Internetware

EU Cookie Legislation & You

Internetware — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:40:18 +0000

It’s been almost a year since the EU’s new law on Cookies & Web Privacy was announced, causing a huge amount of discussion online and a great deal of worry for website owners & agencies who feared the draconian rules in the legislation would be unworkable or – even worse – make their websites fall foul of the law unless they implemented wide-spread and expensive changes.

Some large enterprises certainly are spending a great deal of money on compliance, but with the deadline for enforcement looming and many small companies and site owners having no idea what they should do – or if they should do anything at all – we’ve been taking a look at the state of play and what some of our clients might need to do. When reading this please keep in mind we’re not lawyers, and if you feel this issue might effect your business you should seek qualified legal advice, but our own general interpretation of the law and how it’ll be applied is as follows.

Most of our thinking is based on this article which is largely written by Dave Evans, Group Manager for Business & Industry at the Information Commissioner’s Office. The ICO will be responsible for enforcing the new law in the UK so Mr. Evan’s is as good an authority as you’re likely to find on how the law will be applied, and after reading this statement we’ve concluded:

The ICO don’t intend to apply the law in anything like as draconian a fashion as some people feared.
There won’t be any single sweeping application of the law that forces all site owners to take action, because…
…investigations by the ICO will only happen when a complaint (or even multiple complaints) have been received.
They’ll be looking to see if companies have tried to meet the spirit of the law – increased transparency for users – rather than hitting them with a big stick for the slightest offense.
Exceptions may be made in cases where a cookie is absolutely essential or it would seriously damage a business not to use them.

We’re also inclined to agree with some of the commenters on the article that the ICO have realised what a mess the legislation is, how hard to enforce it would be across all UK sites, and are taking the position that so long as people are using common sense and not being actively evil they’re not going to get into serious hot water.

What we’re recommending to clients at a minimum

All sites that use cookies in any way should have a footer link, “Privacy & Cookies” or similar, with a brief non-legalese explanation of why they drop cookies and what they’re used for.
Google Analytics or other third party tracking cookies should be identified as different from on-site cookies, with an explanation such as “these are used to track web site use and allow us to improve the service we offer you”.
The same page should show (or have a link to) a standard set of instructions on how to block/remove cookies in all major browsers.
Language regarding the dropping of cookies should be added to any site that has a set of T&Cs, if they don’t have such clauses already

The speed and seriousness with which you take these steps – and any others you feel are necessary - should largely be driven by how important the web is to your business. If you turnover millions a year online and the web is your sole storefront then of course you should treat this issue with some urgency. If you don’t have an ecommerce site or the web isn’t a core marketing channel for your business then perhaps you can afford to wait until resources allow, or even until your next re-design.

We hope that’ll be helpful to some of you out there, and if you need a hand implementing any changes on your site to comply with the law please feel free to contact us.

Compatibility issue with Sage 50 2012 [Now Resolved]

Internetware — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:00:47 +0000

There is a rounding issue with Invoice and Sales Order import via 3rd party applications in Sage 50 2012, we would advise you do not use Zynk or Connect in a live environment with Sage 50 2012 until Sage have released an updated patch. If in doubt please contact our technical team.

Please note that you can use in a test environment but be aware that in some cases invoices for certain amounts e.g. £99.99 could be shown in Sage as £100.00 due to the rounding issue.

UPDATE: This issue is now resolved as of Connect Version 3.18 and Zynk Version 1.2.7

Zynk is now a Sage Certified Solution

Internetware — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:50:55 +0000

We are extremely proud to announce that Zynk has become one of the first Sage Certified Solutions for Sage 50 and Sage Instant Accounting. This means that our application has been independently tested by Verisign against a rigorous set of test conditions which ensure the software does not adversely effect your operating system or Sage software.

The certification includes a number of tests covering the following areas of the software:

General Usage
Support
Versioning
Platform Configurations
Installation
Operating System Checks
Functional Minimums
Data Integrity
Adherence to Accounting principles
Documentation
Performance
Development and Architectural Guidelines

So, when choosing an integration solution – make sure that the solution you are looking at has been certified by Sage.

Sage 50 2012 Support in Zynk

Internetware — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:13:38 +0000

Sage 50 2012 has now been launched and introduces some new features such as Mobile access to Sage 50 data, Instant Printing of Invoices, Period Lock downsto prevent entry of data into closed financial periods, some updates to the user interface as well as and host of other improvements.

Support for Sage 50 2012 will be added into the latest version of Zynk. If you are a Connect user and planning on upgrading to Sage 50 2012, you will need to upgrade to Zynk so contact us today to discuss before you upgrade.

Zynk Help Centre Launch

Internetware — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:48:55 +0000

We have just launched the new Zynk Help Centre which will provide documentation, Tutorials, Workflow samples you need to get started using Zynk and will give you a better understanding of how the software works.

Go to Zynk Help Centre

If you need any help with pre-sales enquiries please contact our team on 0845 123 2920 who will be happy to answer any queries you may have with regards to Zynk capabilities.

Using Rails with Zynk

Internetware — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:19:22 +0000

We found this useful plugin for Ruby on Rails by Jeb Wilkins – its open source on Github and might save anyone using Rails some when when integrating Sage 50.

https://github.com/jebw/sagefu

Zynk Launched Today

Internetware — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 11:25:17 +0000

We are pleased to announce the launch of Zynk – our new Business Automation and Integration platform – head over to www.zynk.com to find out more!

Zynk is a unique business automation platform that can automate integration, reporting and other IT business software processes that would normally take hours of manual processing.

Zynk is a modular system and works with a number of different business software systems

Sage 50 Accounts

Sage Instant Accounting

Sage 200

Microsoft Excel

Adobe PDF

Generic CSV Files

XML Files

Amazon Marketplace

Amazon S3 Storage

ConnectWise CRM

Microsoft SQL Server

ODBC Databases

OLEDB Databases

Salesforce CRM

SugarCRM

Microsoft Exchange Server

POP3/SMTP Email Servers

PayPal Online Payments

Secure Trading Payments

Web Sites and Web Services

FTP Servers

SMS/Text Messaging

For more information contact our sales team on 0845 123 2920.

Get ready for Zynk – Business Automation in just one click

Internetware — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:30:28 +0000

We are now in the final stages of testing with Zynk our new Business Automation software which launches on 31st March 2011.

Zynk is unlike any other product on the market and allows you to easily automate or integrate Websites, FTP server, Email, Spreadsheets, Databases, Accounting systems, CRM systems and much more.

Zynk lets you Import Data, Export Data, Create Invoices, Documents, Send Business Alerts, Send Email and SMS Marketing, Create Dashboards and much more.

To find out more sign up at www.zynk.com and we’ll make sure you are one of the first to find out.

Sage announce new UK SaaS product – Sage One

Internetware — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:06:25 +0000

Sage have announced a new SaaS based accounting product called Sage One and is available in two flavours – Cashbook which is priced at £5 per month or Accounts which is priced at £10 per month. There is also another option called Accountants Edition which allows your accountant to manage your system remotely.

If you are interested in integration between your ecommerce website and Sage One Accounts or Sage One Cashbook please contact our team us for further information.

For more information see the website at http://www.sageone.com.

Christmas opening times

Internetware — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 18:25:32 +0000

The Internetware offices will be open the following times over the Xmas period.

24th December – 9am – 1pm
27th December – Closed
28th December – Closed
29th December – 9am – 5.30pm
30th December - 9am – 5.30pm
31st December – 9am – 1pm
3rd January – Closed
4th January – 9am – 5.30pm

Please contact your Account Manager if you need support outside of these hours.