Communication Beat

I Peter 1:4
An inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away is reserved in heaven for you.

Psalm 16:11
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

The promises of Heaven are glorious! The pearly gates, streets of gold, no heartache, no crying, no sickness, no dying . . . Knowing all this gives me great hope for the future, but trying to imagine what Heaven will really be like is far beyond my human capability. What will my new body be like? Will I really know my loved ones? What will it be like to live forever? Will it ever get boring? What will dying in this world be like? My limited understanding and the fear of the unknown sometimes cloud my hope and joy and turn them into fear and dread, but the following story puts it all into proper perspective.

A sick man turned to his doctor, as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, “Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side.”

Very quietly, the doctor said, “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? You, a Christian man, do not know what is on the other side?”

The doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness. Turning to the patient, the doctor said, “Did you notice my dog? He’s never been in this room before. He didn’t know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear. I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing. I know my Master is there and that is enough.”*

What will Heaven really be like? Christ, my Master will be there, and that is all I really need to know. That is the hope of Heaven. So now I can say, “O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” The Master is waiting for me!

Beloved Savior, thank You for the promise of Your presence that gives hope for the future and strength for today.

*Original source of story unknown.
©Copyright Ann Shorb, 2006

Dr. Ann Shorb is the founder of Christian Counseling & Educational Services, an accomplished professional speaker, and the author of A Light for My Path, a weekly email devotional. Visit her website http://www.ccesonline.com for a free subscription to A Light for My Path.

“Aim High! There is little virtue in easy victory.”

Sir Edmund Hillary, who with Sherpa guide Tenzing Norgay, was the first man to successfully summit Mount Everest.

Think of the effort that Sir Edmund Hillary must have put in to mount the 29,035 feet of the Himalayan giant Mount Everest. And we think that internet marketing is hard! Yet in spite of the difficulty that is inherent in mountain climbing expeditions, there are challenges in climbing the oft reputed internet peaks that dot the cyperspace landscape. These are obstacles that any person new to this arena faces. Web site optimization, traffic regulation, search engine submissionwhere does it end? Each of these mountain peaks has sub-peaks, and every time we think we have reached the top, we see thatas the famous poet Alexander Pope said”Alps on Alps arise.”

So what does the prospective infopreneur do? Personally, I have struggled to drive to my site the traffic that will produce sales of the electronic books that I have authored and that are available there. I have tried buying traffic from the so called “traffic drivers,” but these are all a waste of money. And don’t be fooled into buying any of the scam products which go under many different names but all produce the same worthless results. Again, if it were that easy to produce big results, everyone would be rich and nobody would be working. That kind of makes sense, does it not? So what does one do then?

Recently, I had the fortunate experience of meeting someone who happens to be an expert at all this. It was one of those serendipitous occurrences where fate just had me at the right time at the right place. You see, in working one of my three current jobs, I was given a business card of one of the sons of a family-owned furniture store. I decided to call on him to see if I could sell him an ad for the new advertising book I’m working on putting together. When I called the store, the brother of the person I eventually met answered and expressed interest in meeting with me to discuss the advertising. When I went to the store, only the older brother, who happened to be a self-taught web optimization expert, was there. We started speaking, one thing led to the next, and suddenly he was telling me how 95% of his business came from online sales.

This mechanical-engineer-turned-computer expert said he studied for one year and read about three hours per day. He single-handedly made his web site a powerhouse marketing tool by implementing his optimization methods. He said that I could do the same if I put in the time. The only problem is that time is limited to me. Thus he offered to help me and mentioned how much it would cost. He offered to give me a written guarantee that would state how many increased visitors I would have by a certain time. The only problem with this is that because he is busy with some current clients, he cannot start with my site for about two months.

Now the difference between what this person is offering and what you get offered by some of these internet programs is quite substantial. First of all, he did not pressure me into buying anything nor did he make grandiose promises. He also stated that he could not start the work for a while, which made me feel comfortable in that he was not trying to get me to do something right away. He also did tell me that this would take timeabout four to six months before we would reach the desired targeted traffic. Again, no overnight “get a million visitors to your site” type of thing.

After I implement some of the strategies that this consultant is suggesting, I will write a follow up article on the results. If they are substantial, I will let my readers know, and I will try to share with them any potentially useful information. Until then, we have to continue to aim high; however, we have to be willing to work for such high ambitionsand also be patient until they are realized.

