Micro Key Web Solutions

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2010-03-30T12:47:00.001-07:00

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What a Great Users Conference

2010-03-03T14:47:00.000-08:00

Well we just completed Micro Key Solutions Users Conference 2010 and what a great conference. I wasn't sure how well this one would go off, because we skipped a year, but it was great. A lot of information was disseminated at the conference and our users all reported that they got a lot out of the conference. That is what we like to hear.

We conducted a session on Micro Key Web Solutions and discussed our up and coming MyView and PayPoint products. They were well received and I got a lot of great input from those that attended.

In the prototype of PayPoint I allowed users to simply click a check box to indicate which invoices they wish to pay and automatically posted unallocated receipts. I found out at the UC that this wasn't going to work for most alarm companies, because they accept receipt of deposits but don't post the invoice until the work has been completed. Also, many customers don't always pay an entire invoice at once or they want to pay in advance of service. So this has sent me back to the drawing board. In the next release of PayPoint we won't be posting unallocated receipts and customers will be able to change the amount they wish to pay. The screen will default to the balance of the invoice but the users will be able to change this amount to an amount less than or greater than the balance. We also discussed ways users will be able to sign up for these services automatically from your web sites. Presently we are going to ask for the name on the account, the zip code where the bills are sent and their password.

My plan is to have all these changes completed by ISC West and start beta testing MyView and PayPoint April 5th. Presently I have four companies that have agreed to beta test these new products. If you would interested drop me a line at swright@microkey.com.

If you have any comments on these changes please respond to this post. Thanks

Are you getting the most out of your software?

2009-11-04T10:19:00.000-08:00

There are two things I just don't get about companies buying software. One deals with the cost of the software and the other is getting the training to use it. Or I should say the lack of training.

First question I have. Why do customers have very strong reservations about paying 3-5 thousand dollars for the software that is needed to run their business and thrive, but don't hesitate to spend 10 times that for a car that simply gets them to and from work?

The second question I have. Why do customers spend any amount for software then doesn't bother to learn everything that software has to offer. Like the brain, which we only use about 10% of, when it comes to software the same holds true. We never really get the most out of our software purchase because we never bother to learn more than we need to, to get by.

I have been working in the customer service area or working directly with end users for all of my adult life and I can assure you that over 90% of the problems people have with software is caused by their lack of knowledge. I swear that if states didn't bother to give driving tests there would be more accidents and deaths caused by accidents because we would have never learned to drive before we got behind the wheel.

If you are going to spend good money to purchase software for your business, spend the extra and make sure your staff knows how to use it. Let me illustrate. If I give you a piece of blank paper and pencil and ask you to draw me a picture. You may give me something like what you see in the first illustration (on the left).

BUT, with a little training and practice you could give me a drawing more like the second. (on the right) Same paper and pencil but a totally different results. The only difference is the amount of training received.

We should spend the little extra to make sure our employee's have the training needed to use the software. Not only will you have fewer problems with the software you will get the most out of it. Each and every day our Tech Support staff hears the same comments from our users. "I didn't know it did that!" Every time one of your employees says that you should cringe and realize, cha-ching, it just cost you in lost revenue and production.

Some of the art work included in this post are courtesy ofBrian Duey at www.dueysdrawings.com.

MyView and PayPoint Status Report

2009-10-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

Well we are in the last week of development. I really have to get better at estimating projects. What was suppose to be available mid summer is running into mid fall. But I want to make sure it's right. PayPoint was the toughest nut to crack because I wanted to make sure it takes into account every scenario and posts and allocates payments correctly. This feature is going to save you time and money because you will not have to post receipts or allocate receipts for those customers that choose to pay online.

Some of you have been asking why I chose Authorize.net over PayPal to integrate with PayPoint. The answer is simple, your Millennium software utilizes an integration to Authorize.net. Instead of having to have two credit card processing accounts you can use the same account to process both batch credit cards form Millennium and online transactions from PayPoint.

Also, some of you have been asking about pricing for MyView and PayPoint. At this time we have not established pricing for these two modules. If you own WebView already you will get these apps at no extra charge. WebView owners will also receive the planned applications of DealerPoint, SalesPoint and WebTech. If you chose to work with us and purchased WebView you will certainly come out of this a winner, because the cost of all these applications will exceed the cost of purchasing WebView alone. So if you are considering these web based solutions it would be cost effective to contact a Micro Key Business Development Representative and purchase WebView soon. Pricing for MyView and PayPoint, stand alone, should be announced with the roll out later this fall.

