Bond Consulting Services Boasts a Winning Experience at Microsoft Convergence 2014
Eric Klauss and David Gersten couldn't be more thrilled with the amazing time had at Microsoft Convergence 2014.
While they were excited about the many new announcements surrounding Dynamics CRM, Dynamics GP and Dynamics AX, they were also in social media overdrive, tweeting a combined 100+ tweets about #Conv14. Twitter @mentions and photos of Convergence happenings sprung up continuously on our Twitter feed and a live tweet even popped up on the screen for all to see during a Microsoft Dynamics GP presentation by Errol Schoenfish, the Director of Product Management at Microsoft.
@dsgersten just popped up on #iferrolcandoit twitter feed in the middle of the #msftdynamicsgp Decision Analyzer demo! #conv14 @BCSTeam
— Eric Klauss (@eklaussbcs) March 4, 2014
In their own words, Eric Klauss and David Gersten share their experience about the week-long event:
"This was another amazing Convergence event for BCS, without question--the best ever! There were so many fantastic sessions and great learning opportunities! We had a record number of attendees this year and in talking with them, they all were excited and impressed by the event. The recurring theme for them was that Convergence is, “like trying to drink from a firehose." Thank you to all of our clients who attended or participated via the Virtual Convergence sessions and another big thank you to all of our partners! We look forward to seeing you next year at #Conv15!" - Eric Klauss, Sales & Marketing Manager.
#CONV14 was the best yet! @BCSTeam had more customers attend than ever b4! Thank you @MSFTDynamics. Can't wait to hear about #CONV15
— Eric Klauss (@eklaussbcs) March 7, 2014
"We learned so much about the upcoming launches of Dynamics AX R3, Dynamics GP 2013 R2, and the spring release of Dynamics CRM 2013. During the trip, we also had the chance to learn more about several new solutions we can add onto Dynamics GP, Dynamics AX, and Dynamics CRM. To close the great week, I had a VIP experience at the “FUNtastic” closing celebration with the headlining band FUN. I won VIP status and a chance to meet the band as a prize for naming the celebration in the Microsoft "Name it. Claim it. contest.
The name I won with in print! #CON14 pic.twitter.com/1Le7vjt2zB
— David Gersten (@dsgersten) March 3, 2014Thank you to the clients who were able to invest the time and money to make the trip too! We hope it was well worth it. Next year’s dates and location were not announced but we sure hope even more of our clients will make the trip." - David Gersten, Customer Success Manager
We would love to share what we learned about new upcoming solutions and more. Stay connected with us via our mailing list and social media to stay updated on upcoming blogs, webinars, and newsletters. We hope to see you at Convergence 2015!
Questions about Microsoft Convergence? Contact us
Bond Consulting Services Helps Small Businesses Identify Five Warning Signs They are Outgrowing Their Accounting System
In her recent series of articles on the Microsoft Dynamics ERP "The Edge" Blog entitled "10 Signs You've Outgrown QuickBooks" Jennifer Dorsey highlighted tell-tale signs that would let anyone know it's time to move on from that entry-level accounting system. We've posted her complete blog series below. But what if you are using different entry-level accounting software and are unsure of the best ERP solution for your business? What if you are struggling with getting the necessary information to grow your business?
In a monthly series of free live presentations hosted at the Microsoft Store in Costa Mesa, Mission Viejo and Century City , Bond Consulting Services will offer educational facts about choosing a dynamic and timely accounting system for a growing business. We'll walk through 5 key warning signs for CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, COOs, IT Managers and Controllers at small-medium size businesses. Join us for Growing Out of Your Current Accounting System.
Challenges that will be addressed include:
- Business growth
- Compliance issues
- Increasing sales and profitability
- Keeping up with demand without adding headcount
- Managing multiple lines of business, currencies, or multi-site locations
- Scaling operations
- Simplifying and securing processes
- Technology
Ten Signs You’ve Outgrown QuickBooks by Jennifer Dorsey:
#1 The Rubber Bands Holding Your Business Together Are Keeping You Up at Night
#2: Managing the Books and Cash Flow Isn't As Easy As It Used to Be
#3: A Lack of Control and Weak Audit Trails Create Business Risk
#4: You Can’t Move Forward When You Keep Looking Back
#5: You’re Putting Off New Business Opportunities
#6: You’ve Become a Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of None
#7: Cloud Computing Has You Questioning Your Technology Footprint
#8: What Once Made Your Business Shine Just Doesn't Sparkle Anymore
#9: Your Most Valuable Asset, Your People, Are Losing Productivity
#10: Bottom-line, your Entry-Level Accounting is Holding you Back
Bond Consulting Services Prepares for Day 1 of Microsoft Convergence 2014
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The team at Bond Consulting Services is ready to hit the bustling city of Atlanta for Microsoft Convergence 2014! Eric Klauss and David Gersten have landed in Atlanta safely and have begun snapping photos and sharing them on Twitter.
