Yellow Cab should have called us.

This should not happen to your business.

I find a great deal of time is spent explaining to business people why they would need my software. This week on the blog I would like to give a relevant example why our Tony fleet management tool can save you time and money.

This week the Chicago Tribune had an article about the Yellow Cab Company in the city filing for bankruptcy.  The events moved swiftly with the company filing bankruptcy less than twelve hours after being hit with a $25.9 million judgement for a 2005 accident.  One of the companies cabs went into a drainage ditch and hit a concrete barrier causing irreparable brain damage to one of the passengers; hence the multi-million dollar judgement.

When lawyers get involved with accidents everything is going to be questioned by a jury and rival attorneys.  This means the maintenance records of the vehicles under could be subpoenaed in court.  If standard maintenance is done and you can prove it then you can limit the liability to your business when accidents happen. Unfortunately, we do not know all the evidence presented in the case but it is clear based on the news story that the accident involved driver negligence and possible break failure.

Our Tony fleet management software can help you protect your business from law suits and possible bankruptcy.  We have the ability to track maintenance and we also provide you with ways to physically archive any piece of information related to the operation of your equipment.  It works with mobile devices, tablets, and standard PC’s.  This means that you can keep track of the health of your vehicle fleet or equipment any time or anywhere.  All you need is a connection to the internet.

We work hard to build our businesses.  We should not put them in jeopardy just because we cannot keep track of paperwork or maintenance.  Contact us today, and we can show you how our Tony fleet management tool can protect your business.

Until next time.

An Easter Wish for you

The Easter Holiday and the end of lent are a time of reflection.  All of us at E₃ systems have had a busy spring.  We have moved the office.  We have started a new marketing program and we have also spent time working with the local SCORE chapter to improve our business.  We want to take time out to wish everyone a Happy Easter and look forward to more adventures in the second quarter.

Have a good holiday and until next time.

Life, Death and your Business

Do not wait for accidents or federal regulators
to find out if you meet safety regulations. 

People should not have to die in order to enjoy the comforts of a contemporary society.  We take for granted that each day we get on the road to commute to work we are also sharing the road with numerous trucks which are transporting the goods and services we need to keep that society moving.  The maintenance of those trucks and the conduct of those drivers could mean the difference between life and death on the open road.  This week I want to share some news you may have missed this week and how that relates to our company.  It could be a matter of life and death.

On April 2, the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration or FMCSA shut down an Illinois trucking company calling them an “imminent hazard to public safety.”  The company in question was involved in a fatal accident on January 27th and less than ninety days later were shut down by the federal government.  The department of transportation took such swift action thanks to the attention of a United States Senator, Dick Durbin, and the death of an Illinois State Police trooper.

Investigators found all sorts of malfeasance; including doctored log books, poor safety records and drivers with numerous traffic violations.  Confronted with such a clear case of safety violations the federal government had no choice but to shut the operator down.  What does this mean to you the consumer?  It means that taking the word of your staff that they are following safety procedures and operating correctly is a recipe to garner the attention of federal regulators.  You can take your chances or scrupulously document your business in case of a federal investigation.

This is where we at E₃ systems can help.  We created a solution known as Tony to make it possible for you to document your maintenance for all your vehicles.  Not only do we document the work but we also make it possible to send reminders via e-mail so that when a vehicle is up for maintenance you can take action right away.  This means that when FMCSA starts investigating your business you have the documentation to prove that you have been correctly maintaining your fleet.  That is a form of peace of mind no amount of money can purchase.  Contact us today and we will show you how we can help.

The federal government acted swiftly when confronted with a trucking company which did not make safety its primary concern.  Confronted with an organization which did not maintain its vehicles and did not obey regulations regarding driver rest periods, the Department of Transportation had no choice but to shut that organization down.  You could be next if you do not keep correct logs of your safety and maintenance information.  It could be a matter of life and death.

Until next time.

Software and Your Local School Bus Company

Would you like to know how well maintained
your child's school bus is?

We see them every do and we really do not give much thought to them.  On our way to work we pass them by and do not give them much thought.  Rarely do I even think about them when I see them pick up young people on their way to school.  I am talking about school buses and each day communities blindly trust companies we know little about to safely transport our children to and from school.  It is a pretty serious business filled with insurance risks and major expenses. This week I want to discuss how our software Tony can help school bus companies stay on top of maintenance and insurance expenses.

