hardware and software

The leasing industry is yet to significantly harness the powers of the Internet. Despite the hype, the web enabling of the leasing process has been sporadic at best. While the industry has already taken to the Internet's obvious convenience for credit scoring and front-end application processing, a larger and perhaps a more significant impact on productivity has yet to be realized. The advent of the lease life-cycle management model can realize this untapped potential for productivity and, if implemented well, can even directly enhance profitability. Online lease management and accounting software certainly has the makings of a paradigm shift in the lessor's approach to the lease accounting software. More specifically, it holds enough promise to replace the client/server model just as the client/server model itself dethroned the main frame.
The Benefits of an Internet Model based Lease Management system
To implement, the Internet model is much simpler than its client/server based counterpart, demanding nothing more than a secure Internet server on which the lease accounting software and database reside. Each of the limitless number of computers accessing the server can run any operating system, be it Apple Macintosh or Windows 2000, with nothing more than access to the Internet. By inference, the type of Network and the leasing software's compatibility to it no longer matters. Even the physical implementation of the network itself, in laying down the wiring and connections, becomes redundant when any authorized computer belonging to any authorized user, is part of the virtual network. In this respect, especially for lessors with multiple operations in different locations, the model used in the lease management software is a boon that takes no more significant effort to tie two computers into its virtual network as it does 2,000. Even training employees to use the lease accounting software becomes easy when there is one standard program worldwide. This immediate scalability and operating-system/network-independence of the leasing software model makes it possible for lessors of all sizes to experience IT benefits unknown in the client/server world.
It would seem that today's nascent Internet technology compromises the functional power of the client/server model in their leasing software; complex algorithms required to amortize income or calculate yields appear hard or even impossible to replicate on a browser. Fortunately, however, with the growing sophistication of Internet developmental platforms such as Microsoft's Active Server Pages, Internet applications run a tight race with client/server technologies. The Internet based lease accounting software enables yields and depreciation schedules to be calculated with the same click of a button. The lease management software facilitates reports to be sorted, filtered and queried to obtai any conceivable information available in the database. Income, IDC and residual can be accrued, blended and separated, just like they are in client/server systems.
Not surprisingly, even technology as complex as an Enterprise Resource Planning system, simultaneously used for solutions from global car-manufacturing to domestic chemical-production, runs on Internet-based applications today similar to the internet based lease accounting software. Leading ERP vendors including SAP, Oracle Financials and PeopleSoft, for instance, have tried and tested success stories of highly versatile and complex system that are browser based. "Lease Management Software", says Jay Mehra, COO of Odessa Technologies, Inc., "though sophisticated in its own right, can quite easily be implemented on the Internet." Despite the complexity, therefore, the functional powers of traditional models are easily captured in Internet-based applications.
