By Carl Britton Lewis – October 25, 2011

1- Plan Ahead

By now, if you are attending the ASUG Business One Summit, you should have registered, made your travel arrangements and booked your hotel.  Those are pretty obvious plans that insure you will have an enjoyable experience.
Knowing where you are going and what you will find when you get there will eliminate stress and uncertainty – generally that helps get things started on the right foot.

It might come as a surprise to you, but many people who attend conferences as a representative from their business fail to plan any more that those three things.  The figure they will figure it out once they get there.  The truth is, once you arrive there is so much activity that the entire experience will become a blur; two days will pass before you know it.

Let me suggest:

1. Review the agenda prior to your arrival.
   Pre-select the 10 Workshops you absolutely will not miss. They should be relevant to your business, or add some significant information to your set of skills.
2. Review the Abstracts Collection.
   Abstracts will answer the question, “What is this workshop really about?”  They will also tell you who is representing this sponsor.
3. Look at the list of sponsors logos in the agenda.
   Some sponsors have workshops and Table Top Displays, others only have Table Top Displays.  Be sure you personally meet and interact with those in whom you have interest.  There is nothing better than meeting the people
   behind the product.
4. Review the Facility Maps.
   This will help you not to get totally lost.  

2- Divide and Document

If you are the only person attending from your business, there is still time to bring a co-worker with you.  If not, you can still follow these suggestions. This will insure your ability to show the value of the Summit to your co-workers, managers and business owners.

1. If there is more than one person attending from your company, split up!  Do not hang with each other for the entire Summit.  Divided you will be able to do more of everything:
   1. Attend more workshops – learn more
   2. Interview more Software Solutions Providers
   3. Meet more customers running their businesses on SAP Business One
   4. Be introduced to and influence more representatives from SAP
2. Hold one another accountable to:
   1. Bring a shoulder bag/backpack, notepad and pen
   2. Take notes
   3. Collect business cards
   4. Gather brochures and technical data sheets

Remember, this is a working conference.  While there is plenty of fun, there is work to do.

3- Review Daily

If you are attending with others from your place of business, you should meet at least once daily for 30 minutes or less.  If on your own, take a few minutes to review what you attended and who you spoke to.

Review, what you saw and learned that day.  This information, shared with others members of your team, may influence a change in your plans for the next day.  Your teammates may ask a question that will prompt a second interview with a Software Solution Provider of someone else you met to achieve additional clarification.

When you leave the summit, hopefully you will have been proactive, asked as many questions as you could, and made significant discoveries.  A daily review will help you insure that you return home without regrets because you forgot to ask an important question or two.

Reviewing daily is one great way you can make the most of your Summit experience.

4- Ask For Help

“Asking for help is a higher level skill.”  That’s what my personal friend and mentor, Forrest Koch has always expressed.  It’s rumored that at least 50% of us attending the Summit will have trouble asking for directions.  I hope that you will lay aside that reluctance and look for ASUG volunteers, when you need to know where you are going.  They will be looking for you, and want to help.

I also encourage you to enlist the help of your reseller.  They will be highly motivated to help you ascertain the differences and nuances between various solution possibilities.  I know most of them personally and can guarantee that they care about your success.

Ask SAP.  This is one of the best opportunities to meet SAP staff members from a wide variety of departments which include senior management, sales, product development, product management, support and customer service.

Ask a Customer.  This year four customers are sharing how they run on SAP Business One in their businesses.   You can ask questions in their workshops, but you can also sit down and talk with them one- on- one.  I guarantee they will tell you the truth and nothing but the truth.  Not only these four but over half of the attendees will be customers.  All of them have a story to tell about SAP Business One.

You may not be an outgoing person, but you will serve yourself well if from October 26 – 28, 2011 – you can push yourself to raise your hand, introduce yourself, and ask for help.

5- Follow Up

When you return to work following the ASUG Business One Summit, here are some ideas to help you follow up on what you discovered.

1. Plan now to make an official report to your co-workers
2. Create a written report – maybe the title should be “The TOP 5 Things I learned at the ASUG Business One Summit.”
3. Create a follow up Notebook and organize each interesting Software Solution Provider in order with their brochures and business cards.
4. If your co-workers want to learn more about a particular solution, contact your reseller and ask them to arrange a product demonstration via the internet.
5. Select all the meaningful contacts you met at the conference.  Send them an email expressing your appreciation for their time and input.