Joe is a prolific writer of self-help and educational material and an award-winning former teacher of both college and high school mathematics. Under the penname, JC Page, Joe authored Arithmetic Magic. As a result of this publication, Joe was invited to be a guest on the television show the Book Authority. Joe is also author of the charmingly pithy and popular ebook, Making a Good Impression Every Time: The Secret to Instant Popularity; the seminal collection of verse, Poems for the Mathematically Insecure, and the creator and scriptwriter of an upcoming DVD series that is both visionary and highly educational. The diverse genre of his writings (novel, short story, essay, script, and poetry)particularly in regard to its educational flavor continues to captivate readers and to earn him recognition.

Joe propagates his teaching philosophy through his articles and books and is dedicated to helping educate children living in impoverished countries. Toward this end, he donates a portion of the proceeds from the sale of every ebook. For more information go to http://www.mathbyjoe.com

If there is one quality that successful people have, it is a bias towards taking positive action. Once they reach a decision that they are going to do something, they take action. And they take it fast. They don’t beat around the bush. They have trained themselves to avoid procrastination like the plague. Whether it’s writing an article, doing their taxes, getting organized, or making a purchase, once they decide to do something, they take some kind of immediate action.

This does not mean that they are rash. They think through their decisions. But once the decision has been made, they know it’s time for intelligent action at the soonest possible opportunity.

Some years ago, I read a self-help book (I think it may have been one of the lesser known titles by Napoleon Hill), where the author explored the virtues of adopting the motto: Do it now! Since then, I’ve used it almost daily to great effect. Of course, you can’t do everything “now”–wouldn’t that be great! But when you recognize that a goal is important, there is almost always something you can do within a very short period of time.

Recently, it occurred to me that some people may find the “do it now” mantra a bit too pushy. Some people may think that it implies that they should take action without thinking. As I mention in the previous paragraph, that’s certainly not the case. So, to gain wider acceptance of this idea, I’ve added the phrase “if you intend to do it…” What this really means is that if you have gone through the decision making process, and you have decided to take action–then just get started. As soon as you get started, you begin to build momentum. Once you build momentum, you find yourself taking one step after another in the direction of your goal. If you persist long enough (whether a few minutes, or a few years if it is a big goal), you will eventually reach the end destination: the attainment of the goal.

Here is an important thought: all we really have is now. Yesterday is gone forever. All you can profitably get from yesterday is to learn from it. Tomorrow (even the next moment) is only a promise. You can plan for tomorrow (and you should!), but you can’t act in that moment until it arrives. There is one, and only one moment in which you can live and act. And that moment is now.

So, take in the relevant facts. Go through an intelligent decision making process. But once you have reached the point where you “intend” to take action, then get started as quickly as possible and follow the task through to completion.

Do this consistently and the odds that you will achieve great success will significantly improve.

Copyright (c) 2006 Bill Marshall – All rights reserved. Feel free to republish this article with copyright and link information included.

For practical self-improvement tips, visit http://www.poweraffirmations.com Get my new free e-book, “Power Affirmations: Power Positive Conditioning for Your Subconscious Mind.” If you intend to do it, do it now!

Saying no isn’t easy, but it’s a required skill if you wish to have any degree of focus in your life. If you say yes too often, you’ll likely fall into the common trap of saying yes to the good while simultaneously saying no to the best.

There is no unconditional yes. Whenever you say yes, you’re also uttering a background no. Whenever you allocate time to one pursuit, you say no to everything else you could have done with that time.

Not too long ago, Blockbuster Video initiated a “no late fees” policy. In a way they’re saying yes to their customers who complained about having to pay late fees when returning a movie after the due date. But this policy has a side effect. Because there are no late fees, customers keep movies they’ve rented for a longer period of time before bothering to return them. So now when you go to Blockbuster to rent the latest releases, which used to be stocked abundantly, they’re more likely to be all picked out. The videos are in people’s houses instead of on the store shelves. I’ve heard Blockbuster employees apologizing for this policy on numerous occasions, usually in response to customer complaints that the new releases can’t be rented. The value of knowing you could go to Blockbuster Video and rent whatever you wanted is no longer there.

By saying yes to one group of customers (those who had problems with late fees), Blockbuster is simultaneously saying no to another group (those who value availability first and never had a problem returning a movie on time). Now if I were the VP of Marketing for one of Blockbuster’s competitors, I’d charge ahead with some sort of “guaranteed in stock” campaign to begin saying yes to those customers Blockbuster just bailed on.