Functionality of the Internet model and the Lease Management Software
While functionally the Internet application is interchangeable, its differentiating quality lies in its approach to data. By the very nature of their technology, client/server systems typically just crunch numbers. A good Internet based application, on the other hand, maximizes the value of that data, in addition to maintaining it. This translates into a direct value-add for the lessor's operational efficiency. Sales staff can, for instance, be allowed to access the leasing software from anywhere they can connect to the Internet. During negotiations, they can obtain historic information about the lessee to make informed decisions for new business opportunities through the lease management software. The traditional one-way pipelines of data delivery thus become forums for information exchange.
Equally important, as shown by the diagram above, the new channels of Internet-driven communication can now enhance the lessor's external relationships. Odessa Technologies, developer of a wholly web-based Lease management and accounting software, uses a series of independent web sites that ties the lessor with its various business partners. Through their lessee web site, lessees can get online help, access important account information, download invoices and even make secure Net payments enabled by the lease management software. Moreover, by leveraging the critical data residing within the Internet application, the lessor can even customize business promotions based on the individual lessee logging onto the system. Far from being just a tool that manages a part of the leasing business, lease management software thus becomes a way of conducting and even marketing the business. Through the Internet model the leasing software is able to bring about new sources of productivity, both direct and implied, are thus created from business relationships that are fuelled by information flow.
LeaseWave© - A new Wave in Lease Accounting Software
While the advantages of Internet-based applications are obvious, there is a conspicuous absence of such technology in the leasing industry. It is this gap between the ideal technology and what is typically available that Odessa Technologies, Inc. is fulfilling. With the release of LeaseWave©, a technology built entirely on Microsoft's Internet platforms, Odessa brings the lease management process online. Through LeaseWave© and technological collaborations with companies such as CapitalStream and Ivory Consulting, the company offers a comprehensive solution that is entirely Internet based by way of the lease accounting software. LeaseWave©, at its core, provides for complete asset management and lease accounting functionality, allowing the lessor to efficiently manage any number of lease portfolios in the leasing software. Beyond this core, LeaseWave© provides a series of interactive web sites that connects the lessor with business partners including lessees, funding sources, auctioneers and banks via the lease management software. Each line of communication in the lease software employs secured socket layers for complete security and is even e-commerce enabled, allowing for secure online ACH and credit card payments.
It is common knowledge that front-end systems, such as CapitalStream's CapitalStream - FinanceCenterTM are already leveraging the powers of the Internet. The efficiencies that they have realized, however, represent only the beginnings of a greater change. Still to be tapped are the efficiencies of large data-rich back-end processes. The web-enabling of lease management and accounting software is a step towards this efficiency-realization. As Internet technology seeps into the back-end, the leasing industry stands to experience a rare paradigm shift: one where the technology drives the process rather than being driven by it.