I sincerely hope that your experience at the ASUG Business One Summit will be one of the highlights of you business year.  All the preparations have been made, now it’s your turn.

CBL>

1- Education

What you don’t know can truly hurt you.  The Summit provides an atmosphere that is jam packed with opportunities  to learn and learn some more.  While not specifically a classroom experience, the Summit will make you much more aware of the  extensive capabilities of SAP Business One.  Awareness is the beginning of true knowledge increase.

In the present development atmosphere changes to SAP Business One and the  vast collection of Addons occur more rapidly than ever before.  There is no other event where such a omprehensive  presentation of solutions and their various changes and road maps are  presented. This event is designed to keep you up-to-date and well informed regarding the entire SAP  Business One portfolio of solutions.  There is no better way to be educated about  SAP Business One because the event is tremendously represented and sponsored by everyone in the business of providing solutions for SAP Business One.

This also includes an incredible presence by SAP leadership responsible for sales,  support, and the development of SAP Business One.  With 10 workshops being led by SAP staff you  will have the ability to engage personally with publisher’s representatives.

2- Networking

Many customers, especially in their implementation phase, ask questions such as:

How  did they solve this problem?

Isn’t there a report already created that does  that?

How do other customers do this?

The majority of those who attend this Summit are customers who run their  businesses on SAP Business One every day.  Some are brand new and others have been live and operational for up to 8  years.  By attending the summit you can  meet many other companies, some very similar to yours.  Together you can discuss how you run on Sap Business  One and how you have uniquely configured and designed the system to meet your  business needs.

In addition, there are four customers leading workshops.  Interestingly, two of these customers are in  the farming industry, one deployed the new starter package on a “hosted”  environment.  One has multiple companies,  and the other has self-created multiple addons and integrations with the  web.  These presenters are:

1-  Pandol Brothers Farms

2-  Durk’s Farm Service

3-  Virtual Graffiti

4-  Regal Springs Tilapia

The ability to hear from others running the solution can deliver very high  value.  If you are a new customer, you  can receive great encouragement that you are not in this alone.  If you have been running SAP Business One for  years you will learn that this is a far better solution than it used to  be.  They will even answer your  questions.

3- Influence

Ever wish you could sit down and talk with SAP about what you like, don’t  like, or wish they would fix or add to SAP Business One?  If so, you can’t afford to miss the  Summit.  There will be close to 20 SAP
staff people attending Summit.  Countless  informal conversations and workshop opportunities will have a significant amount of influence on the future of the product in which you have invested.  This is your chance to represent the wishes of your company.  Be assured, SAP wants to hear from you.  They want to know the experience of the user.

Likewise, many users run one or more Addons for SAP Business One.  The most significant SSPs (Software Solution Providers) attend the Summit, as sponsors and also lead workshops for their various solutions.  You can have the same experience with these solution providers.  They also want to engage with you and find your input tremendously valuable.  You can help them to improve their products, enhance the customer experience and become their partner in building a better solution,  At least 36 different SSPs will be attending the Summit and available for you to speak with.

4- Unfolding The Future

In Future Shock, Alvin Toffler wrote, “Change is the process by which the future invades our lives.”

As it relates to SAP Business One, the future is now!
The pace of Change is increasingly presenting challenges to users of SAP Business one.

At least four major themes of change are driving the future development of SAP Business One.

1. New Development Leadership – (Andreas Wolfinger is speaking and presenting at the Summit)
2. Mobility – (Mobile devices are impacting businesses everywhere)
3.  Business Objects – (SAP owns BOBJ and is deploying it into SAP Business One)
4. In  Memory Processing – (Code Name HANA is changing the ERP world)

Is your  businesses ready for the future?  Are you able to shed some light on the future for your organization?  Will you be ready to take advantage of the technology?  Will you be ahead of your competition?  Or, will you safely follow and miss the wave?  With interpretive vision you chose to partner with SAP and selected SAP Business One.  You trusted SAP to be the industry leader, and they are.  Your investment has returned great dividends.  To collect on them and start developing your businesses future based strategies attend the ASUG Business one Summit.