We prepared our clients for the big event by hosting Convergence Chat Live! - a quick run-down of Convergence 2014 with a Q&A to address our clients’ questions. We discussed the agenda, featured events and shared best practices including helpful tips for attendees. David Gersten offers the following:
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David Gersten's Top Planning Tips for Attending Microsoft Convergence:
- Bring plenty of business cards
- Wear comfortable shoes
- Go to the Keynotes
- Pace yourself
- Plan your schedule in advance
- Make connections in advance
- Attend the expo many times
- Bring BandAids
- Bring plenty of bottled water
The name I won with in print! #CON14 pic.twitter.com/1Le7vjt2zB
— David Gersten (@dsgersten) March 3, 2014
Stay tuned for more updates!
Satya Nadella as Microsoft CEO is Great News for Microsoft Dynamics
Some in the market today are coming out and claiming doom and gloom with the announcement this week of Satya Nadella as the new CEO of Microsoft. Some have even gone so far as to say that it’s great for Microsoft’s ERP and CRM competitors.
Here’s another thought, especially for potential and current Microsoft Dynamics customers: This is fantastic and amazing news! Many people are unaware of the fact that Mr. Nadella actually ran the Dynamics Business group within Microsoft. He grew it from a $1.5B business line to a $5B business line within Microsoft in 5 years! Now imagine where we can go with the Dynamics products today, given how deeply integrated they are with the entire Microsoft stack of solutions (Office/Office365, SQL Server, Windows Server) enabled for mobile devices (Windows Phone, Surface Tablet) and are beginning to be enabled for gesture-based user interfaces (Xbox One/Kinect).
Here’s a great article that talks about how Mr. Nadella can transform Microsoft: https://venturebeat.com/2014/02/04/the-new-microsoft-how-satya-nadella-will-transform-the-company/
Eric Klauss leads the Sales team at Bond Consulting Services as Sales & Marketing Manager and is focused on Microsoft Dynamics AX, Dynamics GP, Dynamics CRM and Microsoft SharePoint solutions.
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Viva Las Vegas! By David Gersten
Las Vegas just had their grand opening event of the Microsoft Retail Store www.microsoftstore.com and Bond Consulting Services was invited by Microsoft to be a part of it. Recently BCS has been strengthening its partnership with Microsoft Retail Stores in order to help customers with both Services and Devices. This is an example of how Microsoft’s new Services and Devices direction is being aligned with the partner community especially Bond Consulting Services. If your organization needs help with their business devices, servers, desktops, laptops, and/or Surfaces, feel free to reach out to Bond Consulting Services to be part of that decision. We would love to help our customers find the best deals available. Microsoft has stores located throughout United States and BCS has now established fantastic relations with five different locations. During the exciting events several weeks ago, Eric Klauss (Sales and Marketing Manager) and David Gersten (Customer Success Manager) got the honors of meeting the legend Sugar Ray Leonard and learned how to “knock out the competition.” In addition, you can look forward to several events in 2014 that Bond Consulting Services will be hosting at local Microsoft Stores to help educate the business community about some of today’s business challenges such as Invoice to Cash, Inventory Valuation, and Access to Information.
David Gersten is the Customer Success Manager at Bond Consulting Services who is focused on making our customers successful using Microsoft Dynamics AX, Dynamics GP, Dynamics CRM and Microsoft SharePoint solutions.
Why you should attend Convergence 2014
Microsoft Dynamics is hosting their biggest event of the year, Convergence 2014. Come join the festivity at Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia on March 4-7, 2013 to learn about changes and new features, interact with product experts, and most importantly, find new ways to stay ahead of the competition.
Here are a few things to look forward to at Convergence 2014:
- Network: With a capacity of nearly 12,000 people, you will be able to mingle and create new connections with people all around the nation. Also, utilize the Skype Station and stay connected with everyone back home.
- Roundtable discussions: They’re back! With a better structured formation, you will be able to maximize your interaction time.
- Meeting Points: There will be many Meeting Points distributed throughout the convention center, so you can meet up with existing or new contacts.
- Theater presentations: Listen to motivating stories from Microsoft Dynamics Customer Excellence Award winners and great keynote speakers throughout the event.
- Discover: Watch Microsoft experts demo the new releases for 2014.
tAre all the different session choices making you feel overwhelmed? Use the Session Catalog to filter the sessions and choose the ones that best tailor to your interest and needs. Continue to check the catalog for any newly added sessions.
