

We will waive the $15/user fee, giving you free usage of the Bill.com service for your own firm's financials. You will get unlimited storage of your documents on the system, as well as an allotment of 10 FREE transactions per month for each user*. In order to qualify, you will be asked to submit documentation to verify that you are practicing accounting, tax and/or bookkeeping services in your state.

It's a great management tool and the price is certainly right -- my suggestion --- "go for it"!!

gll

ATX (CCH Small Firm Services) Responds

Well there certainly has been a flurry of activity here --- but as one commenter to the original post pointed out "Those of use posting here and over on the unofficial ATX community site represent somewhere between 20-50 users out of 30,000." Having spent considerable time on all sides of this sort of conversation my analysis would be similar. The vast majority of practitioners are busy grinding away on returns with the product delivering as usual. A few others are vocally unhappy.

I'm closing the comments on the first post and ending the debate by re-quoting Sr. Vice President Lenny Holt:

I wanted to take an opportunity to apologize to those customers who have had trouble accessing ATX support this week. We have been working around the clock to address the reasons for the temporary problems—most of which were the result of the implementation of a new phone system. Call times have been dramatically reduced today and we believe the issues will be completely resolved by the end of day today. We thank you for your patience and regret any problems you have encountered. We appreciate our customers greatly and we are committed to serving you well by offering the products and services that meet your needs. I also want to reassure all of our customers that we are committed to continuing the ATX product line and that we will do everything necessary to deliver a high level of service for you this tax season and in the future.

Lenny Holt

Sr. Vice President

CCH Small Firm Services

Let's all get back to work, OK?

gll

She Stuck in Her Thumb and Pulled Out a PlumChoice!

OK --- I know I promised a whole raft of posts from CES last week, so here's yet another. I met Fred King who is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for PlumChoice , a Boston-based online PC services group. In other words -- they fix computers remotely. As we discussed their business model (focusing on small business) and the demographics of the tax and public accounting profession, it occurred to both of us that there was probably a reasonable fit. However, being naturally conservative and then further trained to be skeptical I wondered about their ability to actually deliver. Fred challenged me to try them. So I did. Not wanting to test them myself (I'd be an absolutely HORRIBLE test case!) I recruited a young marketing executive who had reported to me that her laptop was "very sluggish". I passed her the PlumChoice website and asker her to give them a try. Here's her report. She was VERY impressed --- based on that interaction and my conversations with Fred, these guys just might be worth a spin --- certainly cheaper than many other alternatives.

gll

REPORT: My laptop has been running pretty slow lately (granted it's over 3 years old), so I decided to [take Greg's advice and] give PlumChoice a chance over the weekend. I created an account in just a few minutes and was ready to go.  I opted for the "PC Tune Up" service, and set an appointment for just about an hour later (at 8 PM).

They called at 8:30 PM (well within the hour timeframe they give you in the fine print) and with just a few easy clicks of the mouse my technician (Tina S.) was sharing my screen.  I loved that, while she was pleasant and professional, she wasn't overly chit-chatty.  There's nothing I hate more than small talk with strangers on the phone.  Tina S. was perfect. 

After poking around on my computer for a few minutes, she gave me the lowdown.  Apparently, the "PC Tune Up" ($129.95) was actually more "tuning up" than I needed, and she suggested I downgrade to an hourly rate ($90), which would be enough time for her to clean up my start up tools, temporary files, run a quick defrag, and a few other tricks.  That's right - she downsold me.  And I really appreciated it.

She realized she didn't need me on the line for the nitty-gritty, so she told me she'd call me when she was done and we hung up.  I watched her virtually work on my computer for a few minutes, but quickly realized that it can be a bit dry, so went back to watching TV while she did the heavy lifting.  About 25 minutes later she called me back, gave me a full report, showed me a few tricks on my computer (including a cleanup tool she had installed for me) and asked me if I had any questions.

I didn't, so we signed off and went about our evenings.  It was a great first experience and I would highly recommend them to anyone else!