5- Cost Effectiveness

Education, Networking, Influence, and Unfolding the Future; all tremendous benefits you receive by attending the ASUG Business One Summit.  It’s all Business One all the time.  If you run your business on SAP Business One there is no other opportunity to make one trip, one commitment of time, and one investment in the future.  You will learn more, make more friends, understand the power of your software better, and experience a new relationship with your publisher, by making this investment.  It’s cost effective.

Companies make significant investments and entrust the future of their businesses to SAP when selecting SAP Business One.  Helping make that decision, or being charged with maintaining the system that was chosen makes you an SAP Business One Champion for your company.  As Champion you must watch over the system, making certain that it is delivering the return on investment expected.  The total cost of ownership includes what it takes to stay-up-to-date as the SAP Business One Champion.  This is the most cost effective way to insure that your company is getting its money’s worth and that you are qualified to serve as the SAP Business One Champion.

Register Today and attend the ASUG Business One Summit.   Did I mention, it’s FREE!

]]> http://carlbrittonlewis.wordpress.com/2011/09/20/the-top-five-reasons-to-attend-the-asug-business-one-summit/feed/ 2 cbl B1SummitLogoSmall SmallCBL education network influence future cost Register http://carlbrittonlewis.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/making-little-ones-out-of-big-ones-making-big-ones-out-of-little-ones/ http://carlbrittonlewis.wordpress.com/2011/09/02/making-little-ones-out-of-big-ones-making-big-ones-out-of-little-ones/#comments Fri, 02 Sep 2011 21:25:30 +0000 Carl Lewis http://carlbrittonlewis.wordpress.com/?p=77 ]]> Making Little Ones Out of Big Ones – Making Big Ones Out of Little Ones

By Carl Lewis – September 2, 2011

When I was a very little boy I was fascinated by pretty much everything my father did.  He was a very handy guy when it came to building or repairing just about anything.  I probably found special enjoyment in watching him so closely because there was always a payoff.  If he was working on the car, we typically took a little spin to make sure everything was good, with a side trip to the taste freeze for an ice cream cone.

I remember clearly asking my father more times that I’m sure he could stand, “Daddy, what are you making?”  No matter what the project was, his response was always one of two well remembered phrases.

He would say, “Making big ones out of little ones.”  Or he would say, “Making little ones out of big ones.”

I imagined it like a transmission with a thousand plus parts, being taken apart, and put back together again.

I learned that life might bring a wide variety of challenges, but my Dad was pretty darn good at simplifying the approach to any of them.  Whatever the problem might be that you are faced with, first take it apart and find the broken piece.  Then carefully re-assemble all the little pieces, including the ones that you fixed, and put them back together.  Whether the problem is personal, or business, home or auto repair – it always works this way.

If your SAP Business One system is not operating as smoothly as you would like, maybe it’s time to instigate a repair project.  My Dad would suggest that we start by looking carefully at all the little pieces first; fix each one that’s broken, and clean all the rest carefully to insure we get the most out of each and every one.  Then we re-assemble them and let them run.

SAP Business One is the engine that runs your business.  If that engine needs a little work, fixing it requires a two step process.

Making little ones out of big ones…

and then…

Making big ones out of little ones.

CBL>

P.S.  My Dad’s been gone for 10 years now, but I’m still following his advice.  I remain proud to be my father’s son.

by Carl Lewis on February 28, 2011

If you have been live on SAP Business One for a few years you have most likely been on the learning path.  You may have found learning SAP Business One to be challenging –for many, it takes a significant investment of time before they are truly comfortable.

Over the years SAP has done a great job of creating training videos and How To Documents for nearly every aspect of the application.  I hope that you have taken advantage of them and know how to retrieve them either on the Vision33 FTP site, or by using the SAP Business One Customer Portal.

But what about all the new features and functionality being introduced in version 8.8 and beyond?  In particular, now that we have a world class reporting tool in Crystal Reports, how will you learn it?  Can you afford to learn-as-you-go,  or do you need the benefits right now?

At Vision33 TOTAL Care we have created a two-day training course for Crystal Reports.  The focus is on using Crystal Reports in SAP Business One, especially version 8.8 and beyond.  I am traveling the country leading classes of 6 or more students in every region.  This week I trained another eight 8 in Dallas, Texas.

