Bennett/Porter & Associates, Inc.

06/18/2026

Ever read a headline about Oregon's privacy laws and quietly wondered if you were breaking one?

Here is some reassurance. Oregon has two data laws, and the one with the big penalties only applies to businesses handling data for 100,000-plus residents. Most Portland small businesses are not in that group.

The law that does apply to nearly everyone is far more down to earth: keep customer data reasonably safe, and report a breach within 45 days. Think multi-factor logins, limiting who can see what, and encrypting your laptops and backups.

We put together a plain-English guide that walks through which law applies to you and the simple steps that keep you on the right side of it.

→ [Link]

05/12/2026

If you're a Portland business owner running on Microsoft 365, July 1st matters more than you might realize.

Microsoft is raising prices on most of their business plans that day. Business Standard goes from $12.50 to $14 per user. Apps for Business climbs about 21%. Enterprise E3 hits $26. The new pricing kicks in at your next renewal after July 1, so the exact timing depends on your contract.

We think it is important to inform you that with Business Standard going up and Business Premium staying closer than it used to, the upgrade that always felt like a real budget jump is now a much smaller investment. If you've been wanting better security, conditional access, or proper device management for your team, the math just shifted in your favor.

We wrote up the full breakdown, including a quick four-question check to help you decide whether Premium actually fits your business. We really think it is worth five minutes before you sign your next renewal.

Take a look: https://bit.ly/4u3cRTR

If you'd rather have someone walk you through it, we're running free tech evaluations for Portland-area businesses right now. We'll look at what you have, what you actually use, and give you a straight answer about whether an upgrade makes sense for your team.

04/23/2026

One of our favorite moments at Acumatica Summit this year:

The product team openly admitted the old BigCommerce B2B connector wasn't good enough.

No excuses and no runaround. Just: "We heard you. We rebuilt it."

That kind of accountability is rare in enterprise software.

The rebuilt connector shipped with 26 R1. It handles account-specific pricing, buyer roles, self-serve ordering — with Acumatica as the financial system of record throughout.

If you're running a wholesale or B2B operation and you've been holding off on a proper digital ordering experience, now is the time to make the move.

We wrote up the full picture of what's in 26 R1 and what's coming in R2, including the roadmap items nobody's talking about yet.

Get the inside scoop → https://bit.ly/4tttSX9

03/26/2026

Quick question for Portland business owners:

When's the last time someone actually looked at your IT setup and told you the truth about it?

Not a sales pitch. Not a scary upsell. Just — here's where you stand, here's what's working, here's what isn't.

We're offering free tech evaluations right now for local businesses. No commitment, no pressure — just an honest conversation with a real person from right here in Oregon.

Ransomware attacks on small businesses jumped 50% last year. Most owners had no idea they were exposed until it was too late.

Don't be that story. 👇
https://bennettporter.typeform.com/meet-bp-it

03/18/2026

03/17/2026

The trail was a mess. It was raining. We hiked a mile anyway.

Last Thursday, the newly-formed BP Cares volunteered with to maintain Fire Trail 7A in Portland’s Forest Park. We cleared dangerous, slippery buildup and dug drainage to make the trail safer and longer lasting for everyone who uses it.

Muddy boots. Big smiles. Local community. So very Oregon. 🌲🌲🌲

03/16/2026

03/11/2026

Did you know 40% of small businesses get hit with IRS payroll penalties every year?

Most of the time, it's not because anyone did something wrong on purpose. It's because payroll is running through disconnected tools, manual processes, and good intentions — and the cracks are invisible until they're not.

We just published a breakdown of what manual payroll is really costing small businesses — and what the fix actually looks like.

Worth a read if payroll is something you think about more than you'd like. 👇

https://bit.ly/4bcszFv

Have questions about your own payroll setup? No pressure, just a real conversations about what it would look like for your business specifically. Let's talk about it!

03/10/2026

Our People Savvy HCM team reports there are 3 payroll mistakes that won't show up on your P&L, but warn they're still costing you more than you think.

1. Manual re-entry between systems.
Your time tracking lives in one tool. Your payroll lives in another. Every time someone bridges that gap by hand, there's an opportunity for an error. And payroll errors don't stay small.

2. Compliance lag.
Tax deposit schedules, wage base limits, state-specific rules change constantly and require constant monitoring. Businesses running lean rarely have someone whose only job is tracking those updates. The IRS doesn't care that you were busy.

3. The "close enough" mindset.
Payroll that mostly works is fine until it becomes a penalty. One misclassified employee, one missed quarterly filing, one transposed digit on a W-2, and "close enough" becomes a real problem.

The businesses that avoid these problems aren't bigger or better staffed than yours. They've just stopped relying on manual processes to catch things that software should handle automatically.

What's the payroll headache your team deals with most? Drop it in the comments. We're curious to hear from your perspective what's most common out there.

03/05/2026

At what revenue does QuickBooks become a liability?

For most eCommerce operators, it's somewhere between "we're killing it" and "why does month-end close take three weeks?"

The ceiling is real. The fix doesn't have to be painful.

Bennett/Porter helps mid-market eCommerce businesses move to Acumatica — without the enterprise price tag or the 18-month implementation nightmare.
Curious what that looks like for your business?

Let's connect today: https://bit.ly/40M1XVy

Turn data collection into an experience with Typeform. Create beautiful online forms, surveys, quizzes, and so much more. Try it for FREE.