Continue to follow my blog for further status updates on these two exciting new products from Micro Key Solutions.

Your Business and the Internet

2009-10-13T13:54:00.001-07:00

Hard to believe the Internet is in its fifth decade. Developed in the late 60's early 70's to allow different types of networks to communicate with one another. It has grown to be the number one way of communications throughout the world. In the mid 80's, with the introduction of domain names and Data Name Servers (DNS) the Internet became more friendly. Today used by everybody, the Internet moves information at the speed of light with just a click of mouse.

Using the Internet to communicate has replaced nearly every form of printed communications. Newspapers and magazines are quickly being replaced with web pages and email. Even the United States Postal Service is feeling the impact. Social network applications like Facebook™ and My Space™ are becoming the new place to gather and share your day and your thoughts on nearly everything. Even the telephone is being used less for communicating because Instant Messaging, texting and email can get the word out quicker to more people all at once. It's also safe to say, more than half of us pay our bills online rather than mailing checks.
"If you are not using the Internet to create and maintain a relationship with your customers, you may find yourself in trouble in very short time."
With newspapers closing left and right, phone books being placed in recycle bins right from the doorstep, and mailed pieces joining them nearly as fast. Your print ad dollars might just be going to waste. I know in our house, I sort the mail on top of the recycle bin and only about 30% of the mail sent to us ever even makes in the house and half of that ends up in the shredder. If you are in business today, you must embrace the Internet and begin to understand how to use it to reach potential customers and maintain customer relationships.

Side Note
Micro Key Solutions has been conducting some Training Webinars recently. The most recent series I was given only two weeks to set them up and promote them. With one email to our newsletter email list 60% of those that attended had registered. With one notice in our established users group another 30% were registered. The rest came from links on our web site. Here is the kicker, the cost was zero, only my time.

In the light of a changing world Micro Key Solutions began creating some web based tools to help you get and stay connected with your customers using the Internet. In very short time Micro Key Solutions will be releasing MyView™ and PayPoint™ to help our customers stay connected with theirs. You will also see new products coming from Micro Key Solutions that will improve cash flow, cut costs, and keep you connected and in front of your customers and potential customers, which is by far, most important in today's economy. If you continue to follow this blog you will also learn some tips on using the Internet to reach potential customers and how to share your message within your demographic.

MyView and PayPoint Status

2009-09-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

MyView and PayPoint are still in Alpha testing. That's the bad news. The good news I have added additional features that were brought up by the companies that are going to be doing some beta testing for us.

One of the new features is: PayPoint will support more than one Authorize.net account. This means if you provide billing services for your dealers your dealer can have its own Authorize.net account. This is based on the Divisions you have set up. If you don't set up a separate account for a Division it will utilize the default account.

One thing that has been causing delays in getting PayPoint finished is insuring it performs all the functions necessary. The Authorize.net integration was simple, integrating with Millennium was a little tougher. I wanted to make sure that PayPoint will take into account the possibility of an unallocated receipt. I wanted PayPoint to automatically allocate this receipt with the payment posting. Well, I got it working. The real advantage of your customers utilizing PayPoint will be your staff will not be required to post the transaction or allocate the receipt to an invoice. This will all be done automatically. PayPoint receipt transactions will identifiable in two ways. The check number will begin with "PP" and the payment method will be "Pp". This will allow you easily identify PayPoint transactions in your Millennium software.

One other item has caused a delay. In alpha testing I realized I didn't take into account the new alternate address feature of the Millennium software. Once this has be applied to the MyView software these two modules will be ready to be Beta Tested.

One last note: I am sorry I didn't get a post up last week. I will make sure that I keep this blog up-to-date and make sure I make at least one new post every week to keep you in the loop on our accomplishments.

Now you can follow us on Twitter

2009-09-15T14:56:00.001-07:00

What a great day... PayPoint has just one program left to create and then we are ready to alpha test. Beta testing could start as early as next week, just like we planned.

We are also now on Twitter. You can get regular notices through your Twitter account simply start following us. You can find out more by visiting the BLOGS page on our web site.

...more

Micro Key Solutions on Facebook

2009-09-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

I had a great week last week. I got MyView and Paypoint nearly to completion. I am starting to shake down the application. So we should be ready to start the beta testing next week some time.

We have also made it possible to follow Micro Key Solutions on Facebook. By becoming a fan you will be able to partisipate in the discussion or start your own. We will be posting all upcoming events, make announcements and report on new products on this page so be sure to become a fan today and don't miss out.