Bios
Madhu Natarajan, CEO Odessa Technologies, Inc.
Madhu Natarajan became the CEO of Odessa Technologies. He has consulted for various companies including Caterpillar, Inc and Crowe Chizek, LLP; Madhu brings with him an extensive research based leasing background with 5 years of leasing software experience. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and Business Administration from Monmouth College, Monmouth, IL; Madhu graduated Magna Cum Laude. fax copy to 610-293-9903

Successful online business can't be led without email marketing. Many people know that it is very important to have a web site but having a web site is only one step in creating successful online presence. You have to stay in touch with your clients and prospects. You need to have a two way communication with your clients and prospects and best way to do this is to have an email newsletter. To send emails to your customer you need the right email marketing software.
Choosing your email marketing software is one of the most important steps you have to take in e-business. What are those necessary steps in choosing email marketing software?
Free or fee-based
The first thing you will have to decide in choosing software for your email campaigns will be whether you want to use free or fee based software. Some people may say: "There is much free software on the Internet. Why would I pay for email marketing software?" This is because some people still don't have a habit to buy things on the Internet, especially non-tangible items such are software and services. Many people still don't realize the power of email marketing so they think that can be satisfied with a free service.
One of the most famous contemporary economists, a Nobel Prize winner Mr. Milton Friedman said that there is no such thing like free launch. And there is another statement that says "You get what you pay for". I usually agree with these two statements. These have been proven on many examples, especially on the Internet.
You can choose to use free software for email marketing but you will be limited for some more advanced options. Some big portals offer free services for creating groups. This is OK, but in this case you will send your email messages without many important features like personalization, email tracking, sending SMS, using CSV files etc. I don't have to mention that many "free" email marketing software providers will include their ads in your email newsletter. I guess that you don't want that in your business email communication.
Some other free software like the free version of Group Mail will have limitation on the number of subscribers per one session. In this case you will be able to send your email newsletter to 100 subscribers at once and in paid version to unlimited number of subscribers and create unlimited number of lists.
It is recommended that you use fee-based email marketing software for your business email campaigns. However, you always have to look for a provider who offers a free trial, as well.
Important features
You have to check if your email service provider offers these several important features.
1) Personalization - personalization is one of the most important things that email marketing software has to provide. With good personalization you will have better open rates and click-through rates. Some more advanced email marketing software like Group Mail paid version offers if-then personalization for users who want to get the maximum personalization.
2) Monitoring - email marketing is popular and useful because results can be measured very effectively. You have to ask your email service provider if their product offers ability for detailed reports for open rates, click-through rates, deliverability...If their main product doesn't offer that it is important that they offer additional service that can be easily integrated with their main product.
3) Scalability - one of the main features of modern software is scalability. At this moment you might need software that will be able to send 1,000 emails at once but in 3 years your membership base can be 5,000. Will your software be able to handle that?
4) Creating HTML newsletters - HTML newsletters have better response rates than email newsletters in plain-text format so this is also another thing you have to consider in choosing your email marketing software. Without sending your email newsletter in HTML you won't be able to do email tracking.
5) Integration with existing applications and databases - your email marketing software has to offer you ability to import data from existing applications and databases like SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Access, FoxPro and Excel. Also, it is very useful that it can be integrated with popular email clients like MS Outlook.
6) International Character Support - Online businesses have to have a global focus so it is useful that email marketing software provides support for International Characters.
7) Plug-ins and updates - it is very important that the email service provider constantly works on creating useful plug-ins and updates in order to make your work easier and more effective.
8) Technical support -If you are an average Internet user without technical knowledge you will probably want to get support for your software. How good is your email service provider when it comes to technical support?
Desktop email software vs. Hosted ASP
Now when you know do you want free or fee-based software and what to look in your email marketing software you have to decide do you want to have desktop email marketing software or so called Hosted ASP. Both types have limitations and advantages. You have to choose the best option for you.
Desktop email software like Group Mail Plus, one of the leading desktop email marketing software, has several very big advantages. The most important is that details of your subscribers are kept private and secure on your own computer. Dot com crash is not so far behind us. Imagine that you have several thousand clients and use web based service from a company that will later go out of business. You can only imagine how that could affect your business and credibility! With Group Mail Plus you can manage an unlimited number of groups with unlimited number of recipients in each. You will have a larger initial investment than with Hosted ASP which charge a monthly fee, but you will a full control of your email campaigns and after some time of using your software you will repay it.
With Hosted ASP you will usually have a lower initial investment. You don't have to buy hardware and software. However, price is usually determined by the number of emails you send so you will pay more how your membership base gets bigger so this option will be much more expensive than a desktop email marketing software option in the long run.
You can see that choosing the right email marketing software is very important. You have to bear in mind that the biggest investment is one that it is paid - twice. So, choose your email marketing software wisely.

Dejan Bizinger is a Contributing Editor for Infacta. Infacta is email messaging services company providing powerful, yet easy-to-use award-winning Group Mail, software for sending highly-personalized email messages and Group Metrics, software for email tracking. For more information visit: http://www.infacta.com

