At the risk of dating myself here, does anyone remember typing "C: /" to do anything on their old DOS system? I distinctly remember (because I remember obscure facts about my past, but have a hard time remembering to put on deodorant in the morning) doing this in college, which sadly was the first time I had ever used a computer. I learned about Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect at Clemson like it was the gospel. I could even create my own macros by the time it was over. I have a hard time doing that even today, and I spend hours in spreadsheets each week.
My 7 year old daughter can now navigate my iMac at home about as well as Meghan or I can. She knows how to find things on the internet, as evidenced by the fact that she can locate any Justin Beiber music video or concert clip on YouTube with ease. I remember watching MTV for hours on end, waiting for some promised video, then missing it when my bladder wouldn't allow me to sit still any longer. Then, I had to wait for it again. Wow, things are different now! Everything is made to order, it seems.
Who remembers the video cameras from the 80's that weighed about 75 pounds and recorded data on those VHS tapes? I do. They were awfully bulky and difficult to use. Quality...terrible. Portability...forget about it. Now, you can carry around a movie on your iPhone and watch it anytime. I saw a kid in a pizza restaurant, waiting for a table while watching a cartoon on her mom's iPad. I can't tell you how many hours I frittered away, waiting in line to eat someplace as a child, with nothing to entertain me except my own imagination and any toy I had stuck in my pocket on the way out the door. Thank goodness for Star Wars action figures! Now, they were portable....
I woke up this morning and paid a bill to one of my vendors while I was putting my daughter's lunch together. I had access on my iPad and I remembered that I needed to do it today. It was great! I can check the weather forecast from my bed at night to be sure I know whether to wear my foul-weather gear to work. I can carry about a thousand books on my Kindle, anywhere, without a backpack or forklift. As with anything, however, I would love more. Where is my jet pack? Do you remember those old commercials that promised floating cars and jet packs by the year 1999? I didn't see them when the originally aired but I have seen references to them.
I have carried my desire to have more, experience more, do more all the way to my desk when I come to work each day. As you will see in the coming weeks and months as we enter tax season, we have made SO MANY changes to how we do things. Some are subtle, some will slap you right across the face. We want you to have the jet pack. We have this desire to keep providing more and more to you, and we have made a promise to ourselves to stay the course until you are flying around your office with little plumes of smoke coming out behind your jet pack. How's that for a visual promise? We are very excited about what we have done, and we know you will be as well.
Stay tuned....and Happy Holidays to all of you!
11.30.2011
11.15.2011
The True Value of a Paperless Existence
You've all heard me talk about this....I blogged about shredding all the paper. Now, it's time to discuss the true value of a paperless existence on the eve of our office seminar on going paperless.
First, let's discuss the term "going paperless." Some of you without knowing it have already gone paperless by using your bank's online billpay system, or by asking Reader's Digest to send your invoice to you electronically rather than by mail. How many of you own Kindles or iPads, and use them to read books? And honestly, who could satisfy their hunger for Lindsay Lohan's most recent jail-avoidance technique without resorting to reading about it online? The trees thank you. But, it can go deeper than that, and for my business clients it is a huge step in the right direction.
EXCEPTION ALERT - I love a handwritten thank-you note. In fact, I think that's the only acceptable way to send or receive a thank-you note. I sent one to a client the other day, and honestly, it's like I had to concentrate on my penmanship as though I was in second grade again. That was sad, but a sign of the times.
Technology is going to nudge us all to become more paperless as time goes on, so why not openly embrace the change now? For instance, my office BEGS to communicate with clients digitally. We hate paper. In any form. We love PDFs, e-mails, faxes even....because our faxes are reproduced into PDFs. Forms that require a quick signature will now be sent over a secure website for an electronic signature. I wish it could be made mandatory that all communication with our office be done digitally, but in a lot of cases, tax clients don't take the time to scan their original information into PDFs. That's OK for now.
SPOILER ALERT - With our individual tax relationships this year, we are offering a sit-down with Meghan where she will help you organize your tax documents, then she will scan them into our server before you leave. But, you didn't hear that from me....