MyView & PayPoint Only Days Away

2009-09-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

We are only days away from the first release of MyView and PayPoint. I just received the last of the information I needed to complete the payment posting page of PayPoint. So we should be cleaning up the release by the end of the week. I will spend next week shaking it down and tweaking the pages and we should be ready for the first beta testers by the following week.

I found it very easy to work with Authorize.net and PayPoint will eventually have an added benefit that will allow your techs to perform collections in the field. They will be able to post credit card or checks electronically in the field using a smart phone.

I am very excited about these new products. I feel there will be a real benefit to our existing Millennium users. The major difference between MyView and WebView will be that even dealers will benefit. WebView was primarily designed for our Millennium Monitoring customers but MyView and PayPoint can be used by both. Our dealers that use the Millennium Reports module will even be able to allow their customers to view alarm history and alarm status.

If you are interested in becoming a beta tester of these new products be sure to contact me as soon as possible. This will be a limited release and I anticipate it closing fast. You can contact me at swright@microkey.com.

Single Server for MyView a Bust for now

2009-09-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

I just took a look at the single server option for MyView and PayPoint. Which would keep our customers from having to purchase, install and maintain a web server. This is a possibility but will require a lot more planning than I originally thought. It would delay the release of MyView and PayPoint. It's not our desire to delay the release of the these two products any further so we will put this concept on a back burner for now.

MyView & PayPoint Status

2009-08-31T13:07:00.000-07:00

Just want to keep you up-to-date. We made a little progress this week we determined we will be using Authorize.net and the method we will be using will NOT require you purchase a SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate. This method will also keep you from having to keep your customer credit card information in your database reducing your liability.

We are also looking into hosting MyView & PayPoint on our secure servers so you won't even need to purchase a web server or install the software at all. You should hear more about this feature in my blog next week as we move forward with testing this.

MyView & PayPoint is Almost Here!

2009-08-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

As promised, in this weeks blog entry I will report on the status of MyView & PayPoint. Two new products from Micro Key Solutions. I am very excited about these new products because they will help you keep and maintain a strong relationship with your customers. Something that is needed in today's economic times. Another reason I am excited about these two products, they are being developed them from the ground up to either be embedded in your SSL web site, as a pop-up or can be accessed using mobile devices like the IPOD Touch or IPHONE.

MyView will allow your customers to check their alarm status, review Users and People-to-Call, review the last fifty entries in their alarm history for each area or partition. They will be able review their contact and billing information, view service information including any automatic services and open work orders. They will even be able enter a service request online. Customers using medical monitoring will be able review their medical information you have stored in your database including doctor and hospital info and any medications they are taking.

PayPoint will allow your customers to view their open invoices and pay online with a credit card through Authorize.net. The great thing about PayPoint it will take into account any unallocated receipts and post the receipts and allocate them automatically.

If you are using the Bill Payer feature of our software you will be able to assign a customer access to the Bill Payer account and give them give them access to ALL service locations. You can even give them rights to set up their own users. But don't worry they can't grant rights to their users unless you have first given those rights to the administrative user.

In the first release of MyView your customer WILL NOT be able to change any information and they will directed to call to alter the content of your database. In the future they will be able to directly email a request to change data or will be able to change the data themselves online. All three of these levels will be available for you to assign user as you desire. You may grant rights to alter contact info but then deny access to alarm or service info. You are in total control of what you users can access and change using MyView.

It was our hope to have MyView and PayPoint available by mid summer, but due to scheduling issues this has been pushed back to late summer, sometime in September. MyView is presently ready for Beta Testing, and we are finishing up the coding on PayPoint. We won't make either product available for Beta until they are both ready. Right now it looks like we are still two weeks out.

If you would be interested in beta testing these products email me at swright@microkey.com. You must be a Micro Key Millennium customer and currently on support. Those that have purchased WebView will have first crack at it. If you would like to access the MyView Demo using your iPhone or iPod Touch, simply access webview.dyndns.org/myview. You can follow the progress of these and all WebView projects at http://webview.microkey.com/.

Live Chat and Webinars

2009-08-18T05:41:00.000-07:00

Well it's been awhile since I posted to my blog so there is a lot to get you caught up on. First off in July we added Live Chat to the web site. Our Business Development Reps are manning it and ready to answer your questions on any of our products and services.