[Note from gll -- Thanks to AKL for being a guinea pig, taking the time to test, and especially for the great write-up!]

CCH Small Firm Services Consolidates Sales and Support

NOTE TO ATX USERS: OK, I get that many of you don't agree with Jeff Gramlich's assessment or my subsequent coverage of what appeared to be a fairly mundane business decision. Quit clogging my mailbox and post your comments here --- I'm opening this post to comments now.

gll

Jeff Gramlich, President of the CCH Small Firm Services group, confirmed today that they are consolidating all sales and support functions for both the ATX and the TaxWise products in their Rome and Kennesaw, Georgia facilities. The Caribou, Maine facility will retain its development organization. The consolidation effort began last year and has been, says Gramlich, "extremely successful and well-received by their user base. Having all support people proximate to one another facilitates better cross-training and makes possible extended coverage hours. We are now offering week-end support and have extended daily support until midnight."

Local Caribou news coverage has speculated (wildly according to CCH) that this move foreshadows the ultimate closure of the Maine facility. Gramlich says the developers there are, and will remain, integral to the product and that they will be in Caribou indefinitely.

CCH has offered relocation or severance packages to those impacted employees in Maine. Several have reportedly moved to Georgia and are already on the job in both Rome and Kennesaw.

gll

PS: I'll bet encouraging people to move to Georgia from "the most north-easterly city in the U.S." in January is a lot easier that the other way around! [smile]

Podcast Recording Schedule

Many of you have been joining us on Talkshoe as we record the regularly recurring "2Go" series of Intersection Live podcasts. You can join us with just a few clicks --- and if you wish you can dial in and ask a question! Just go to www.TalkShoe.com at the appropriate time and listen in. We'd love to have you! Here's our schedule of upcoming podcasts:

Of course you can still listen the "traditional" way -- either directly from Intersection Live or better yet, subscribe (I use iTunes -- it's FREE!) on get us automagically downloaded.

gll

CES is History for this Year

But just wait until NEXT year!

One of the country's premier technology pundits, DAVID POGUE of the New York Times, earlier this week described CES as "One million exhibitors. Sixty million attendees. Four trillion booths spread across an area the size of Rhode Island." He obviously goes on to explain his numbers aren't the ACTUAL ones, but rather hyperbole to describe one of the world's largest trade shows. I was there --- "on the job", so to speak, seeking out things that might be of interest to tax and public accounting practitioners. And I found plenty! I have a list of over 25 different "things" (software, hardware, services, and stuff) that I'll be blogging about over the next few weeks.

So, in no particular order, here we go:

www.RattleBox.com

I'm not really sure exactly I'm going to stretch this from "fun" all the way over to "the practice of public accounting", but maybe by the end of this post I'll have thought of a way. Rattlebox is a service providing customizable text overlays to short video clips. Think of a marriage of eCards and YouTube. You establish a free account, select a video, and then add your own text. Then Rattlebox takes over and merges your text with the video and produces a URL where your "masterpiece" is posted ... ala' YouTube.

Here's an example:

http://rattlebox.com/pickup/33088/rbb125e18924c

gll

AICPA Announces 19th Annual Top Technology Initiatives

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has released the 2008 version of what's become known in the profession as simply "the Top Techs". I can personally attest  (note: I've served on the Top Techs Task Forks since 2005) to the blood, sweat, and tears that go into preparing and analyzing the responses of hundreds of select IT professionals from all corners of the profession. The task force was led by my friend David M. Cieslak, CPA.CITP, GSEC, and Chairman of the AICPA’s Information Technology Executive Committee. So, without further ado --- here's the list: 

1. Information Security Management

2. IT Governance

3. Business Continuity Management and Disaster Recovery Planning

4. Privacy Management

5. Business Process Improvement, Workflow, and Process Exceptions Alerts

6. Identity and Access Management

7. Conforming to Assurance and Compliance Standards

8. Business Intelligence

9. Mobile and Remote  Knowledge Management

10. Document, Forms, Content and Knowledge Management

Experienced TTI watchers will note that IT Governance jumped from sixth to second place this year, perhaps indicating a move toward more planning and responsibility. New on the list this year are "Business Process Improvement, Workflow, and Process Exceptions Alerts" and "Mobile and Remote Computing". The AICPA also announced an aggressive plan to release materials supporting the initiatives. Those materials will include several webinars as well as more traditional documents.

