Net@Work, a leading provider of integrated business technology solutions, today announced it has acquired Dresser & Associates (Dresser), a Sage North America business partner specializing in the sales, installation, and support of Sage HRMS. For three consecutive years, Dresser has been Sage’s number one HRMS reseller, providing clients across North America with flexible, customized HR, payroll and talent management solutions. The acquisition supplements, strengthens and expands Net@Work’s Sage HRMS and Employer Solutions Practice, giving middle market companies a one-stop service for all their HR and business technology needs.

Dresser clients will now have access to Net@Work’s award-winning Sage team, providing unmatched support for their existing Sage HRMS and related systems, while delivering a complete range of technologies and services to help them grow their business, including: ERP/Accounting, customer relationship management (CRM), document management, web development, eCommerce, marketing automation and Cloud/Managed IT services.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Mark and his formidable team into the Net@Work fold, as their addition takes our already strong employer solutions practice to the next level,” said Alex Solomon, co-President and co-owner of Net@Work. “They’ve been the top Sage HRMS reseller for several reasons: their unmatched expertise in the HR technology space, their deep understanding of HR, payroll and talent management processes, and, not least, their customer-centric focus. We look forward to working with the Dresser team and with their clients, who will immediately reap the benefits of a full-service shop that understands their business and can support their growth every step of the way to effectively compete and grow.”

Dresser & Associates has been named to the Sage Chairman’s Club for five consecutive years and has been a top three Sage HRMS reseller for the past 15 years. The Dresser team will remain headquartered in Maine.

“This is a very exciting development, as Net@Work gives us the ability to provide our customers with a total integrated solution and comprehensive support that has made Net@Work the benchmark in the Sage world,” said Mark Dresser, CEO and founder of Dresser & Associates, now Net@Work’s Practice Director of Employer Solutions. “Beyond the synergies between us, we came to realize the similarities in our respective cultures and customer-centric, consultative approaches. Our customers should expect a smooth, seamless transition, as they will now have unfettered access to a complete, centrally managed IT solutions portfolio that gives them the support, infrastructure and tools needed to more effectively compete.”

About Net@Work
Founded in 1996 as a network support company, Net@Work has evolved into a provider of a full range of IT services and solutions, including ERP, CRM, HRMS, document management systems, eCommerce and web development and systems integration. Headquartered in NYC with offices across North America, their professional services staff of 180 plus supports over 6,000 clients. The company has received numerous awards for its high level of client satisfaction. Partnerships with proven technology leaders, including Sage, NetSuite, Magento, Abila, Microsoft, Dell, HP, Citrix and VMware, allow Net@Work to deliver a range of unbiased, integrated solutions that bring its clients every competitive advantage possible. For more information on Net@Work please call 1-800-719-3307 or visit www.netatwork.com.

1. Gear up for open enrollment. For most employers, the fall benefits enrollment period means helping employees review and select their health plans and other employer-provided benefits. By helping workers make educated plan choices, employers can reinforce the value of the benefits package employees are receiving. Reimagining Open Enrollment: A Six-Step Plan.
2. Get all documents ready for Affordable Care Act (ACA) reporting. Starting in January 2016, employers with 50 or more full-time or full-time equivalent (FTE) employees must report health insurance information to the IRS and furnish a statement about health insurance to their employees annually. Small employers (fewer than 50 FTEs) with a self-insured health plan must complete and file Forms 1095-B and 1094-B with the IRS, as well as provide employees with a copy of Form 1095-B. And large employers with at least 50 FTEs must complete and file Forms 1094-C and 1095-C, and provide full-time employees with a copy of the latter. For the 2015 plan year, the forms must be filed with the IRS no later than Feb. 29, 2016 (or March 31, 2016, if filed electronically), but a copy of Form 1095-C must be provided to employees annually by Jan. 31. For those employers that are subject to the ACA’s reporting requirements, HR professionals and business owners should be gathering all the necessary data to meet applicable deadlines. (See the article ACA Reporting Requirements: Tips for What’s Ahead in 2016; additional reporting resources are available at the SHRM Health Care Reform Resource Page.)

3. Provide any necessary leaves for voting and school-related activities. In some cases, employees may opt to take time off to vote in fall elections. At least 30 states have adopted laws to govern voting leave, and many of those states require this leave to be paid—although in some cases, employers may limit voting leave to the beginning or end of an employee’s shift. Additionally, some states, including California and New York, require employers to post a notice prior to Election Day explaining employees’ voting leave rights. In addition to voting leave, many employees with school-age children may also need time off to attend parent-teacher conferences and for other school activities. Many states have laws granting employees time off for family matters and providing eligible employees with a certain number of hours of leave annually, per month or per school year. Employers should be aware of their state laws and comply accordingly.

4. Send vacation reminders. For employers with a vacation or paid time off (PTO) policy that requires employees to forfeit unused time at the end of the year, early fall is a good time to encourage people to use their accrued time off. It’s important to note that some states prohibit any policies wherein workers must forfeit accrued but unused vacation time, so employers should know their state’s laws. In those states, employers must allow staff to carry over their accrued time from year to year, or else pay employees for their unused time at the end of the year.