We also started something, I call, Micro Key Webinars. Our first training webinar took place last Friday and it was on a new feature of our software that allows you to customise your invoices, proposals and work orders. We placed a recording of this webinar on our Tech Support web site in the Video Training Center. This first webinar was a great success so I am sure we will be planning others in the months ahead.

I have also been working on the new WebView products call MyView and PayPoint. These two new products will be going into Beta testing really soon and should be available sometime in September.

MyView is product which allows your customer to view their account and system information online and PayPoint will allow your customers to pay their bill online and will automatically post the receipt and allocate it which will save you time and money. Both of these products can be accessed from any web browser, this includes Safari on either a Ipod Touch or IPhone. Unlike WebView these products can be embedded in your existing web site.

Watch for more details on MyView and PayPoint in my next blog entry.

New Tech Support Web Site

2009-05-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

The new Micro Key Solutions Tech Support web site is now online. We still have a few items to take care of, but we will complete those after the next release of WebView.

The new Tech Site makes it easier to find what you are looking for and we have also fixed the problem with Firefox and Safari users using the How to Videos. We have a new FAQ section which will allow us to add graphics to the FAQ answer, making our answers easier to understand. You will also begin to see videos attached to these FAQs.

One of the things we will be doing in the near future is overhaul the Video Training Center. We are going add easier to understand links to the videos and we are also going to keep track, by user, of what videos have been viewed. This should make it easier for you keep track on where you are.

I want to thank those of you who have taken the time today to comment and make suggestions on how to make the new site easier to understand and use. We have already incorporated a number of your suggestions. One of which is getting a confirmation screen after you validate your email address. I am sure you will see little changes over the next few days as many of your suggestions are implemented into the site. Thanks again.

If you have any comments about the Tech Support feel free to contact me directly via email at webmaster@microkey.com.

WebView - MyView Member Interface

2009-04-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

I am working on the interface for MyView a new Micro Key Solutions product in the WebView Web Solutions line. I am developing the member interface right now. My issue is one of security.

What do you do to make sure you are actually talking to a customer and not someone trying to gain access to an alarm system? Meaning when a customer calls and asks to change passwords or add new users what do you do, to make sure they are authorized to do so?

Your insight would be greatly appreciated.

Micro Key Solutions Referral Program

2009-04-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

Micro Key Solutions web site get hundreds of hits a day. Many of them are NOT looking for Alarm or Monitoring software but looking to have Alarms installed in their homes or businesses.

Now we can't help them, but our customers can. So we have created a way for our customers to create a link on our web site. If they choose to participate in our Referral Program they simply complete a form on our Tech Support web site for each of their locations. Then when someone comes to our site looking for Fire Alarms, Security Alarms or Monitoring companies we will display our customer's company information and send them the business.

WebView - MyView & PayPoint

2009-04-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share my plans for these two products from Micro Key Solutions. MyView is going to be a web based application which will allow your customers to access their data in real time. They will be able to view their service history, their alarm history, their contact information and billing information online. This tool will be able to be embedded in your existing web site or can be a stand alone site if you don't have a web site already.

PayPoint is also going to be a web application that may be embedded into your web site and will allow you customers to pay their bills online. The real plus about this tool is it's not going to require you to store sensitive information like credit card numbers or bank account numbers in your database. Your customers will be prompted for this information by either PayPal or Authorize.net, the two merchant tools we have selected to be integrated with PayPoint.

Unlike WebView, creating the user access is not going to be complicated. You will be able to assign a user to a Bill Payer which in turn will automatically grant them access to the service accounts attached. Or you will be able to assign a user to a service account, which will prevent them from viewing billing information, but they will still be able to look at alarm history, service history and contact information.

You will have two maintenance options with MyView. If you choose to allow your customers to change information they will be able to either request a change through the web application or actually change the information in real time. This will be up to you. You will be able to set up global defaults and override the defaults when the user is added.

Your users will be able to setup their own user accounts online. You will provide them with an access code, much like Micro Key Solutions does on its tech support site. With this code they will be granted access to their information and rights you have pre-assigned to the access code.

I would like to hear from you on our plans for MyView and PayPoint.

Micro Key Solutions

2009-04-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

They say "What's in a name" well, now ours says it all. For years we have been providing service second to no other software company. Oh I am not saying we don't have our days with long waits in the phone queue. But I am saying, at least there is a phone queue and very few software companies around the will go the extra mile to make sure their customers problems are solved. Whether the problem you're having is with our software or not, our support technicians will work with you to meet your needs and solve your problems. We truly do provide solutions. Thus Micro Key Solutions is a great fit. What do you think?