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.

Our Direction.

Hard work and we are ready to help you rock your business

We are currently in the middle of an upgrade and finishing up a major release which we are going to unveil next week.  I am pretty proud of the direction we are heading.  This week’s blog post we talk about some of those changes.

I founded this company because I wanted to provide tools for small and medium sized businesses to help them run their businesses for effectively. This meant web based systems where you could track invoices, inventory, and manage bills of lading.  I worked my day job and at night and weekends began building my software empire.  It was really just a software developer and a dream.  That was nearly three years ago and I am just as dedicated to the cause now as I was then.  Our Sully 2.0 system is a fine cloud based platform to make it easy for you to have a state of the art shipping and receiving system for the price of cable television.  We have mercilessly tested it with professionals inside and outside the trucking industry.  If it can meet their approval then we are sure it will meet yours.

Next week we are unveiling the release of Tony.  This software helps you track the vehicles in your fleet and the maintenance they have undergone.  No longer will you have to rifle through piles of paperwork or try to sift through receipts to know how many times you changed oil or had to repair breaks.  Now you have a simple means to view the information with your smart phone, tablet computer, or PC.  We have also folded Microsoft Tag technology into the system so you can place a simple bar code on the dash of the vehicle and scan it to receive up to the minute information.  We think that something like this is going to make life much easier for your safety and compliance departments.

E₃ also offers other services.  We will be happy to provide agile project management training for your organization.  We also offer web site design and construction to make your company web sites respond to the mobile web and drive more business to your organization.  Finally, we can consult on how to use social media like Facebook and Twitter to spread your message.

We offer all of these services and as we head into our third year we are looking forward to a break out year with customers, new challenges, and lots of stories along the way.  Contact us today and find out how you can join us.

Until next time.

Use Technology to Help Your Business

You might need some technology
Elves this season.

We are in the middle of the holiday season and this is the time many businesses rush to meet their sales goals or take stock of the year.  At E₃ systems it is a chance to take stock.  We are prospecting for customers, doing market research, and keeping people up to date via social media.  I am confident that when the New Year arrives we will be in a good place to grow our business.

This week I noticed an interesting article from Farhad Manjoo about how retailers deal with the crush of customers which come out during the weekend after thanksgiving.  The interesting part about the article is that more traditional retailers appear to struggle compared with more technology oriented retailers like Amazon.com.  After reading the article, it is clear to me that the reason for the success of technology firms is that they focus on the management of their business from the most fundamental levels while more traditional ones struggle to adapt more modern ways of customer satisfaction.

So as you attempt to better serve your customers, wouldn't it be nice if you had tools to answer simple customer questions.  This is why cloud based Business Intelligence platforms like our Sully 2.0 system should be something you should investigate.  Being able to see inventory via a tablet computer, laptop, PC or smart phone would be a huge advantage over competitors.  Having Microsoft Tag technology for your products makes it possible for you to avoid spending thousands dollars for bar coding equipment.  Processing purchase orders, invoices, and packing slips over the cloud frees up time for focus on your business instead of paperwork. 

This was why I founded E₃ systems because I want to help make other small business more successful by giving them technology which helps them to better serve their customers.  If you are a small business you cannot take your customers for granted.  I feel that we give you plenty of tools to better serve those customers.  Drop us a line and we will show you how. 

Until next time.

Getting Back to Business

Business is very democratic.

We are reaching the end of another political season.  Frankly, I am tired of the political adds, charges and counter-charges, and social media pitches which are patently false.  It is easy for people to get jaded by the process.  I know that I do.

Interestingly, when the ballots are counted and the dust settles, we American's do a pretty good job getting back to business and living our lives.  That is what I think makes this nation great is that once the election is over we can learn to live with each other instead of stockpiling weapons and heading to the hills.