There’s always a trade off when you say yes.

The word no often gets a bad rap, but realize that every yes includes a no, and every no includes a yes.

When you say yes, are you saying yes to your own best goals and plans while saying no to what’s less important?

Other people may pressure you to say yes, but before you do so, take a look at the no you’ll have to bear. Do you say no to your family in order to further your career? Do you say no to good health habits in order to fit in with your peers? Do you say no to setting your own goals in order to say yes to the reactive bait others lay before you?

If you want to say yes to what’s really important to you, you can expect to hear yourself saying the word no a lot more often.

When you say no, usually the person who hears it will react negatively, sometimes mildly, sometimes strongly. Don’t let that bother you their reaction has a lot more to do with them than it does with you. If they push you too much, I suggest you simply turn it around on them by emphasizing the no that would accompany the yes. For example, “Why are you asking me to say no to my family, my health, my goals, and so on, just so I can say yes to your request?”

If it’s not what you truly want, say no.

Copyright © Steve Pavlina

Steve Pavlina
Personal Development for Smart People
http://www.stevepavlina.com
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog (blog)
http://www.stevepavlina.com/articles (articles)

Steve is intensely growth-oriented. He trained in martial arts, ran the L.A. Marathon, and graduated from college in three semesters with two degrees. He can juggle, count cards at blackjack, and make damn good guacamole. Steve is also a polyphasic sleeper, sleeping just 2-3 hours per day and only 20 minutes at a time. So chances are good that he’s awake right now.

It was just a few degrees shy of swimming weather a few weeks ago at the beach. I walked along the shore in my jeans and a red tankini top, the salt air refreshing against my skin but not quite cold. My two sisters and some friends and I were taking a brief hike down the beach. Up ahead, a small freshwater creek came out of the pine forest along the beach and cut across our path. The water of the creek was a ribbon of earthy red crossing the white sandy beach. As we approached, I said to my sister Audra, “let’s jump it!” It was a shallow creek, and only about seven feet wide, easily fordable. But something within me wanted to run, to leap, to risk splashing down in the cold water. Carefully wading across just wasn’t going to do it for me. I wanted to jump the creek – for no reason other than the fun of it.

My sister enthusiastically agreed, so we got a running start and began to run willy-nilly down the beach, our feet pounding down into the soft, powdery sand. The narrow creek approached rapidly, the wind in my face urging me along, my hair flying about, and when we reached the sandy edges leading down into the creek, we hurdled through the air as if jumping the Grand Canyon. I landed just short of the other side, sending diamond drops of water spraying all around me and soaking the cuff of my jeans. My sister landed right beside me and we laughed like children. It was fun. I felt happy and alive.

The 14th Dalai Lama said, “The purpose of our lives is to be happy.” Indeed. This purpose I gladly share with all fellow humans. As you go about your day, do you find yourself caught up in happiness, laughter and fun? As children, everything we did was for fun. That was the purpose behind every action. That was the part of me that had to leap across the creek. As you complete your daily duties – going to work, doing the laundry, checking your email, whatever your daily habits may be – is fun your purpose? Is happiness your objective?

When you were younger, the pursuit of fun and happiness came naturally. You didn’t have to put a lot of effort into looking for it. If your mother had asked you, “So dear, are you going to try to have fun today?” you would have looked at her like she was crazy. Fun is a child’s obvious objective. If they want to build a castle, they have fun doing it. If they want to plant some flowers, they have a blast in the process. Mud pies – fun. Washing the dog – fun. At some point our priorities change. Our purpose and objective often becomes money and work. The obvious and natural engagement in fun activities falls to the wayside.

When I’m taking myself too seriously, writing at the computer or something, my son always reminds me of my priorities. He’ll come up to me and say, “Let’s play tigers!” and we’ll wrestle on the floor, growling and meowing. Or he’ll run up to me and say, “Look, a rainbow!” and point to the refracted light coming from the sunlight shining through some glass. Being an adult doesn’t mean abandoning the quest for fun. If life is not meant for fun and happiness, what is it meant for?

Think about the things you might have done as a child. Did you climb trees, ride bicycles, eat ice cream and (purposefully of course) get it all over your face? Did you run uphill and pick flowers and play in the hose because you wanted any excuse to get muddy and wet? What do you do now for fun? As an adult you have more freedom, not less, than as a child. You’ve got a car and money and no curfew or confined play areas. Your play should be increased, not decreased!