In return for their two day investment in training, each student returns to their business able to write basic Crystal Reports, and they receive a 230+ page manual and a resource CD containing, among others things, nearly 100 Crystal Reports designed for SAP Business One.

In talking with these students it was obvious that they recognized that they might never have learned these new skills without getting out of the office and giving total focus to this learning opportunity.

While I am a great practitioner of “learning on the job” I’m sure you will agree that trying to set-aside 14 hours of “learning time” in your day to day work schedule is impossible.  In fact, you might be fortunate to find 15 minutes a day to learn something new.  Even if you could actually set aside 15 minutes per day, it would take two months to accumulate 14 hours of unfocused and most likely disjointed learning experiences.

TOTAL Care has a better way.  Invest in two days of focused learning.  Get out of the office and away from interruptions where you can place full attention on learning something new ad valuable.

CBL>

By Carl Lewis – September 2, 2011

Bruce  Springsteen once wrote and still sings these words, “I just want someone to  talk to, and a little of that Human Touch.  Just a little of that Human Touch.”

 Maybe I’ve lived too long, or perhaps new tricks are coming  harder and harder to me these days, but I still prefer working with people  face-to-face.  In fact, as I write this I am on a plane on my way to Sante  Fe, New Mexico to sit down face-to-face with the one and only client we have in  the great state of New Mexico.

It  seems that everywhere I look people are giving way to what I will refer to as  the illusion of the personal touch.   In fact we have begun to settle  for the least effective means of human communication in almost every instance.

As  the future looms in front of us we now seem more apt to choose things such as  twitter, texting, Email, video-conferencing, Web-Meetings, telephone-conference  and even the telephone itself – over a genuine interpersonal encounter.

Call  me old-fashioned but I sincerely doubt that we humans can truly survive, much  less thrive without the human touch.

I  learned in my graduate schools days that 90% of all human communication occurs  non-verbally.  Genuine communication includes such things as posture,  facial reaction, hand gestures, intonation, and even the look in your  eyes.  There is incompleteness, when it’s just text.  The voice without the body is little more than a recording on the other end of the line.  Video-Conferencing may hold some promise to bridge this chasm, but for most of us the cost of quality is far beyond our reach.

In  fact, there is nothing on this world, and I believe that I am safe in saying there never will be anything that will replace the human touch.  Nothing will ever take the place of the hand-shake.  How can anything replace a pinky-promise?  I can guarantee that when I return from the business trip my wife is not looking for a new  text or email; she will be waiting for a hug and a kiss!

Businesses, consultants, and almost everyone in society are trying to utilize technology to save money, gain efficiency and in doing so be two places at the same time.  Who are we kidding?  We need the human touch!  We need our consultants in the same room with us.  There is something intrinsically valuable in being able to look someone in the eye.  It’s just not possible to bring everything down to a virtual experience.  Data, void of humanity will not satisfy and will never in and of itself bring us the successful relationship we want in personal or business interactions.

Our challenge is to recognize when only the human touch will do.  Yes, it will cost more.  Yes it will take more time.  Yes it will demand more of your personal energy and even your emotions, but the results will be astoundingly greater.

At Vision33 we invest a great deal in an attempt to personalize the experience we have with our clients.  From our Sales Representatives, Account Executives, Service Representatives, General Managers and our Consultants; it’s all about the personal touch.  We purposefully try to visit every customer on a routine basis in person.  We believe you deserve it.  In fact, you should expect nothing less than the human touch.

CBL>

by Carl Lewis on February 18, 2011

”There’s no such thing as good news or bad news.  There’s just
news and what you do with it.”

A great friend and mentor taught me the above phrase a number of years ago.  Whether about family, work, or world affairs, I have found it to be  true.

When news arrives, the real issue is always what we do with the  information.  Do we use it as a motivator to initiate some needed action or response?  Or do we allow news to become an end in itself, which inevitably leads to tagging it as good or bad, instead of seeing news for the opportunity it presents.

For most people bad news immediately takes control of their emotions.  When that happens, it’s almost impossible to make logical choices and take a proper course of action.  Good news has similar tendencies if you think  about it.