One of the strengths of this kind of Town Hall Democracy is the local Chamber of Commerce.   This last week I had the pleasure to be at the Joliet Chamber of Commerce open house.  Here along with many of the other local business people we conducted the mundane routines of a democracy; drumming up business, making contacts, and networking among like-minded people.  We were not Democrats or Republicans; we were just business people. 

This kind of activity goes on year after year in relative obscurity but it makes a difference as the knowledge of how to conduct business is passed on from member to member and generation to generation.  Even though I am a high tech software start-up, I am glad to be part of this legacy.  I have even received some inquiries from engineering firms about how our software can help them manage their products.  If you want to know more please drop us a line.  

Just remember that there are only a few days left and then the election will be over.

Until next time. 

Business Should Be Easy

Find out how we can make business easier.

Business is a difficult activity.  Each day you are grubbing for customers attempting to improve profits and build better services.  So why are you spending your time rifling through paperwork?  This week we want to discuss paperwork and how we can help.

If you are selling goods and services you have to generate invoices.  If you are shipping goods you need packing slips and bills of lading.  Finally, all the goods and services require labels in order for them to make it to their customers via the mail.  Wouldn't it be nice if you could take care of all this without having to hire additional staff? 

At E₃ systems with our Sully 2.0 system does make this possible.  We also use Microsoft Tag technology so that you don't have to purchase expensive bar coding equipment and you can stay on top of what is going on from your office via a mobile phone, tablet computer or laptop.

We want to give you more time to spend on your business and your family.  That is why we created this system for you.  Business shouldn't have to be difficult. 

Drop us a line and we will contact you with more information. 

Until next time.

This is What We Do

We make business intelligence look pretty.

I have spent over a year promoting and blogging about my company E₃ logistics systems.  What amazes me is as people get to know about my company they always ask me the same questions about what we do.  This week, I want to explain what E₃ systems does.

We help you stay on top of paperwork.  If you have any inventory we help you track the number of items coming and going from your stock with no need to keep track of paperwork.  Our Sully 2.0 system helps you keep track of all your items in our web based system.  You will never have to go searching around the office for a piece of paperwork again because you can pull up the Sully 2.0 system type in a search and find all the information you are looking for.  Not only does this apply to inventory, but to bills of lading, packing slips, invoices and purchase orders.  So in one place you have all the information you need to run your business.

Next, we make it easy to gather business intelligence about the progress of your business.  Fortune 500 companies have entire teams of people who sift through pies of data to gather information about what products are hot and which ones are not.  They can track shipping costs to the penny and find out if they are making a profit with each sale.  At E₃ systems we give you that ability to make you competitive with big boys.  We have a full set of reporting tools so you can track inventory, sales, and other pieces of regulatory compliance documentation.  We included this because many software packages make easy to gather data but difficult to make decisions based on that data.  Now, at a glance you know what you have in stock and if you are making money selling it.

Additionally, we make it possible to track your information via any type of computing device connected to the web.  This means if you have a tablet computer, smart phone or laptop as long as you have a connection to the web you can use our systems in a secure fashion.  No more dialing into company virtual private networks or portals.  No more messing with synching your data with company systems.  All you need is an account and mobile device and you can see your inventory, purchase orders, and invoices 24 hours a day seven days a week.  This gives you more time to interact with your customers and less time tracking down paperwork. 

Next, we bridge the gap between the world of paper and web with Microsoft Tag technology.  Thanks to Microsoft Tag technology, you can scan documents and products.  This gives you the ability to instantly communicate with the Sully 2.0 system.  Now expensive bar code scanning equipment is obsolete.  If you have a smart phone you have what is necessary to track your inventory and systems just like a major corporation.  We offer this service free of charge and make it possible to print up these Microsoft Tags with Avery 22805 labels.  No more mystery about what is on the shelf now you print out a tag stick it on a product and you have an electronic record. 

Finally, we offer this system at about the cost of digital cable television.  If you can afford $120 a month subscription fee we can make it possible to manage your inventory, purchase orders, paperwork, business intelligence and make it available 24 hours a day seven days a week on any device with a web connection.  There is no software to install.  All you need is a web browser or smart phone to access our systems.  The data is secure in our server farm located in the Pacific Northwest and you can reach us via e-mail or phone 24 hours a day. 