I’m not suggesting that you quit your job and play in the sandbox all day. What I am suggesting is that you quit working and start playing. Children find the fun in almost anything. It’s all a state of mind. You can choose to view life as fun, or you can choose not to. Have fun at your job, have fun completing tasks, have fun brushing your teeth, have fun eating. Do also increase the purposeful acts of fun in your life. Go on a spontaneous lunch picnic. Go for a hike in the woods. Take a road trip to the country for a couple hours. Drive down to the beach. And be spontaneous and adventurous. When something silly strikes you, go for it! What’s the worst that could happen?

Have fun with your life. Break up your daily routine with intentional acts of fun. Laugh really loud. Take a leap!

Copyright 2005, Alexia Alderson Chamberlynn

Alexia Alderson Chamberlynn is the Co-Owner of Prosperity Power Training, LLC, a national training company specializing in e-learning, life coaching and live group training. To contact Alexia or sign up for free services such as a Free 7-Day Training Program, free monthly newsletter and free quote-of-the-day club, visit the website at http://www.prosperitypowertraining.com. Alexia expects to release her first novel in 2005. Alexia lives in Florida with her son Gareth.

I am someone, who from what my parents have told me, started to stutter when I was four years of age. I have to say that I hated having a stuttering problem and was determined that I eventually would be able to have the confidence to say whichever words that I wanted to, in any situation. There were you see a number of words which I believed I just could not say and I also found it difficult to talk when I felt under pressure. After living with the stutter for eighteen years, I finally managed to achieve fluency and life has never been so good. It is like having a weight lifted from my shoulders.

Many people who stutter find that it can, in a way, rule their whole lives. Every decision they take seems to be affected by the speech impediment. For example, I decided to leave school because of my own stutter. My life at school was made so much harder by being unable to converse fluently. In fact I used to fear going to school, this was mainly because I was scared that I would be asked to read out aloud from a book or would be asked a question in front of the whole class. I will never forget when I attempted to take part in a role play in an English lesson, I was a complete nervous wreck and had a terrible time.

When I was at home, a place where I should be relaxed, I used to be afraid of the telephone of all things. Fluent people may well think that I am crazy from some of the things that I am admitting to in this article. On the other hand, I am sure other people who have a stutter may identify with some of the issues that I was trying to deal with on a daily basis. Going back to the telephone, there were many times when the phone would start to ring and I would just ignore it and not answer it. My parents would return home a little while later and would see that someone has perhaps left a message. They would enquire as to why I had not answered the call, I would reply with some excuse such as that I had popped out to the shops.

As you can see I basically had a fear of stuttering and during this period I would do anything to avoid stuttering. To overcome the speech impediment I was willing to do anything to beat it.

Stephen Hill offers various forms of stuttering therapy. He has a number of websites including:

stuttering
treatment

stuttering
cause

stuttering
cure

This week I had my socks knocked off! Which, after being in the industry for over 25 years, is tough to do. I came across a posting on Slashdot about a new mapping application from Google called GoogleEarth. At first my thinking was that this was just another extension of the already cool Google Maps online. But then I discovered that it was a downloadable client application. Humm. So I took the plunge. Then I lost over 4 hours of productivity for that day. (And I won’t mention how much since then.) And everyone I showed it to that day ended up gawking and drooling as well.GoogleEarth is a new application that jumps leaps and bounds over what we used to consider to be mapping applications. GoogleEarth takes the geo topology data from the satellites and turns it into a earth wide mapping application. Not just pretty pictures! But true mapping functionality layered on top of the pretty pictures. As these screen shots can attest, the capabilities of this application are amazing! Some of the incredible features of GoogleEarth are: Pushpins can be added to the map with notes about the location.

Once you have several pushpins, you can right click and select “Directions from this…” then “Directions to this…”, and receive driving directions between the two points. Then, you can have GoogleEarth drive from point A to point B with the “Play Tour” button. Then drool some more as GoogleEarth flys above the entire course.
Layers, Layers, and more Layers! Want to see all the street names? Just turn on the “Roads” checkbox. How about the local grocery store? Just click on the “Grocery Stores” checkbox in the Layers window. Little shopping carts appear on the map. Just a small sample of what’s avalable in the layers is: City Boundaries, Postal Code Boundaries, Railroads, Water, Coffee Houses, Malls, and much more! Want to see some buildings? GoogleEarth allows you to see computer generated buildings with their true form and shape for various major cities. You should see Las Vegas!
Another great jaw dropping feature is the ability to “Tilt” the perspective. You can change your view all the way down to the surface and then pan around in all directions to get the sense of how things look. I could go on for several thousand words about all the features included in GoogleEarth! Oh, and did I mention that it’s FREE?