5. Review emergency closing policies. Before inclement weather starts, HR professionals should review emergency closing policies, including who is responsible for making the decision to close, how employees will be notified and how pay issues will be handled. Pay practices for inclement weather must also comply with federal, state and local rules. (See the SHRM Online article Answers About Paying Employees When Disaster Strikes.)

6. Assess the impact of proposed overtime law changes. On July 6, 2015, the Department of Labor published rules that could more than double the salary requirements to qualify for executive, administrative and professional overtime exemptions. Final rules are expected in 2016 but in the meantime, employers can prepare by budgeting for increased overtime costs and/or salary increases. (See the SHRM Online article Overtime Rule Change Bad for Business?)

Source: Reminders: An HR Autumn To-Do List

Quarterly Earnings Day.

Attacks occur on public companies just before a big quarterly earnings release, combined with shadow shorting of the company’s stock in order to make money based on the ensuing mayhem. Shorting is basically selling a stock without owning it, with the plan to buy the stock later on when the price drops. By creating a crisis, the attackers can manipulate the stock price downwards and profit when the price goes back up.

To defend against this cyber thug celebration, make sure your company knows that this is a critical time for the business. Realize that the criminals don’t necessarily need to use a technological attack vector to create havoc here.

Black Friday / Cyber Monday.

It is the day when huge discounts are offered on most online retail stores, which means a huge increase in online shopping traffic. Online shopping requires online payment, which provides hackers the opportunity to snoop for the details of customers as they make their payments.

Shoppers should be extremely cautious while making payments online. They should be wary of false links offering sales and discounts, as well as make sure they pay through websites that use secure protocols to encrypt data.

Tax Day.

There as been an increase in phishing/spear phishing attacks on the business around Tax Day (April 15^th)  The emails typical of these attacks assume the authority of the IRS in requesting that the recipient visit the ‘IRS’ website link enclosed or open the ‘IRS’ file. The file or link contains requests for updated personally identifiable information or PII, which the attackers will exploit.

During tax time,remember that the IRS never sends such emails. They will only make contact through the US mail.

Software Support Retirement / End of Support Day.

This is the date when support ends for any OS or software package. Unsupported software leaves enterprises open to attack. Because the vendor will no longer make general releases of security patches, each new hole attackers uncover will remain vulnerable.

The way around this day is to investigate the availability of extended support offered by the vendor at a premium. Weigh that cost against an investment in deploying the latest software product or version that replaces the older product. Either of these avenues is going to cost you. If neither option will fit your budget, consider a refresh road map that includes well-supported open-source software for applications where the reward outweighs the risk. .

Zero-Day.

Zero Day refers to the day when a weakness in a software is found by the developers or vendors. Since the software is vulnerable as long as a fix is created and launched, hackers make the most of the situation. There is no specific time frame for the duration of zero-day as it last until a patch is found. A lot of damages can be done in that time.

The way around this day is to enhance your system to detect and report threats as and when they come. A regular track of the status of the systems should be maintained in order to report any discrepancies as they could give an indication of anomalous activity.

Patch Tuesday / Ida Pro Wednesday.

This day occurs every month. It is when Microsoft releases a new patch for its customers. Hackers use a tool called Ida Pro Wednesday to make the most of these patches. They benefit from such days as they figure out how the patch works and work their way from the end point to the starting point to find loopholes in the users’ systems.

The best method to prevent such attacks is to use many layers of security for your system which would make random and small-scale attacks useless.

Data Dump Day.

This day is when hackers release the information they have stolen from others on to an underground forum or group. Exchange of this information all at once can lead to organizations incurring hefty losses and damage on a single day due to disclosing of sensitive information.

To guard against this threat, the cyber security team should be on the lookout for underground networks and look for spikes in criminal activity, which indicates that a day like this is round the corner.

Source:

Keep these cyberthug holidays marked on your calendar

Identifying and capturing tax credits and incentives is sometimes easier said than done for many businesses. Oftentimes, it’s difficult for businesses to identify and capture all of the tax credits and incentives that they qualify for as well as be knowledgeable about the credits that they aren’t qualified to receive. In fact, of the 3,000 federal and state incentives available, an average of 50 percent may go unclaimed each year.

Rather than guess or let available tax credits slip by, find a trusted tax credits provider to help you become more informed about the tax credits that your business may be able to take advantage of going forward.

Dresser & Associates, Inc. has teamed up with McMillian & Associates, one of the leading tax credit firms, so that our customers can become more familiar with tax credits and take advantage of these credits to increase cash flow.

Business Tax Credit Webinars:

Aug. 19 @ 11:am EST           REGISTER HERE

Sept. 16 @ 11:00am EST     REGISTER HERE

For more information on strategies for capturing business tax credits register for one of the upcoming webinars,  Call or email Lauren at LTuttle@dresserassociates.com or 866.885.7212.