Each year millions of Americans have their taxes prepared by a professional tax preparer. Having tax returned professionally prepared reduces the likelihood of errors being reported on a tax return; however, professional tax preparation is often expensive. For this reason there are a large number of individuals who are making the decision to file their own federal and state tax returns. While it is possible to file tax returns the traditional way with paper tax forms there are now many taxpayers who are relying on tax preparation software to quickly and accurately prepare and file their taxes. Tax software programs have increased in popularity over the past few years; however, like many other software programs tax software programs have advantages and disadvantages.
Before learning about the different advantages and disadvantages of tax software it is important that taxpayers learn the different types of software programs that are available. There are a number of popular tax software programs that include Turbo Tax, TaxCut, TaxAct, and more. Each of these tax software programs are likely to offer multiple tax software versions. Many tax software programs come in a standard version, a deluxe version, or a premium version. Each brand of a tax software program may include different features under each tax version; however, many of the tax software programs operate in the same way. Standard or basic versions are likely to only include federal income tax return forms. Deluxe and premium software versions are likely to include both federal and state income tax forms. Premium tax software versions are likely to include additional help in finding tax credits and deductions.
One of the main advantages of using a tax software program is that they are fairly easy and quick to use. Tax software programs are usually step-by-step; therefore, many individuals can complete a tax return faster than on traditional paper and in less than half of time. Many taxpayers who use tax software prefer the software versions that offer both state and federal tax forms. The majority of software programs will transfer the information from a federal return over to a state tax return. This not only saves time, but it also guarantees that the information found on a state tax return is accurate.
Another advantage to using a tax preparation software program is that is costs less than hiring the services of a tax professional. Tax preparation fees generally depend on where the taxes are being prepared at and how many tax forms need to be filled out and how complicated they are. The majority of individuals end up paying one hundred dollars or more to have their taxes professional prepared. The price of a tax preparation software program can range from free all the way up to sixty dollars or more.
In the past few years e-filing has become popular. E-filing allows a tax return to be received and processed quicker which often results in taxpayers getting their tax refunds sooner. Even though e-filing has dramatically increased in popularity there are still a number of individuals who do not feel comfortable e-fling their taxes. These taxpayers are often worried about their personal information being transmitted over the internet. All tax software programs give users the options of e-filing their federal and state tax forms or printing them out.
While e-filing tax returns may be convenient there are many tax software programs that charge an additional e-filing fee. Taxpayers are encouraged to fully read the box of a tax software program or read the description of the software program online. It is not uncommon for many taxpayers to not realize that they will be charged an additional fee for e-filing. There are some tax preparation software programs that only mention the e-filing fee in the fine print of their product description. Even with the additional fee it is still likely that the majority of tax software programs are cheaper than having a tax return professionally filed. In addition to e-filing fees, taxpayers are encouraged to be on the lookout for any other hidden fees because there are likely to be some with many tax software programs.
With many tax software programs guaranteeing their work it is evident that tax software programs are easy to use and accurate. With mathematical checks and easy print offs for personal records it is obvious that there are many advantages to using a tax software program. Taxpayers are encouraged to weigh the above mentioned advantages and disadvantages of tax software programs and then make an informed decision on how their tax returns should be prepared and filed.

Gray Rollins is a featured writer for the http://TaxHelpDirectory.com. To learn more about tax software, visit http://www.taxhelpdirectory.com/taxsoftware/ and to learn more about accounting software, visit http://www.taxhelpdirectory.com/software/.

ive years ago everyone was talking about virtual worlds, such as Second Life, and how they could be used in business. Henry Tucker MBCS asks if they are still there.

Back in 2006 the media was awash with articles about virtual online worlds such as Second Life. Companies were opening up offices there and people started, it seemed, to make real money online. Platforms such as these looked as though they would be the model for future business, then the hype died down and people started to pull out.

So is the Second Life model dead, does anyone use it anymore or is it still going?

Ian Hughes, better known by his online moniker ePredator, is the Chair of the BCS Animation and Games Development Specialist Group and a self-proclaimed metaverse evangelist.

He started out coding in his bedroom and then went to work for IBM dealing, mostly, with emerging technology. It was during this time that he says he wanted to see how he could introduce game technology into corporate life.

‘I became very aware that the way that we communicate in games, and what you get to know about someone in games, was a lot richer than our standard emails and telephone calls. And as we were increasingly doing instant messaging in corporate worlds it didn’t seem that big a leap to be using virtual environments, although not necessarily games,’ he said.

In about 2000, Ian tried to persuade people in his team to do things with virtual worlds and game technology. He and his team started to see how to work with one another and communicate across their offices using these environments.

He said that sometimes it was as simple as having a game of Quake to get to know people. Then, in about 2006, he turned himself into a metaverse evangelist at IBM, which was the start of the next phase of virtual worlds when Second Life was popular.