When I began writing Tony a year ago, I was thinking about truck fleets but after speaking with a few bankers and other people I decided that I should expand the focus of my software to include farm equipment and other types of motor fleets.  I even met someone who worked for a porta-potty company who though my software could help him.  It took a few detours and corrections but now you can track the maintenance of how your items are maintained by either hours of operation, mileage or simple date.  This makes it perfect for just about any business which has hard assets which need maintenance.

This brings me to school districts and school bus companies.  I am sure as a parent you would like to know how often the breaks are fixed on each bus.  Oil needs to be changed and tire pressure maintained.  Our Tony system makes tracking that information as easy as a click of a mouse or the swipe on a smart phone.  I am very excited about it and if you are managing a bus barn then you should be too because now with the scan of a QR code on a bus you can see up to the moment when work was done on the vehicle.  This will give additional piece of mind to the school board and parents who are curious about the buses their children ride on.

More importantly, we can see how our systems can help with insurance adjusters and companies.  For example, if you are involved in an accident you now have proof that you did actual maintenance on the vehicle and that mechanical failure can be ruled out as the cause of the accident.  In addition, these detailed records can be used as a means to negotiate with an insurance company to make sure that you get the most economically efficient rates you can from your insurance firm.  So using Tony is a great means to track maintenance and reduce insurance costs and liability risks.

At E₃ we are constructing these systems because we want to have easy and affordable means of helping small businesses stay on top of their fleets.  Contact us today to learn more about how we can help.  An account executive will give you a call and together you can discuss how we can improve your maintenance records.

We do not pay much attention to school buses unless something bad happens.  With the help of E₃ systems Tony we can help you save time, money and help postpone the bad things from happening.

Until next time.

Looking forward to 2014

Being an entrepreneur is like being a boxer.
We are going in for another round.

It is difficult to sum up an entire year in a few paragraphs.  I take a look back at 2013 and I see lots of lessons learned and plenty of disappointments.  Being an entrepreneur means learning those lessons and making sure you don’t dwell on the disappointments.  This struggle requires arrogance and stubborn determination.  I look at myself in the mirror sometimes and wonder if I am up to it.  In these dark times I pull myself out of this funk like a punch drunk boxer ready to take another round.  E₃ systems is going in for another round in the ring, and we are looking forward to a prosperous 2014.  This week on the blog, I want to review with you where we plan to go in the New Year.

We have two exciting products in 2014; Sully 2.0 our inventory management system and Tony our fleet management system.  Both of these systems leverage Microsoft technologies to give you an easy to use system which can be accessed anywhere on the web with a mobile phone, tablet or PC.  We are looking forward to selling these systems to the business community and seeing how we can help small or medium sized businesses.  We are also looking into further development for the agricultural community and for over the road transportation companies.

We are also poised on graduating from Microsoft BizSpark and taking the next step on our journey as a start-up.   I am very grateful to the organization for their help and support.  They have made us better technology professionals.

2013 was a tough year for E₃ systems but we are going back into the ring in 2014 and after a year of taking our lumps we are going to be dishing out our services with greater strength than ever.

Until next time.

The Bring Your Own Device revolution

The revolution is here. 

Revolution is messy.  Protesters march in the street and buildings are burned to the ground.  In the end, the old order could become stronger than before or the rebels triumph and have to figure out how to take charge.  Today on the blog, I want to discuss a revolution taking place in the business world;  the bring your own device revolution or BYOD.

Bring your own device began in earnest with the release of the first iPhone. Prior to this date, when you joined a large company and needed a cell phone the company issue it to you.  This was great for the company because the company could control the number of minutes, configure the devices e-mail, and place primitive application on it for critical business functions.  Control and economies of scale was the name of the game.  The release of the iPhone turned that model on its head.  Hot shot executives and sale people snapped up these new devices from Apple and brought them into work.  These individuals demanded they work with the current IT infrastructure.  The BYOD movement was born.

Since the iPhone did not support Flash, CEO’s demanded web sites which worked on their new-fangled phones.  This was the primary reason why the use of flash declined on the web.  The advent of tablet computers and personal laptops make this trend accelerate.  Now companies had to maintain its own computers and support numerous tablets and smart phones which were used by employees.