There are times when a Vission33 customer will call our TOTAL Care support desk upset, frustrated, and not behave in a polite or professional manner.  Sometimes, frustrations with ERP software do boil over.  In those moments it would be really easy to cast the communication and the individual as “bad news.”  The result might be to avoid one another.  If we can simply consider it “news” we can see the communication for what it truly is – as a cry for help.  The unfortunate choice of words and attitude fade away; a person to person engagement occurs and problems get solved.

We promise to see your inquiries to the Vision33 TOTAL Care support desk as “news”.

It’s not good news.  It’s not bad news.  It’s just news, and what we do with it.

CBL>

by Carl Lewis on February 15, 2011

As a young boy I taught myself to play tennis.  I mastered the basics of the game and at my Junior High; during a school wide tennis tournament finished second to a fellow student Tim  McFadden.  Tim and I stayed close friends and as young adults played many tournaments as doubles partners.

With the early success, I wanted to try out for my High School team, but was told I was not well coached.  That summer between 9^th and 10^th grade I received a scholarship to play at a local private tennis club.  It was a great  opportunity to learn the game from someone who really knew the game.  Believe me, scholarship did not mean FREE!  As the saying went, “they didn’t just play tennis, they were players!”  They expected me to expend a lot of effort to become the same.

My first coach was a recent graduate from the University of Wisconsin, Ken Bartz –a very competitive Big 10 Champion.  Ken completely changed my game, teaching me all the finer points that a self-taught player like me could use and introduced me to the benefits of new racquet technology.  I received a lesson from Ken everyday, 6 days a week and I played as much as 8 hours per day for three consecutive months of summer break.  Ken would stick me in as a fourth player with Jerry Bennet, John Agnew and himself.  Each of them, in subsequent decades had been city-wide champions.   On top of that I would play, practice or just hit balls back and forth with anyone regardless of their skill level, or a machine if need be.  I absolutely loved the game.  Needless to say, at the end of the summer I was able to easily qualify for my varsity team.

In things far beyond tennis, that one special summer framed my life.  I learned that expertise was the combination of good lessons from qualified instructors, countless hours of practice, and a desire to compete at the highest level possible.  It
required the best I had to give; but it also made me the best I could be.  It was a great gift these men gave me.  They made me a competitor and passed on life skills that would help me compete in any endeavor I might choose later in life.

So, let me ask you – in the context of your expertise and capability with SAP Business One.

• How far has being self-taught been able to take you?
• Have you invested in the best equipment and technology?
• Do you have a coach and are you getting regular and routine instruction?
• Are you willing to make the investment and sacrifices necessary to advance your skills?
• Do you want to compete at a higher level?

Maybe it’s time you considered finding a coach.  At Vision33 our Account Executives, TOTAL Care Service Representatives, Professional Service Directors, and Consultants, comprise a highly capable coaching staff.  They have experience and success in the competitive world of business, and they know their craft very well.  Following their advice as they pass on the finer points related to become a master of your SAP Business One ERP system can reap huge benefits for you and your
company.

Grab your racquet…

CBL>

by Carl Lewis on February 11, 2011

Asking for help is a higher level skill.

All of us have limitations, lapses in memory, things we just don’t understand, a lack of training, or as the saying goes, “issues.”

Given the fact that we are bombarded by these and other human conditions virtually every day, why do we waste so much time trying to figure things out on our own?

Our time is valuable and when it’s lost can never be re-captured.  Why do we spend this precious commodity spinning our wheels in frantic efforts to proclaim self-sufficiency?

When Personal Computers first arrived in the workplace it took me all night to format a boot diskette, which I accidentally erased immediately thereafter.  Of course I repeated the process in another few hours – but earned a reputation as a “man over Machine” kind of guy.  In fact it was my ego that kept me from calling the help line.

I discovered (maybe you can relate) that I was the problem not the computer or the software.  I needed to get myself out of the way.

The next time you are faced with a software challenge, practice the higher level skill of asking for help.  Otherwise you are liable to discover your own character flaws.