There are several versions of the application but the Free version is the one that will suit the needs of most individuals. But, for just a minor $20 cost, you can add support for GPS, spreadsheet importing, path drawing, and annotations. There is also a $400 Professional version which provides the ability to import site plans and use the business related features. The ART of Software Development in GoogleEarth is in the innovation that the Google folks have introduced in this technology, and making it available to everyone on the internet. Being able to go and visit a location that you’ve never been to before, can be a great comfort before going on your planned trips. Or you can just do some virtual sight seeing in exotic locations. I spent over an hour just flying around Hong Kong! GoogleEarth has a very easy to use interface. And the streaming data from their servers was a lot faster than I would have expected for the quality of mapping that’s being presented. (I am on DSL.) Keep in mind though that GoogleEarth is CPU Intensive! The faster the PC the better. While GoogleEarth might work with dialup, I expect that the data stream would present some long waits for zoomed in details.

Be forewarned! When you download and start using GoogleEarth, be prepared to spend some time exploring. You’ll find yourself going back to it every chance you get, just to explore new areas. And be sure to email me if you see any alien space ships at Area 51!

GoogleEarth can be found at: http://earth.google.com

Timothy Trimble, The ART of Software Development

Timothy Trimble is a award winning, freelance writer, and software developer. He has written a book for Microsoft Press, articles for significant computer industry trade magazines, and is currently working on his second computer technology book to be published in early 2006. He is the Blog publisher of The ART of Software Development which can be found via his web site at http://www.timothytrimble.info
Proud member of http://www.WordBrains.com

A great number of gamers will certainly have spotted the term “offshore sports betting”, but some maybe aren’t totally savvy what that conveys. A foreign betting web site in essence operates exterior to the administration of any single state instead it could also be a world wide web based sports betting internet site which has their computer servers in a nation in which world wide web based sports betting isn’t disallowed. In brief then, it can be represented as a gaming facility operating extraneous to the national territory of the customer. Online gambling web pages are currently regulated with the help of 3 organisations. These syndicates are OSGA (the Offshore Gaming Association), the IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) and the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association (the FTGA).

The Offshore Gaming Association are a nonpartisan “watchdog” bureau which currently monitors the overseas sports gaming trade, their purpose is to also provide the paying public an avenue to distinguish acclaimed companies to play gambling games with. The OSGA labors to preserve the concerns of bettors, and in addition they don’t charge any yearly dues.

The agency is a well-qualified and impartial third party agency who manifest impartial information, indicated by customer feedback, nonpartisan investigation, phone conversations, prompts also delivers inside bulletins.

The Interactive Gaming Council is a nonprofit agency. The administration has been established to provide a forum for curious parties to discuss questions and also to progress common matters in the world-wide interactive betting business, to establish unbiased and also dutiful industry codes and forms that strive to heighten buyer confidence in net based gaming products and services, and to aid as the industry’s generic practise representative moreover the Interactive Gaming Council acts as a data hub.

The Interactive Gaming Council has established a reputation for stimulating trustworthiness, consistency and plausibility thanks to the principles it stands for, also its allure to concerns of honest ethics. The Interactive Gaming Council governs offshore gaming by means of utilising a distinctive ten-point code of conduct and also bills sports gambling web sites license fees for featuring their logo. Frustrated gamblers can furthermore air any of their challenges to the Interactive Gaming Council.

The FTGA has been established in a venture to create a benchmark to upgrade the standards of internet based sports gaming operations. The authority proposerealize that doing business only with respectable websites, they are able to establish a union of the fairest and professional online gambling businesses worldwide.

There are bodies who inspect the conduct of on-line sports gambling and which should in time serve to mitigate a few of the uneasiness due to the insecurity felt by detractors. On-line sports gambling sites are altogether safe, beacuse private data shouldn’t be necessary and in addition the dividends not to mention the gambling odds are generally equivalent to a traditional Vegas-style Vegas style sports-bet. They cut down traveling time, but maintain of a casino, but nowadays you can wager in the comfort of your own home.

online sports betting

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.

There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.