Seriously, though...our standard business relationship these days involves a tremendous amount of work in the cloud. We use very little paper....no manual checks are written, no paper invoices are sent, even financial statements and other planning documents are sent via e-mail or delivered through Dropbox, so we don't even print those anymore. Employees are paid via direct deposit in most cases, and we're working through a process by which we can e-file your quarterly/annual payroll tax returns. When I meet with clients, I use my iPad to take notes and I can also refer to documents through Dropbox on my iPad. Life has changed so much from when I first started in this profession, and it's a welcome change. Gone are the days where we had one entire office devoted to files and storage. In fact, we have ONE filing cabinet now that holds one set of files for a client of mine who works overseas and asks me to hold his mail, and paper that some of you haven't picked up yet (because let's face it, even though we've contacted you several times already, you don't want the paper either so you leave it in my office). I now practice what I preach....
Get rid of the paper! Stop collecting it and then scan in the paper you already have, if you need it. Paper slows you down....it takes up S____P____A____C____E.....it wastes your time with its ever-present need to be managed, moved and reviewed....and once you make the move to go paperless, then reward yourself with a Kindle.
Next year, we are rolling out a service to our service industry business clients whereby we coach them through a process of uncovering value in their internal processes with their customers. We have done it, now we want to share it with everyone else. It all comes back to value, folks. A huge value-added item that we found was the embracing of technology, a large part of which is being paperless and adopting cloud-based technology wherever possible. Forever and ever, amen. The domino effect of recognizing value in one place is evident, when you take a moment and examine the processes. It's a very cool process, so I hope if you're reading this and you're one of our awesome business clients, that you're already excited about doing this process review with me. I know you'll love it!
And come get that paper that you left here, because I'm shredding it next week....
First, let's discuss the term "going paperless." Some of you without knowing it have already gone paperless by using your bank's online billpay system, or by asking Reader's Digest to send your invoice to you electronically rather than by mail. How many of you own Kindles or iPads, and use them to read books? And honestly, who could satisfy their hunger for Lindsay Lohan's most recent jail-avoidance technique without resorting to reading about it online? The trees thank you. But, it can go deeper than that, and for my business clients it is a huge step in the right direction.
EXCEPTION ALERT - I love a handwritten thank-you note. In fact, I think that's the only acceptable way to send or receive a thank-you note. I sent one to a client the other day, and honestly, it's like I had to concentrate on my penmanship as though I was in second grade again. That was sad, but a sign of the times.
Technology is going to nudge us all to become more paperless as time goes on, so why not openly embrace the change now? For instance, my office BEGS to communicate with clients digitally. We hate paper. In any form. We love PDFs, e-mails, faxes even....because our faxes are reproduced into PDFs. Forms that require a quick signature will now be sent over a secure website for an electronic signature. I wish it could be made mandatory that all communication with our office be done digitally, but in a lot of cases, tax clients don't take the time to scan their original information into PDFs. That's OK for now.
SPOILER ALERT - With our individual tax relationships this year, we are offering a sit-down with Meghan where she will help you organize your tax documents, then she will scan them into our server before you leave. But, you didn't hear that from me....
Seriously, though...our standard business relationship these days involves a tremendous amount of work in the cloud. We use very little paper....no manual checks are written, no paper invoices are sent, even financial statements and other planning documents are sent via e-mail or delivered through Dropbox, so we don't even print those anymore. Employees are paid via direct deposit in most cases, and we're working through a process by which we can e-file your quarterly/annual payroll tax returns. When I meet with clients, I use my iPad to take notes and I can also refer to documents through Dropbox on my iPad. Life has changed so much from when I first started in this profession, and it's a welcome change. Gone are the days where we had one entire office devoted to files and storage. In fact, we have ONE filing cabinet now that holds one set of files for a client of mine who works overseas and asks me to hold his mail, and paper that some of you haven't picked up yet (because let's face it, even though we've contacted you several times already, you don't want the paper either so you leave it in my office). I now practice what I preach....
Get rid of the paper! Stop collecting it and then scan in the paper you already have, if you need it. Paper slows you down....it takes up S____P____A____C____E.....it wastes your time with its ever-present need to be managed, moved and reviewed....and once you make the move to go paperless, then reward yourself with a Kindle.
Next year, we are rolling out a service to our service industry business clients whereby we coach them through a process of uncovering value in their internal processes with their customers. We have done it, now we want to share it with everyone else. It all comes back to value, folks. A huge value-added item that we found was the embracing of technology, a large part of which is being paperless and adopting cloud-based technology wherever possible. Forever and ever, amen. The domino effect of recognizing value in one place is evident, when you take a moment and examine the processes. It's a very cool process, so I hope if you're reading this and you're one of our awesome business clients, that you're already excited about doing this process review with me. I know you'll love it!
And come get that paper that you left here, because I'm shredding it next week....
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