The Summer of E3

Looking forward to the Summer of E3.

I hope that everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend.  I also hope you took some time out on Monday to remember the people who sacrificed everything for this unofficial kick off to summer.  For E₃ systems, it is a chance for us to snag our first customers and start the process of growing our business.

I am going to take some time to visit some clients face to face.  We will also be prospecting our rolodex heavily.  Finally, we are going to participate in J.P. Morgan Chase's small business challenge.  We are closing in on our one year anniversary and I am pretty proud of what we have done so far.  First, we have constructed a cloud based inventory management system which is easy to use.  We have established a presence on social media like Facebook, Twitter and Google+.  Finally, we have started to embed into the community being known as the scrappy technology start up in Joliet. 

This is a good time to be an entrepreneur.  According to Logistics Management magazine, just under one third of supply chain companies are looking into using software as a service or cloud based computing.  In addition, these companies are looking to spend less than $100,000 to try and meet this need.  We are perfectly positioned to serve this market. 

Looking back to my summer vacations when I was in college, what strikes me about those periods was how I used the time to emotionally reset and focus on future goals.  This summer I am going to repeat that pattern as I emotionally recharge from the launch of Sully 2.0 and make a point of seeing some customers.  The change will do me some good and help drive some sales.  2012 is going to be the summer of E₃.  I look forward to sharing it with you.

Until next time.

Inventory is Not Rocket Science

No controvery just a count.

Inventory should not be controversial.  You have products to sell and the longer they sit in your warehouse the more expensive they become.  Products can also get misplaced in the warehouse and stockroom.  It is in your best interest to know exactly how much product you have at any time.
Unfortunately, servicing customers and running your business makes it hard to stay on top of inventory.  Keeping an accurate count of what you are doing takes time.  You have to keep meticulous records.  Many of the business people I run into don't bother or they rely on paper and pencil. 

I find this crazy.  Lean business practices and simple common sense make it clear that not having an accurate count of your products is a recipe for waste.  I took a look at many of the inventory packages on the market and what I discovered is that they were expensive or they were nothing more than glorified VBA applications. 

This spurred me to action.  I thought it was possible to make a simple to use and inexpensive tool that a small business person can use. 

Our Sully 2.0 ® took does the trick.  You can enter your product information one at a time over the web or bulk upload them using a comma separated file.  Once the items are in the system you can see in real time how much you have and where it is located.  Better yet, you can view that information with any device which has an internet connection.  Instead of looking up your inventory among reams of paperwork, you just have to glance at your mobile phone or laptop to see what you have on hand.

We even do the math for you by adding items to your count when you receive a purchase order and removing items from the count when you invoice someone.  People pay thousands of dollors for systems like this.  At E₃ systems we offer this for the price of cable television. 

Inventory is not controversial and it should not be expensive either.  Contact us today and learn more about how we can help. 

Until next time. 

Small Steps

The only thing worse than a bad cup of coffee
is losing your company.

Business is profoundly unforgiving.  Fortunes rise and fall every day.  The pages of the business press are filled with stories triumph and bitter failure.  What makes these stories interesting is that often the moral character of the businesses leader is inconsequential to story.  People don't make moral judgments about products and services.  This is why people who most of us would consider morally aberrant somehow wind up in corner offices.  They are insulated from customers and they make the difficult decision necessary to run the business.

This is why last Tuesday's story from Reuters is so unique.  The founders of Green Mountain coffee were fired from their own company by the board of directors.  It seems that Robert Stiller and William Davis were barrowing money against the share price of their company and when the share price fell thanks to over-expansion Stiller and Davis were forced to sell to make good on the loans.   This put them into direct conflict with board of directors and the owners of the business.

This is how corporate governance is supposed to work.  It is not fair or pretty but it works and this promises that the shareholders are not going to be holding the bag for bad business decisions.  We should see more stories like this in the business world but alas J.P. Morgan Chase is going to forgive its CEO for losing 2 Billion dollars.  I suppose small steps in the right direction are better than no progress at all.

Next time we are going to talk about how we can help you stay on top of your inventory.

Until next time.

Sully 2.0

To look at the features of Sully 2.0 scan the tag. 
You will be glad you did.

Today is the launch of Sully 2.0. It is the product of almost eighteen months of work and countless refinements suggested by potential clients. With its release we shall be pushing for sales and make our mark on the small business software market. In this blog, I want to talk about the specific features that set Sully 2.0 apart from traditional software offerings for small business.

The most important feature of Sully 2.0 is that we are leveraging the power of cloud computing like no other company. This means you can do more for less money. When comparing software systems on the market we discovered that many of our competitors required you to install new servers and software to use their systems. We do not. All you need is a connection to the internet and a standard web browser. We have tested our application with Internet Explorer 8, Firefox and Google Chrome. If you have any of these web browsers it will work. By using our system, you have already saved thousands of dollars in unnecessary hardware.

Next we have made bar coding easy for products by leveraging Microsoft Tag technology for you to place two dimensional bar codes on any product or piece of paperwork. You don't need any special bar code scanners or technology. All you need is a smart phone with the Microsoft Tag application which is freely available. Tag works with Android, IPhone and Windows 7 mobile phones so now anyone in your office with the correct permissions can barcode scan items and follow inventory or pieces of paperwork. This saves you hundreds of dollars because now you do not need to purchase bar coding equipment.

The application makes it possible to track bills of lading, invoices, packing slips and purchase orders with the click of a mouse or a swipe on your mobile phone. This means you don't have to be in the office in order to do business. Now you can be meeting with clients face to face and tell them exactly how much you have on hand to sell. You can follow up on a shipment from your laptop and if there is a billing dispute you can check to see who is responsible for the freight. It gives you the freedom to run your business without losing track of your paperwork.

Finally, this system is easy to use and expand. You can start with a few products and grow to handle hundreds of thousands of items. For less than the price of cable television, you can have a system which makes it possible for you to manage your shipping and inventory just like a Fortune 500 company. We are pretty proud of this accomplishment and this that it is the right tool at the right time to help you grow your business and satisfy your customers.

Normally, I don't want to hard sell my products but I think that you will like what we have to offer and should tell your friends and colleagues. Scan the tag on the page, share this blog with friends and feel free to tweet about our services. We are trying to make logistics software easy to use and economical and we hope you can help us on this journey.

Until next time.