‘When we started to look at Second Life we said “this isn’t a game. It is game technology, it lets you design, share and immerse in things as well as talk and do more than just PowerPoint in a space with other people at distance.” I spent several years in IBM helping people with worlds such as these, sometimes with Second Life, often it wasn’t.

‘These virtual worlds hadn’t spawned out of the game industry but they were based on game technology. Despite this the game industry was ignoring everything that happened with virtual worlds and corporates because that’s not their normal business. Yet I was thinking this is all the same stuff.

If you take what the games industry does and what traditional IT does, they are not that different. In fact they are identical, yet they don’t talk to one another. This technology, as well as being useful, is good for bringing the technologies together.’

Part of the reason for the perceived decline in virtual worlds is down to the usual adoption curve for a new technology. When it was new a lot of people were talking about it, so the media paid attention. Second Life still has a passionate set of users, it doesn’t have as many users as Facebook, which is always the comparison, but it is nine years old.

‘It seems to be getting more attention again,’ says Ian. ‘A new generation of people are discovering that just doing things on Facebook isn’t that interesting and can be irritating. They want more engagement and they want to try some other stuff.

‘At the same time Facebook has created CloudParty, which is a 3D virtual world. Alongside this is Open Sim, which is an open source virtual environment. This started off as a sort of clone of Second Life except you run your own servers or you can pay someone to run one for you. That is getting used by some universities that need private virtual environments to rehearse certain medical scenarios.

‘There are lot of things happening and a lot of people doing stuff, but because it’s not high-end marketing stuff and because companies are nervous about saying that they are anything to do with it, working in virtual worlds is an uphill struggle because even gamers don’t like virtual worlds. So there’s a large virtual community and we’re still here.’

Just before the launch of its latest game, Henry Tucker MBCS spoke to Peter Hofstede, from Spil Games, about the challenges of mobile game development.

Spil Games are based in Amsterdam and have a history of making Flash games.

The teams work on games for a worldwide audience and according to Peter Hofstede, who manages the process of thinking up new games, ‘if you work for Spil for a number of years you get to know the word for game in a number of different languages.’

In the past year though the company has changed its focus towards mobile gaming and it now does full-on app development.

He says that this wasn’t that easy a process as it meant a major change in terms of the skills his developers needed.

The studio now uses the Unity game engine, which according to Peter is a very different toolkit than they had used before. And with 80 per cent of its projects now made using the engine this has meant that whereas the development for Flash games was between three and four months, it can be as much as a year with the bigger budget mobile products.

Another issue they have with mobile is that they can’t port the games between the various platforms but have to start from scratch each time. At best, Peter says, they can use some of the assets but you generally have to rethink the control scheme at the very least. This has the knock on effect of increasing the production costs, plus the projects are getting more complicated.

‘We have worked on quite deep Flash games, which sometimes took a year to produce. But in general production costs have increased ten-fold. So one of the effects is that we are focusing on doing a lot less and really only taking our best IP and not building a really wide portfolio of games,’ he added.

An issue with mobile games is that they don’t sell for much compared to the boxed products you get for the big consoles. This then has an effect on the way that the games are developed. With some apps there is a more to free-to-play approach, where the game is free but you buy things in-game. At Spil they consider this, but it depends on what the game is.

‘Our research has shown parents are willing to pay for a good product. If there is a good trial version they are quite keen to invest in the product. For others it makes sense to go with a free-to-play mechanic, but it needs to fit with the IP.’

As to how much the development costs that’s still drifting says Peter. ‘We’ve been working on a number of games and Sara has been our biggest project. We know that we’re going to have quite a lot of cost after the launch as well, probably if we do well we will have to spend more after the launch than before.

‘This is because we are shifting towards games as a service and that means we are building updates for after the launch. We also need to adapt to what we see in the game. If we see things aren’t interesting we swap them out and also if we see some traction we are going to invest more. We hook the games up to an analytics back end so that we can see where people fall off, are they stuck and so on.’