There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

It’s all about routine

Graham Green, the famous English novelist, said that his success was down to writing 500 words a day. The value of routine in enhancing creative output is often underestimated:

a) Incremental goals such as the above produce far more output than random moments of waiting for inspiration or a “do your best” approach.

b) Inspiration and insight are the result of the mind working on problems at various cognitive levels. By keeping to a routine, problems constantly are identified and put into focus and the mind is tasked to solve them on a regular basis. Insight and inspiration are increased in frequency and duration.

c) The increased output that results form routine also increases the probability that quality will emerge. The relationship between quantity and quality should not be underestimated. Some of the most recognised works have been produced when the creator was being most prolific.

d) Routine increases the rate at which competencies, refined methodology, knowledge and process are learned, thus speeding up optimisation of performance.

e) Creative leaps or radical innovations are usually made by individuals who have significant experience in a field. Glover et al (1989) identified only three notable works produced before year ten of a composer’s career. If you want to make a breakthrough you have to put in the time.

These and other topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com/

Microsoft Dynamics GP is new name for Microsoft Great Plains. As Project Green is progressing, Microsoft Business Solutions or whatever is temporary name for Business Systems subdivision, renamed Project Green into Microsoft Dynamics. Now Microsoft Great Plains, Microsoft Navision, Microsoft Axapta, Microsoft Solomon and Microsoft CRM are renamed into Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics SL and Microsoft Dynamics CRM respectively. We have published articles, devoted to Microsoft Dynamics in Europe, Brazil, Russia, Australia and New Zealand and now we would like to share our experience and analytics on Microsoft Dynamics GP & CRM implementation, customization, reporting for the clientele in Pacific region.

• Great Plains History. Regarding Pacific region Great Plains Software had plans and expansion campaign back in 1990th and even 1980th. Our client in Republic of Palau had ancient Great Plains Accounting implemented. The support was initially provided by D&T, but when Microsoft acquired Great Plains Software D&T had to abandon Great Plains implementation & support practice – we saw the examples in Pacific as well as in Bermuda. Later on Microsoft realized that Great Plains Dexterity has certain limitations, especially when we are talking about tax engine and languages localization – it doesn’t support Unicode and Dexterity design was done back in 1992-1994, as a result it is not object oriented product

• American English & US$. This is official business language in most of the countries in Pacific. Plus taxation is aligned with American legislation in majority of the cases. Substantial strata of countries use US Dollar as official currency. All these facts facilitate Microsoft Dynamics GP/Great Plains as efficient ERP/MRP/Accounting solution

• Remote Support. Comparing to US Business Metros, such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Houston, where clients “require” face-to-face meetings and local support – in the Pacific it is really impossible to host local consultant on the island where only one or two small clients are located. Plus – serving from the USA is kind of time anti phase and probably too expensive. The best servicing location is Philippines, where Great Plains Software had its third party Project Accounting ISV partner – Match Data, as the result a large pool of Philippines based Microsoft Dynamics GP consultants and Microsoft Dexterity developers is available

• Software Sales. With an exception of Hawaii – the rest of pacific rim should be sold from Microsoft Business Solutions in Singapore. This fact places restrictions on the ability of US based Microsoft Business Solutions VARs/Partners to serve remote clientele in the region

• Legacy Products. The life in the Pacific Rim countries is kind of traditional and comfortable. This means that there is no need to replace good and working computer ERP systems with the hectic technology progress. The examples could be – the commitment to IBM Lotus Notes Domino, Pervasive SQL/ Btrive/Ctree/IBM Unidata/Ingress platforms. Microsoft .Net Business Portal might be integration solution together with Sharepoint, but legacy system required multiple connectors to enable lookup and integration

• Oracle/SAP. Contrary to Microsoft Oracle and SAP have long presence history in the Pacific Rim market. Oracle Financials or SAP R/3 mySAP / SAP Business One

• eCommerce – is actual for the clients from Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Microsoft eOrder will be phased out with GP version 9.0. You should be ready to invest some development money into eConnect-based redesign. In some cases, such as Great Plains SOP allocation and posting you will have to rescue to Great Plains stored procedures.

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies (http://www.albaspectrum.com) – Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.
We are serving USA Nationwide: CA, IL, NY, FL, AZ, CO, TX, WI, WA, MI, MA, MO, LA, NM, MN, Europe: Germany, France, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Middle East (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, OAE, Bahrain), Asia: China, Australia, New Zealand, Oceania, South & Central America: Mexico, Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Chili, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico