From Greg's Head

Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

As social media becomes more ingrained in our everyday communication, you need to be conscious of the possible need to set boundaries between your personal and professional connections.

If you have joined several social media networks, target who is a part of each network.  There may be some overlap of personal and professional, but it’s worth having an awareness and plan for what information you are going to share with each group.

Clearly communicate your purpose for membership with your contacts in each network.  This way if you choose not to “friend” a professional colleague on a network you use for personal reasons, he or she will not be offended.  Offer the suggestion to link up on your professional network instead.

Mashable.com is the online social media guide.  The site has many resources, including best practices on interacting with your different social networks.

By setting clear boundaries, you will be able to fully participate in all of your chosen social networks without the fear of reprisal from one or more of your audiences. 

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One of my team members, Jim Batson, Manager in the Consulting Solutions group here at PKF Texas is a Jet Reports Certified Professional. He's written a couple of blog entries about how using Jet Reports can help a business. Below is the first entry:

In these uncertain times, you need tools to help you do things faster, better, and less expensively than before. And from time to time you find a tool that becomes invaluable to your company and your world. You wonder how you ever did your job without it. In our world of Dynamics NAV, Jet Reports is one of those tools that our clients find in a word, invaluable.

Let me elaborate. We have a client in the animal processing business that needed a highly customized business application and database to hand all of their special data and unique processes. Dynamics NAV, the business application handled that quite well.

With all of their unique business processes and data requirements, the possibility for a reporting nightmare loomed on the horizon. Getting the information out of database was the next challenge. They required many specialized reports for the various users of the data to reflect what they had captured. No worries, we immediately thought of Jet Reports and made the suggestion to the client. Result: Jet Reports was the perfect tool! To date, over 20 special reports have been developed, without any code development to Dynamics NAV, just Jet Reports. The client sent their Accounting Manager to one of PKF’s 3-Day Jet Reports Training Class. The manager is now writing and modifying reports on her own to meet all of managements reporting needs. Faster, better, and less expensive, way to go!

Jet Reports Tip: If you are user of Jet Reports and want to get some of Jim Batson’s Jet Tips, contact him at jbatson@pkftexas.com

If you want to learn more about Jet Reports and how it can be quickly and cost effectively utilized at your business, contact Karen Love at klove@pkftexas.com

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

When protecting your company’s intellectual property, it is important to know whether you need to apply for a patent, trademark or copyright.  Each guards your intellectual property in a different manner.

• Patents protect inventions and improvements to inventions.

• Trademarks protect words, names, symbols, sounds or colors that distinguish your goods or services from those manufactured or sold by others. 

• Copyrights protect provided the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.

Taking the time to safe guard your intellectual property will ensure you have legal recourse if another company is trying to infringe on your rights as an entrepreneur. 

Look for educational seminars or workshops led by top patent, trademark and copyright attorneys in your area.  The Buskop Law Group in Houston offers these types of seminars once a month. 

For more information about obtaining patents, trademarks, or copyrights visit www.USPTO.gov and www.Copyright.gov.

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Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 ((NAV), formerly known as Navision)
Simple, Smart, Innovative

Since 1984 NAV has established itself as a choice for businesses and organizations looking for a complete business management solution that is fast to implement, easy to configure, and simple to use.

Today, simplicity continues to beat at the heart of NAV. And its state of the art functionality covers everything you need to run and grow a successful business. More than one million users have used NAV to simplify and streamline their highly specialized business processes and today its available in more than 42 country specific versions. The success of NAV is primarily due to its core values:

• Rich end to end functionality-so you can manage every aspect of your business
• International scope-deal with multiple languages and currencies when you conduct cross border business
• Adaptability-simple to customize and quick to tailor to the scope of your business
• Easy to use, implement and maintain-quick rise in productivity combined with lower costs of ownership

NAV has focus in the following key areas:
Financial Management
Manufacturing
Supply Chain Management
Business Intelligence
Sales & Marketing
Human Resources
Project Management
Service Management

NAV is real time accounting system with strong internal controls that provide a detailed, rich audit trail of your transactions. It has several detailed cost centers called “Dimensions” which allows for detailed tracking of activities. It supports best of breed multicurrency, dual currency general ledgers and one button intercompany accounting. NAV is an ideal choice for subsidiaries or divisions of large enterprises because it is a standard solution with effective integration tools and enough flexibility to meet the varying needs of different business units. Microsoft has numerous examples of customers using NAV in divisions of businesses using SAP at their headquarters.

If your company does international business, you need to be using Dynamics NAV. If you are not using NAV, you are not getting the value you deserve from your business application. Contact me at gprice@pkftexas.com for more information that can lower costs and improve your profits.
 

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Here it is July 20, 2009 and I was reflecting back to that historic day of July 20, 1969.  I can remember exactly what I was doing that evening when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon.  Watching on my parents small black and white TV that evening, I was struck with amazement as I saw Armstrong take his first steps and issue his immortal words “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  That was time when we embraced the challenges we faced and led to so many improvements in our daily lives, words seem inappropriate in placing them in the proper context. 

I have some links here from President Kennedy’s famous speech from Rice University to kick off our space program.  I have never seen the entire speech but I am glad that I watched it today.  His vision and goals for America and the space program have never been equaled since that famous speech. 

I would encourage you to watch the entire speech and think about his words..in particular his support of Houston and the State of Texas as innovative and strong are powerful.  As Texans we need to draw our own internal personal strength from his words and define our goals and challenges because they are difficult.  
 
 

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Interesting things coming from Redmond, WA. Last week at the Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in New Orleans, Microsoft announced the launch of Office 2010, which for the first time will include a free web version of Excel, PowerPoint, Office and Notepad.

This is an interesting development spurred on, I suspect, by the success of Google Docs. I’m glad Microsoft is addressing this gap in their product line. The new Office looks to have a host of features designed with Web 2.0 type applications in mind. When it launches next spring, I’m curious to see the public reaction.

I applaud them for their recent strategy of openness – allowing for a wide test of Window 7 to avoid another Vista debacle, and now, with the launch of Office 2010, they released a technical preview to the attendees of the WPC.

The WPC lit up the Twitterverse as well. You can check out what people were saying by searching #WPC09. Becky Thomas (becky_thomas), CEO and President of BizDev Strategy and friend of PKF Texas, was at the conference last week and had some interesting thoughts. Be sure to check out her Twitter page.

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 Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

When times are tight, a good way to maximize your marketing budget is to sponsor events that are key to branding your business in targeted market segments.

The question is, how do you choose where to spend your sponsorship dollars?

When evaluating a potential event, ask yourself these questions:

• Where will I get the most exposure?
• Who are the other sponsors? How will they leverage their sponsorship?
• Are my competitors involved?
• How will being branded with this event shape conversations with clients and prospects?
• Are we getting involved at the right time?

Look to your local business journal, industry organizations or niche award programs for events that will give you the most return on your investment.  The Houston Business Journal, for example, has an events listing on their webpage, Houston.Bizjournals.com.  Attend the events you are interested to get a feel for whether or not your sponsorship will be worth the time and money.  A consistent sponsorship effort can turn into the gift that keeps giving to your business.
 

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I’m excited to let you know that John Hoffmeister, former President of Shell Oil and current founder and Chief Executive of Citizens for Affordable Energy, is the keynote speaker for the Technology Champions meeting at the Houston Technology Center on August 7th.

This should be another standing room only event.  It’s not every day one gets the chance to hear from one of the oil industry’s movers and shakers in such an up close and personal environment.  I’ve seen him speak several times, including at one of the World Energy Cities Partnership luncheons a couple years ago. He always has something interesting and insightful to say. 

Houston in an energy city, so I’m curious to get his thoughts on the current state of the energy industry, how it will affect Houston and to hear about his newest venture, the Citizens for Affordable Energy.

If you have any questions about the event, visit the HTC website, www.houstontech.org.
 

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Like I mentioned a few weeks ago [link to blog entry] a Young Professionals subcommittee called the Jet-Set has formed to get young pros involved with the Greater Houston Partnership World Trade Soiree.  Committee member Jen Lemanski wanted to share with you what the Jet-Set has been up to.

Greg, I just wantto update your readers on what the Jet-Set is planning for the World Trade Soiree on August 29th.  We are throwing an after party at the Ransom Room in the Hotel ZaZa from 11:30pm to 2:00am.  We’ll have the three “Ds”, DJ, Dancing and Drinks! 

Tickets are $35 per person or $60 per couple.  If you purchase a ticket for the World Trade Soiree, admission to the after party is included. 

Have you gotten chance to check out the video from Tad Brown, Luis Scola, and Dikembe Mutombo to promote the Soiree? If not, it’s on this blog, YouTube, PKF Texas’ website and the Greater Houston Partnership’s website.  Also, you can follow the GHP on Twitter, use #GHPWTS to search for updates on the Soiree.  There are also groups on LinkedIn and Facebook, so no matter which social network you use, you should be able to find us.

For more information about the World Trade Soiree, visit www.pkftexas.com/wts or for more information about the after party, email me at jlemanski@pkftexas.com.  I hope the young pros readers will come out for a great time on August 29th!
 

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Are you aware of what people are saying about your company and your brand when you’re not “in the room?”

With the proliferation of online communication, how are you keeping track of what is being said about your company?

The days of relying solely on a news clipping service are over.  By using tools like Google Alerts, you can have a report of online mentions about your company delivered to your inbox every morning.  It’s also a good way to track trends and gain competitive intelligence.

Searching for your company on sites like Twitter or BlogPulse.com are also ways to gauge online conversations about your company that you may not be aware of.  Traditional wire services, like PR Newswire, offer online media monitoring as well.

By monitoring what is being said about your company, you can develop a process to promote the positive and manage any negative communication.
 

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My colleague, Dan Ramey, forwarded me the above video about the “Texaplex.” The video defines the Texaplex as the triangle of Texas between Houston, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas/Fort Worth. 82.5% of the Texas population lives in the Texaplex.

David Winans, a real estate broker from Dallas, coined the term and produced the video as a reaction to the negative press about the economy and to promote Texas as a good place to do business. 

To quote from the video, Texas has “more jobs, more commerce and more real estate opportunities” than other states. 

I’ve mentioned it several times here and I’m glad to see others are promoting Texas as the place to be right now. 

Some interesting facts from the video:

• If Texas was its own country, it would be the 10^th largest in the world with the 12^th largest economy
• Texas has the largest population growth of any state
• CNBC named Texas as the #1 state for doing business

Wow, with all of that information, if you’re not already doing business here, what are you waiting for?

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The 2009 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) Conference, will be hosted by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship at Rice University, October 15-17, 2009. It will be two and half days of learning, sharing best practices, networking and new ideas for education, business development and center development. I’ve embedded a video above, where you can learn about the Rice Alliance, the conference and Houston.

The line-up of confirmed speakers is quite impressive!

Bernard Harris

Vesalius Ventures

The Harris Foundation

NASA Astronaut

Jack Gill

Vanguard Ventures

The Gill Foundation

Michael Holthouse

Prepared 4 Life

Lemonade Day

Paranet

Catherine Rohr

Prison Entrepreneurship Program

Jeff Sandefer

Founder, Acton MBA Program

Sandefer Capital Partners

The intent of the GCEC is to provide a coordinated vehicle through which participating members can collaborate and communicate on the specific issues and challenges confronting university-based entrepreneurship centers.

For more information about the conference, visit the Conference website - http://www.alliance.rice.edu/alliance/Home1.asp

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Note: Running Fridays in FromGregsHead.com, is a continuing series of tips brought to you by Greg Price. These run Saturday mornings during the BusinessMaker’s Radio Show on KPRC 950AM. Audio files can be found on the PKF Texas - Entrepreneur's Playbook® page of the PKF Texas website.

Organizations that can take advantage of the wealth of data available to them see opportunities that their competitors will miss.  The deep penetration of IT business applications into all areas of an organization which are creating efficiencies, are also creating rich operational data which also some high value.

Organizations can gain insights by looking at how data alters over time in response to different inputs and external conditions.  This allows them to ascertain hidden cause-and-effect relationships allowing decision makers to make intuitive decisions in advances of actual results.

Reducing costs is always a goal of Business Intelligence and Productivity, but what happens when you know your customers better than they do and you can anticipate their needs by “your business intelligence”?

How important are you then in the eyes of your customer?

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The Greater Houston Area is home to many high technology companies in key sectors including Information Technology, Life Sciences, Energy and NASA-originated technologies. In acknowledgment of the importance to Houston's regional economy of having thriving technology companies, PKF Texas and the Houston Business Journal along with Burnett Staffing Specialists, Fox 26 News, the Houston Technology Center, Philips & Reiter,  Pierpoint Communications, and the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship announce the ninth annual FastTech 50 awards. The growth of these 50 companies from fiscal 2007 to fiscal 2008, has propelled the Bayou City's overall economy and led to the creation of many new jobs.

The 2009 FastTech 50 awards will be given to the 50 high tech companies, which have experienced the greatest percentage revenue growth in 2008. The top executives of the FastTech 50 will be honored at the official awards luncheon in November 2009, where we expect over 700 people to attend. Winners will be announced in the FastTech 50 Special Section of the Houston Business Journal.

To qualify:

• 2007 & 2008 net revenue must exceed $200,000

• At least 51% of the consolidated revenue must involve the original manufacture, design or development of technology products or services

• Your business must be headquartered in the Houston ten county region including: Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery Waller, Austin, and San Jacinto.

All nominations are subject to review by the FastTech 50 committee.

The nominations are now open.  Click here to download the nomination form. The award ceremony will be held at the Hilton Americas Houston Hotel on November 4, 2009. 

If you have any questions regarding the FastTech 50 program or survey, please contact John Stephenson directly at 713.860.1428 or email or Lee Ann Semmel by phone at 713.960.5916 or e-mail. If you would like to advertise in the FastTech 50 Special Section of the Houston Business Journal, please contact Cheryl Wentz at 713.688.8811.

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