Go here for further information: www.aicpa.org/toptech

gll

Dining with Giants - V 2.0

The very best part of my job as Executive Editor of The CPA Technology Advisor is representing the publication to the profession --- practitioners, vendors, and thought-leaders. Earlier this week I was in Las Vegas for CES and while there I was privileged hosted our 2nd Annual "Author Appreciation" dinner. The group was small as many invitees had decided not to attend CES this year and many more were planning to arrive later in the week and thus missed our Sunday evening get-together. Our dinner was held at the world famous Wolfgang Puck's Spago Restaurant in Caesar's Palace. [Thanks to Rachael Monroe for the arrangements!] The food was absolutely incredible, the ambiance nearly perfect, and the conversation .... well, here's what a few of the attendees had to say:

• Thank you ... for dinner on Sunday. Food was fabulous. The conversation dynamic, illuminating and most enjoyable. You certainly attracted an impressive group of friends.
• It was a great evening at Spago's in Vegas. A pleasure to share your company. And, Greg, thank you for making it all happen.
• Wonderful conversation .... so many smart people, so little time!
• Thanks for a great event. I was humbled by the experience of the group. Super stories and fantastic food.

My sincere thanks to all --- whether you were able to attend or not --- for all you do for us at The CPA Technology Advisor and, more importantly, for the profession as a whole. Your efforts are most sincerely appreciated.

gll

Does Workers Comp Cause Problems for Your Clients?

Many of us serving small business clients end up trying to help them solve workers comp coverage problems. Companies come and go --- premiums go up and up --- reporting requirements get continually tougher --- and everybody blames the other guy.

One possible solution might be The Hartford and their XactPay product which is now available to QuickBooks users!  The new offering allows a QuickBooks user to integrate workers compensation insurance premium payments directly into their payroll processing. If you have clients that have difficulty managing cash flow (that's a little accounting humor there --- that's like saying "if you have clients that breathe") this may help. The XactPay process uses actual payroll data thus eliminating the need for up-front deposits and [theoretically] reducing insurance audit risk. It just might be a great solution for your small business client who wants to manage their cash flow.

gll

Yes, there IS a Method to the Madness!

I've been holding off writing about this company to allow them time to get closer to "out of beta". While they still aren't [out of beta, I mean] they evidently are making good progress and are on schedule for a commercial launch in April. If they can actually deliver what they plan to deliver I predict a very quick uptake in the professional accounting market. METHOD was developed by a Toronto-based group called Alocet. These guys are deep into QuickBooks integration development and decided that, rather than build individual integration processes, they'd be clever and build an integration TOOL. Rather like selling pick-axes to the gold-rush miners, it seems to me. From that thought process sprang what's become known as "METHOD" --- it's a hosted development package that directly links to QuickBooks files. You (in this case the pronoun could refer to an end-user, an accountant, a reseller, a developer, or a consultant) design the processes, screens, and reports --- and METHOD does the heavy lifting. The beauty of the process is that all your "templates" (and everybody else's, too!) CAN be re-useable and can be tweaked at almost every juncture. If the tool is as good as it's described there will quickly spring up a cottage industry and marketplace for tweaking and trading highly specialized templates. Each with different inputs for different roles and different processes for different industries and different companies --- but all using the same development tool. Add-ins? No problem -- METHOD will deal with them, too.

I think these guys may have stumbled upon something --- if they can get their pricing structured so that a small practitioner  can comfortably utilize (or recommend) it to their small business clients, I predict quick success.

I suggest you look them up when you have a few spare moments and then keep an eye on them to see if they're "ready for prime time" right after busy season.

gll