CBL>

P.S. – Ask for help by emailing Vision33 TOTAL Care support@vision-33.com

by Carl Lewis on June 11, 2010

Like so many small to midsized businesses, you finally make that big leap of faith – trading in your XL spreadsheets or small accounting software package for an integrated business  software solution. It’s  time to play with the big kids. Things are coming together – your employees are buying in and for the first time ever you are getting an accurate picture of your balance sheet, speeding inventory returns  and improving margins on your products and services. Then – you get the news – a new version of the software is being released.
So many growing businesses are making that initial investment in business software and then struggling with the decision to upgrade when a new version is later released. Point in case – SAP recently released its latest version of SAP Business One 8.81. The latest version brings a host of new features like Crystal Reports integration, Data archiving, remote support platform, Dashboards, Document relationship Map and on and on. But if you don’t feel that new product features alone are relevant enough or beneficial enough to your daily operations to warrant the upgrade, the bigger question to ask your software provider is ‘Why or how will this upgrade benefit my business?’

After working with hundreds of SMBs through business software upgrades, myself and the rest of the Vision33 team have had the opportunity to help customers find the value in upgrading that is ‘unique’ to them. Many have come  back to myself and our Consultants weeks and months later saying they understand firsthand now why they needed to take that step. So – at a strategic level, here are the key benefits we hear.

1. Higher ROI and TCO

There is an initial investment in business management software and a continued commitment to annual software maintenance.  Only by being committed will you really achieve a strong ROI and see your TCO decrease.

2. Things last longer and work more efficiently when routine maintenance is performed

If software were a car, an upgrade would be an oil change. Being committed to maintenance/upgrades ensures a long-life and highly productive investment.  It keeps your investment in top operating shape.

3. Minimizes changes and disruptions to your business

Technology is changing faster than ever. Believe it or not – keeping up to date a little at a time through an upgrade will protect you from the paralysis of having to implement something brand new. Waiting too long between versions can put your software on an unreachable island.  It’s alsp important to keep your software maintenance current so that you are in a suppotable position.  Nothing is more disruptive that not being able to get support because your versions support has been sunset.

4. Learning in steps is easier than starting from scratch

New features bring new value to business. The latest features can be the easiest to learn because as a user you become smarter and more skilled. It’s simply a new destination to arrive at.

5. Builds confidence

Employees love working for businesses that use the most up to date tools, as it gives them a sense of security in the business owner’s commitment to the company growth. It helps them do the best at their job and communicate that confidence to customers on a daily basis.

Have you recently upgraded your business software or are currently thinking about it? What are your thoughts?

CBL>

Registration Is Open – Register Today

By – Carl Lewis
ASUG SAP Business One – SIG Chair

The 2011 version of the ASUG SAP Business One Summit has arrived!  It’s the only conference where it’s all SAP Business One all the time.  SAP, ASUG, Resellers, Software Solution Providers, and customers – everyone in the channel attends this unique event.

*Please note – you do not have to be a current ASUG member in order to attend this event.  You may attend as a guest and discover why ASUG membership is valuable.

Please direct all questions, or information related to sponsorship or being a workshop speaker to the Conference Director Carl Lewis at  carl.lewis@vision-33.com or call 949-533-7269 to inquire.

Registration Is Open – Register Today
For information regarding the agenda, registration, lodging, and everything else regarding
the ASUG Business One Summit visit the
ASUG Business One Summit event details page

To Go Directly to the registration Survey click the link below
http://ws.asug.com/ss/wsb.dll/5/B1_Summit_registration.htm 

 Travel and Accommodation Information
Please book your rooms at the Lake Lanier Islands Legacy Lodge and Conference Center by September 25, 2011. After this date, the ASUG room rate will no longer be available, and all remaining blocked rooms will be opened up for reservation to the general public. To make a reservation, please call 1-770-945-8787 (1-800-LAKE) and identify that you will be booking a room for the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group event on October 26-28 to receive the discounted room rate.

 *Rooms at the Conference Center Lodge are Limited so make your reservation early.
To insure that you receive the Summit’s special rate we recommend you call the Lodge.
 For now, reservations will need to be made via phone, 770-945-8787 or 1-800-768-LAKE(5253).

Or since online reservations are not available, attendees can email Melissa Janney at mjanney@llimail.com.  She will need name, address, phone & credit card to guarantee the room. She will then email confirmations.

The Atlanta Airport Superior Shuttle and Limo service is available to shuttle attendees from and to the airport. Reservations must be made 24 hours in advance, and cost $55 per person one-way. To make a reservation, call 1-770-457-4794, or book online.

Check Out a slide show of the 2010 ASUG SAP Business One Summit