Firms updating from older versions of Tabs3 and PracticeMaster Software to Version 15 currently receive six months of maintenance with their update.  Beginning with the release of Version 16, updates will come with four months of maintenance.  Now is a great time to encourage firms to update to Version 15.  If a firm updates now, they will receive a full six months of maintenance, and their update cost will be less.  (Update costs increase each version a firm falls behind.)  In anticipation of a first quarter release, they will also be eligible to receive Version 16 at no charge when updates are sent.

The quality of our support and our updates are just a few reasons why we have one of the best maintenance renewal rates in the industry.  However, a small percentage of firms do not renew their maintenance.  It is valuable for you and us to find out why.  They may have a new person in place that needs some training, they may not have installed the last update and could use some assistance, or they may be thinking of moving on to another system because they don’t understand everything Tabs3 and PracticeMaster can do for them.  All are great opportunities for you to generate business.

We will let you know when a firm lets maintenance expire.  Our Client Service reps e-mail each firm and carbon copies their reseller.  When you see this, jump on it.  Find out how you can help them, and let us know why they haven’t renewed.  Then we can complement your conversations with our follow up.  Again, these are great business opportunities, and we look forward to working with you on these when they come up.

We previously required firms upgrading to CSV to purchase a year of maintenance on any product with prorated maintenance set to expire within 60 days of their order.  We no longer do.  However, we still highly recommend purchasing maintenance in this circumstance.  Purchasing maintenance with new Server Software and new Client Server Versions of Tabs3 and PracticeMaster is still mandatory for the first year.  Our Sales Team can always provide you with pricing and prorated expiration dates.

Some of you may be hearing about web based billing and practice management solutions a.k.a. cloud computing, software as a service, SAAS, etc.  The link near the bottom of this post is an article relating to one of the main concerns law firms have about these solutions – reliability. 

Intuit is a large, well respected, publically traded, technology company.  They manage online versions of TurboTax, QuickBooks  and Quicken.  The fact that their cloud computing sites can go down for more than a day means that this could happen to anyone.

Below are a few quotes from the QuickBooks Online Blog to give you a sense of what their customers went through.  This information should be helpful if you are working with clients who are considering a web based service.  There is a link at the bottom of this post to a blog with additional quotes.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Timeslips to Tabs3 Conversion instructions now include separate instructions for Timeslips 2010, Timeslips 2009, and Timeslips 2006-2008. Each set of instructions contains new version-specific screenshots.  You can find version specific instructions under the Procedures section by expanding #2 (Generate the Client Export file from within Timeslips) by following the link below. 

http://www.support.tabs3.com/main/tsconv15.htm

Data converted from Timeslips includes client name and address information, aged accounts receivable balances, and unbilled transactions (work-in-process).  As a reminder, existing Timeslips customers are entitled to a 20% discount when purchasing Tabs3 software (non CSV) with Timeslips proof of purchase.

This month Microsoft is scheduled to launch Office 2010.  We have tested PracticeMaster Version 15.3 with the 32-bit version of Office 2010 and we are compatible with these products.  We will also integrate with the 64-bit version of Office 2010, but not until Version 16 is released. 

The 32-bit version of Office 2010 should be more than sufficient for law firm use, and we expect a vast majority of PracticeMaster clients to use the 32-bit version for some time.  Microsoft agrees.

“…Office 2010 includes both 32- and 64-bit versions for a single computer. We recommend the 32-bit version, which runs great on both 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows. People who routinely use very large documents or spreadsheets that need more than 2 GB of memory may want to run the 64-bit version, but many common add-ins for Office don’t run correctly in the 64-bit edition.”

http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Office-Home-and-Business-2010/product/B4D93AC9

Some firms are buying 64-bit computers today and some may end up with the 64-bit version of Office installed on their new computers.  To be clear, PracticeMaster will work just fine on 64-bit computers.  It is only integration with the 64-bit version of Office 2010 that will be an issue until Version 16 is in beta. 

If a firm tries to integrate the 64-bit version Office 2010 with Version 15 or prior of PracticeMaster, here is what will happen.  PracticeMaster should run fine, with these exceptions:  e-mail integration will fail when they start PracticeMaster; the toolbars in the Office products will install, but fail when they are used; and the calendar and contact sync will fail when they are used.

To avoid any inconvenience, you should advise your PracticeMaster clients to install and use the 32-bit version of Office 2010 until they receive a Version 16 beta or later version of PracticeMaster.

There are two new video clips recently added to our Web site.  Be sure to share these with your clients and prospects.

• Client Server Version
• Outlook® Integration (located under PracticeMaster)

A list of all our video clips can be found at the link below:

http://www.tabs3.com/products/videos.html

Recently we have conducted multiple well attended webinars entitled “Accepting Credit Cards”.  Our Product Manager, Bruce Policky and a representative from First National Merchant Solutions (FNMS) cover the benefits of accepting credit cards in Tabs3 and Tabs3 Trust Accounting Software. 

To sign up for one of these free sessions, please visit http://creditcards.eventbrite.com.  Be sure to share this link with your prospects and existing users. You can contact Jeff Schlichting with FNMS at 402-602-6472 or via e-mail [email protected] to find out about their $100 referral program offered for resellers and consultants. 

Topics covered during the webinar:

• Benefits of accepting credit cards.
• Demonstration of credit card processing in Tabs3 & Tabs3 Trust Accounting.
• Making trust deposits while staying within bar association guidelines.

We will continue to have these sessions every few weeks for the time being.  They do tend to fill up fast.  We will continue promoting this webinar ourselves through the monthly user newsletter.  However, the best way to get the word out to your clients is to forward them the signup link yourself. 

Below is a sample e-mail to send to your prospects.

P.S.  If you have questions, or you are aware of a firm interested in attending a full webinar, please e-mail Marcia Ashcraft at [email protected]. 

Dear Joe,

Great news!  The Product Manager for Tabs3 and PracticeMaster, Bruce Policky, just let me know that he is hosting a free webinar on credit card processing on June 17^th.   He will spend about 30 minutes discussing the benefits and will demonstrate credit card processing in both Tabs3 and Tabs3 Trust Accounting Software.  This is a terrific opportunity for you to learn how accepting credit cards can help you get paid faster while helping to reduce write-offs.  You can sign up for this free webinar by visiting http://creditcards.eventbrite.com.  Here are a few of the specific topics covered: 

• Benefits of accepting credit cards
• Demonstration of credit card processing in Tabs3 & Tabs3 Trust Accounting.
• Making trust deposits while staying within bar association guidelines. 

P.S.  Let me know if you sign up.  I would love to hear what you think after the webinar.