Registration Tips and Reminders:
- You will need a Microsoft account (formerly Windows Live ID) or your Microsoft employee credentials to register for Convergence 2014. Username and password is no longer an option.
If you use a Microsoft account, you must opt-in to the prompt during the registration log-in process to be able to access and stay signed in to all Convergence 2014 tools. - Register before January 10, 2014 to save $300 per person!
- Don’t forget to check out the agenda to see what Convergence 2014 has in store for you!
Deliver Amazing Customer Experiences with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013
On November 4, 2013 at 9am PST, Microsoft is hosting an hour long virtual Global Premiere Event to celebrate the transformation of CRM into a tool for delivering better customer experiences. You will hear from companies using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 to grow their business by delivering captivating customer interactions that differentiate them from their competitors.
This event will show you first hand the newly reimagined user experience in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 for the first time. Learn about key enhancements in the new user experience which features new tablet and mobile applications that brings CRM on the go, completely configurable process guidance, and exciting new social capabilities.
Much like all the other Convergence conferences, attendees will be able to obtain all the benefits from the event which includes networking with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM team and other successful customers around the world who also use Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Register now to experience the new era in CRM technology. No plane tickets needed-this virtual event brings Barcelona to you! Register today!
Restoring a Copy of Your Live Dynamics GP 2013 Database to a TEST Environment
When restoring a copy of your live Dynamics GP 2013 database to a TEST environment, you will need to update the SY00100 table to reflect the proper Company ID (CMPANYID) before you can successfully log in.
To find out the proper value to populate within the SY00100.CMPANYID field, run the following script:
SELECT * FROM DYNAMICS.dbo.SY01500
Locate the CMPANYID that corresponds to the TEST company database and make a note of the CMPANYID found within the SY01500 table. Run the following script against the TEST company database (replace TEST with your SQL database name):
SELECT * FROM TEST.dbo.SY00100
Run an update script in order to correct the CMPANYID within the SY00100 table. The following is a sample of a script that could be modified to update your TEST database Company ID (please check with your database administrator or Dynamics GP Partner if you are unsure on how to populate the values below).
UPDATE TEST.dbo.SY00100 SET CMPANYID = 'XX' WHERE DEX_ROW_ID = 'XX'
Immediately after the update is run against the TEST company database you should be able to log in.
George Rios is a Microsoft Dynamics® GP Certified Professional and senior consultant at Bond Consulting Services. He has over 13 years of work experience with accounting and accounting systems.
How to Remove the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) Reminder
Generally, we encourage Participating in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) for the Dynamics GP ERP system. A reminder is installed with every fresh installation of Dynamics GP which continues to send reminders until you either join the Customer Experience Improvement Program or disable the reminder altogether.
As the CEIP window states, “The program collects information about computer hardware and how you use Microsoft Dynamics GP, without interrupting you.” If you found this article, you have made up your mind to disable the reminders.
Here are the steps to disable the CEIP reminders in Dynamics GP:
- In order to eliminate the Customer Experience Improvement Program reminders, double-click on the reminder itself within the Reminders window to open the Task Window.
- Within the Task window you click on the Name link and then select “I don’t want to join the program at this time” within the next window.
- After clicking ‘OK’ on the Customer Experience Improvement Program window, I recommend changing the Task status to ‘Completed’ within the Task window. Finally, click ‘Save’ to save the task and close the Task window.
George Rios is a Microsoft Dynamics® GP Certified Professional and senior consultant at Bond Consulting Services. He has over 13 years of work experience with accounting and accounting systems.
How our Client SA Recycling Helps Protect our Environment
Our client, SA Recycling, makes a living by protecting the Earth. SA Recycling “is a full-service ferrous and non-ferrous metal recycler and processor” with goals to maintain our environmental sustainability. Having 50 recycling facilities, SA Recycling is helping “reduce the need to mine, lower production costs for metal manufactures and help deliver quality metal products through the world.”
SA Recycling is going green by becoming a proud new owner of two all-electric yard trucks. Within three years of starting the Clear Truck Program, SA Recycling has efficiently reduced port-related truck pollution by at least 80%. They make steel from recycled metal instead of iron ore which helps reduce greenhouse gases by up to 90%!
Also, SA Recycling and Long Beach’s environmental services bureau help make our community eco-friendly. With the purple recycling carts used to collect reusable items each week, the city of Long Beach has increased its annual recycled materials from 18,000 tons a year to 27, 000 tons. This improvement led Long Beach to have a 74% recycling rate which is inches away from touching the state’s goal of 75%. Learn more about SA Recycling here.