At E₃ systems we have known about the BYOD revolution for some time.  We constructed both our Sully inventory system and our Tony fleet management system with mobile devices and tablets in mind.  Our software is hosted on the cloud so it does not need to be installed on your devices.  If you have a web browser on your phone, tablet or PC then you can use our product.  This is why we say that our software is easy, economical and everywhere because if you can connect with the web then you can use our systems.

People may not be protesting in the streets and building may not be on fire but we are in the middle of a revolution.  E₃ systems know how to navigate these troubling times and look forward to helping you today.  Contact us now.

Until next time.

Reaching Out for Fourth Quarter

We are reaching out this quarter.

The life of an entrepreneur is one of constant tension. Customers need to be courted.  The operations of the business can become the center of your life.  Finally, bad news from the bank or the government can ruin your future plans.  I am an entrepreneur and this week on the blog I want to discuss where we are going in the next few months.

Two weeks ago we released our Fleet Maintenance software Tony.  We think that it would be a good solution for any firm with a fleet of vehicles they need to maintain.  So if you are responsible for a group of school buses or have over hundred tracker trailers on the road we think this would be a great means to stay on top of your maintenance.  We also spoke with some potential customers and who felt that this software could also be a huge benefit of to the agriculture community because there was no good means to track maintenance and hours of operation.

This means that we are going to be reaching out the local farm bureaus to showcase our product.  We are also reaching out to the trucking community to promote our products.  I am also happy to announce that we will have more YouTube videos promoting our products and we will leverage our association with the Joliet Chamber of Commerce.

This means that fourth quarter of 2013 is going to be a busy time for us. If you want to get involved please contact us today.  The entrepreneurial adventure continues and I would love to have you join us.

Until next time.

Why You Need Tony

Tony is looking after your fleet.

After the work we put into our new Tony Fleet Maintenance program you would expect us to drop the mike and do a little celebrating.  Far from it; this week on the blog I want to talk about why you need to use this application.

If you are safety coordinator at a business or owner, insurance companies and regulatory agencies are demanding that you provide information about the maintenance of your equipment.  This is going to be particularly important if one of your vehicles gets into an accident.  Before Tony, you kept track of this information on paper or with an excel spreadsheet.  Now you can access this information with a few clicks on a PC, tablet computer or smart phone.

So when you are called to the scene of an accident by the state police you can bring along your smart phone and show the officers that all of the maintenance on the vehicle is up to date saving you potential liability.  Our system also makes it possible to settle disputes between the shop and the company.  You can find out how long work is under warranty and if something breaks prove it to the shop that they need to fix it.  So now your organization is saving money.

Finally, Tony makes it possible to save time.  Since it is cloud based system, it works on any device with a connection to the web you can enter information anywhere or any time.  You do not have to be in the office and can enter data at home or on the road.  This kind of system is perfect for people who would rather be meeting with customers instead of being tethered in the office doing paperwork.

We are pretty proud of this application and are looking forward to going out and selling it in the agriculture and logistics community.  Contact us here for more information.

Until next time.

Introducing Tony - Our Latest Product

Your Fleet Maintenance never looked
so good. 

More than cash, the common currency of an entrepreneur is trust.  If customers and client can not trust you your business is doomed to failure.  Today we at E₃ systems are proud to announce that we are releasing our Tony fleet management system.  This week’s blog post features our new product and how we kept our promise to our customers.

Tony was conceived in February of 2013; as we looked at the marketplace and realized there was no good tool for tracking maintenance on a fleet of vehicles.  Trucking companies, school bus services, rental car companies and farmers did not have a good tool to keep track of when and what kind of maintenance they did on their vehicles.  We decided to write one.

The system like all E₃ products works on a smart phone, tablet or regular PC. It is based on the cloud so there is not software to install or upgrade.  Finally, we made our system easy to use and economical for consumers.

With Tony you can QR code your vehicles so that anyone with a smart phone can view the maintenance history on a vehicle.  Paperwork is a thing of the past as a few key strokes can pull up a vehicle and the history of maintenance for it.  In addition, when you are confronted with law-enforcement or insurance requests for vehicle maintenance you can provide them with that information from any device with a web connection.

We went through an exhausting testing program to make sure we had a great product to offer you.  Now we are pleased to say it is here.  Contact us today and we will tell you more.  This is just one more way we are trying to earn your trust.

Until Next time.