E-News From The Suntower Volume VII, #12

News From The Suntower!

'The Electronic Newsletter For Users
of Simple Accounting for Forms Experts!'

Volume VII #12
07/15/05

IN THIS
ISSUE:

Reminder: Holiday Notice Coming Soon!

Current Leasing Offers!

Beta Testers Wanted!

Ciaràn's Corner: Guest Rant: Forms Design?

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E-News is edited by Maireàd Ni Dhonnellaigh
The views expressed herein are solely those of Suntower Systems

Holiday Notice: Mark Your Calendars!
It's coming up quick! The week we've been telling you about for all these months will soon be here. Are you OK? Any last minute things? As they say at the altar, 'Speak now or forever hold your peace!'.

Being a family run business it is extremely difficult to get everyone together all at the same time. For our twentieth anniversary, we're getting everyone together from all four offices for a week-long love-fest in Dublin. And the net effect of this is: we will be closed from business for all except absolute emergencies from Monday August 1st through Sunday August 7. We will re-open on Monday, August 8th. Again, if there are real emergencies (database crash, earthquake, etc.) there will be someone available to help, but unless it is urgent. please bear with us until we're back.

Current Leasing Offers From Citi
Our friend Pat Burke has asked us to post the following current leasing offers from CitiGroup. Some of you may still not be aware that all Suntower Systems' products and services may be leased. Yes, this includes all our software and programming services.

$1 Purchase Option

36 Months

$0 down

$20k-$50K 10.28% promotional interest rate (first year)

$1 Purchase Option

60 Months

$0 down

$20k-$100K 8.04% promotional interest rate (first year)

Fair Market Value Lease

36 Months

$0 down

$20k-$100K 1.44% implicit promotional interest rate (first year)

(for this one software and services may not exceed 20% of equipment cost)

Looks good? Call or e-mail for further information. Leasing is an often overlooked way to finance IT. But if it makes sense to lease your vehicle, then why not your computing equipment and software? The life span of most computing hardware and software now is easily the equal of most company cars and trucks.

We're Looking For B-Testers For Upcoming SAFExtensions...
A couple of things we're working on that we'd like to get testers for. Please contact your support technician if there is interest. And by the way, never mind the remarks about how we should keep this all 'hush hush'. You should know by now that's not how we do things.

Revenue Optimizer

This is a SAFExtension designed to do something you may have thought about doing (or are doing already with spreadsheets but not very well). It will be a SAFE implementation of a type of product already in use by many, many large corporations.

A Revenue Optimizer is a program that attempts to analyze your sales history and determine several things:

1. What is the optimum price for a product?
2. What is the optimum quantity to order (or stock) for a product?

Now you may think that you already know this stuff; perhaps using good old intuition. But RO looks with a cold eye on actual data to see how changes in price, order quantities, delivery times (and other factors) affect how much you sell and how much profit you make. That's the optimization; the software suggests the most profitable way to sell a product based on previous history.

Also, RO can tell you how much changing a variable might affect sales. For example, if you raise prices 5%, will this create a reduction in sales? If so, how much? RO tells you whether it's a risk worth taking or not.

A well-implement RO is somewhat miraculous. It can provide sales data that no simple reporting can touch. That said, it isn't for everyone. To benefit from RO, you need to have a series of products for which you have consistent sales---either stock items in an inventory that turns frequently or forms management clients who order the same items over and over.

Mapper

Mapper is a steroid enhanced version of the Microsoft Maps information you can already get from SAFE. Mapper enhances SAFE in the following ways:
1. Allows your sales people to view/print/download maps of any address in SAFE. If you are already using PDAXtensions, you can download this information to your PDA.

2. Allows your sales people to view/print/download driving directions of any address in SAFE. Again, if you are already using PDAXtensions, you can download this information to your PDA.

3. Allows your sales people to create Combo Maps based on their Daily Calendar, automatically from one appointment to the next. In other words, if you have three customer appointments in your Daily Calendar, Mapper can automatically create a single list of Driving Directions guiding you between each stop all in one step.

4. Allows you to project sales history or customer lists onto zoomable maps. Create a Sales History Query and then generate a map showing graphically the location and density of sales.

5. Allows you to generate inventory maps, graphically displaying the location of various inventory items.

Obtaining these maps requires only that the user be able to run the same reports and queries that are already a part of SAFE. The only difference is that, instead of the output going to a printer, it appears as a map.

If either of these products sound of interest and you think you have what it takes to get these polished to a razor sharp edge and would like to contribute your input into making them as easy to use as possible, please contact us as soon as possible to apply. In return, you'll receive... well our deepest thanks, of course! But as usual, after each product ships, testers will be evaluated for participation and, who knows? you may end up with a free copy... or at least a snappy Suntower Systems t-shirt!

Till Next Time!

Ciaran's Corner: Guest Rant From The Bookkeeper!
Here's a real treat: I get a rest this time and get to have someone else do the ranting for me! So here's Sinead Ni Dhonellaigh, our long-suffering Bookkeeper who asks all you forms professionals the burning question: Why are forms still so lousy? Please let me out of here before the tomatoes start to fly! -- CM

Hello,

For fifteen years I've been doing what many people in your office do using our software: printing invoices, printing checks, printing, printing, printing... And every month I pay largely the same bills and have the same annoyances. Not much has changed in all these years, despite the fact that my computer, my printer and my software have all become much better. But the forms? The bills and envelopes I deal with? Largely the same. Which is annoying. Why is everything else getting better, but one of the most time-consuming portions of the process still so poor?

1. Why are forms designed with remittance stubs that are so poorly perforated? Many of these micro perfs are so 'micro' that they simply will not burst any more efficiently than if I were to use a straight edge.

2. Why are these perforations almost always about 1/16th below the paper fold so that I usually will end up tearing the form, rather than splitting the form at the perf?

3. Why are these remittance stubs and envelopes designed to not fit a standard business check (the Quicken 3 up format that we and many of you use.)? So I either have the choice of folding the check, or do some creative gluing in order to get a proper seal.

4. And why is the gluing often so poor on the envelopes? The glue either doesn't cover the entire flap (most insecure) or threatens to give up with the slightest tug.

5. And why must all these forms, all of which basically do the same thing, have to be so diverse? I often end up hand stamping them because so many times it's easier than attempting to feed them into the Pitney Bowes? Cannot there be established some standards on the overall design and size of bills (as there is for the checks themselves?)

6. If paper is so dear, why are there so many things on these forms? Many of them are extremely poor from a design standpoint. They are hard to read and harder still to zero in on the bits of information you need.

My point is that these problems have been here since I have been doing this job and it seems odd. I am not merely. I honestly would like to know why these things seem to still be so poorly done when so many other aspects of my office life have improved. Since handling paper is such a time-consuming job, it seems strange to me that so little progress has been made. Perhaps I am being naive, but is there anything that the Document Management Industry can or should do to address this situation? Or am I simply being far too much the grouser?

I'd like to hear your thoughts (through Ciaràn please; I have bills to pay ) on this. I know that the world is supposed to be going paperless, but it certainly isn't happening anywhere near my desk! Any hope you can give would be much appreciated.

Best,

Sineàd

Till Next Time!

Ciaràn Marron
Technical Support Manager
cm@suntowersystems.com

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End of E-News From The Suntower, Volume VII #12