When asked if he thought there is a sweet spot for games he said that deep down it’s about psychology and different audiences have different drivers.

‘We know that boys are into extreme stuff where they can experiment, see how far they can go. For girls it’s different, with things like roleplay, playing out future careers. Creativity is very important, there are themes that work; animals, beauty their future self. It starts from that.

‘Then there are game mechanics. It needs to be rewarding, needs to be a challenge. There’s this concept of the killer game loop, which is you need to have a small gameplay cycle that you can finish in two minutes.

The player completes one cycle, then they can go in and do another or they can step out. You need to be able to dip in and out. The guys from NaturalMotion Games are talking about the Starbucks queue test. You need to be able to finish one loop whilst you are waiting for your coffee. You do something then you get a reward, a positive feedback loop.’

When it comes to choosing software for your business at some point you’re probably going to have to decide between an off-the-shelf package or having some bespoke software created. Carey Hiles, Development Manager Box UK asks how do you decide what’s the best path for your situation?

In many cases - you want to fulfil a generic business function such as payroll or OCR or anti-virus, for example - there’s already an app (or thousands of apps) for that. But often these involve compromise.

Your chosen off-the-shelf payroll system may not be able to cope with the complexities of the multi-tiered, service length multiplied by previous quarter’s performance divided by peer review percentage algorithm that you decided was the fairest way to apportion bonuses oh so many years ago. You may be able to force your processes to fit around the tools you’ve chosen, and often this will be a compromise that you can live with.

But what about when start thinking about investing in a piece of software that needs to deliver real user benefits? Whether these users are your customers, and you want to give them a great experience, or your staff that you want to make more efficient, in these cases it’s not going to benefit you to shape them around the software.

So it’s at this point you’ll want to start doing things like finding out requirements, and when you start going down the requirements route you’re most likely getting into building bespoke software. You may find something already on the market that ticks most of the boxes, but they’ll almost certainly be some knocking of edges off, whether through incremental compromises or large ticket prices.

If you chose a partner that’s able to invest in getting to know your organisation you can take advantage of their experience in terms of design and domain knowledge. They should take responsibility for understanding your unique business needs, taking your requirements and translating these into a specific piece of software for you, so you know that what gets delivered will solve your problems and maximise user benefits, which will hopefully turn into company benefits.

Commercial off-the-shelf products are built to maximise their profitability before competition overtakes it, meaning that their focus isn’t always on long-term scalability or reacting to changing market conditions.

While a bespoke software partner is also going to be profit-driven (unless they’re exceptionally altruistic), in these situations profit is derived from the longevity of the relationship. At Box UK our Agile way of working supports this - the way we work means that even if your requirements change during the build, they be addressed and built in to the production schedule. This helps minimise waste, and we won’t slip because we’ve gone too far down a cul-de-sac.

Closely related to these considerations is that of control. If you consider the lifecycle of a software product, first there is the seed which responds to a market demand.

Then follows market research and other feasibility exercises, before the solution begins to be planned and designed (hopefully using an iterative development methodology that reduces time to market through a minimum viable product that can be improved and extended with further releases). Then what? IPO? Acquisition? Decommission?

Of course, it would be generalising to say that all off-the-shelf products are static – look at the version histories of Microsoft Word, Adobe PhotoShop, Symantec Norton Anti-Virus, which are continuously changing and reacting.

If you can think of a request that was implemented then it’s probably either a massive coincidence, or I’ll wager that a different compromise was absorbed simultaneously. And what if your provider decides to change the direction of the product, or remove support for your version? Depending on how important a role that piece of software plays in your organisation, it could cause massive problems.

If you are going to go with something that’s pre-written, make sure that you work with a supplier that gives you a direct line into that roadmap. You don’t want to be the millionth customer (there’s no prizes), but being customer number 10 is a good place to be, because you’ve got a product that works but also have a voice and are big enough to affect change .