If you are interested in how we can help you manage your business and give you a competitive advantage over your rivals then contact us today.  You will not be disappointed.

Until next time.

Embrace the Cloud

Embrace the Cloud, you can thank us later.

Technology can be confusing and scary.  I spend much of my time explaining new technology to people and trying to ease their concerns.  Nothing causes more confusion than “cloud computing.”  This week, I want to explain what cloud computing is and how E₃ systems can help you use it to improve your business. 

Slate.com economics writer, Matt Yglesias unveiled a survey from Wakefield Research last week about public perceptions about cloud computing.  Some of the more interesting tidbits of information were, a majority of Millennials believe that stormyweather can interfere with cloud computing and 22% surveyed  confessed to admitting they have pretended toknow what the cloud is or how it works even if they didn’t.  After a good chuckle, I wondered if people had similar feelings regarding microwave ovens or color television. 

Here is the dirty little secret about cloud computing.  Most of us are using it and we don’t even realize it.  If you are using Facebook you are using cloud computing.  If you are using an iPod you are probably using cloud computing.  In fact, any time you are saving documents or files someplace other than your computer at home or work you are using the cloud.

The cloud is nothing more than a metaphor dreamed up by networking professionals and marketing folks.  It represents computing with storage outside your local computer or network.  The data resides in the “internet cloud” on a remote server or database.  This is a positive development because this is a direct result of the explosion of personal computing and the web during the 1990’s.

Today on Gmail, a typical user can have up to Ten Gigabytes of data, which is a large amount of data.  So big that if a single e-mail was two kilobytes in size that would mean that you could hold over 5-million e-mails in your mailbox without having to worry about it filling up.    What makes this figure more fantastic is that the amount of space Google is providing each user is increasing by about 128 Megabytes a year.  In addition to those 5-Million e-mails a user can archive an additional 64,000 e-mails a year. 

Thanks to cloud computing we are dealing with big piles of data and they are stored on remote servers throughout the internet.  The raw power is staggering. 

So what does this mean to you the small business person?  It means that you can have the power and capacity of a large business with an IT budget of millions of dollars for a fraction of the price.  You do not need to spend thousands of dollars for servers and software.  All you need is a connection to the web and the power of the cloud is in the palm of your hand. 

At E₃ systems we take a lot of pride in how we have used cloud computing and the internet to make it easy for a small business to manage their inventory.  With our Sully 2.0 system, you can keep track of Bills of Lading, Invoices, Packing Slips, Shipping Labels, and Purchase orders.  Contact us today and we will show you how easy it is to use. 

The “cloud” is nothing more than a fancy way of saying the “internet.”  Many of us are using it each day and do not realize it.  What makes it so fantastic is that as prices fall, storage increases and raw computing power improves it is going to make our lives easier and more connected.  As a business person you should not be afraid of the cloud but embrace it. 

Until next time.

Full Frontal Business Intelligence

Smart and Good looking systems are what we
are all about.

This week was a milestone of sorts at E₃ systems.  We had our second board meeting and it was a serious sober affair where over a few bottles of water and some store bought cookies we plotted out our path for the next year.  I do not know where I would be without the guidance and support of my board and it was nice to talk about our accomplishments and challenges over the last year.

As always we talked about marketing and sales.  Any small business person will tell you that this could always be better.  After some back and forth among the board members it dawned on us that our Sully 2.0 is more than a logistics platform it is a business Intelligence Platform.  This makes it possible for a small business to manage themselves just like a Fortune 500 company for a minimal cost. 

One of the biggest headaches of a business is keeping track of how much you have on hand.  Our Sully 2.0 system does this by saving all your information on the cloud and then pulling it down for reporting purposes.  This means no matter where you are; at the office, meeting with a client, or on vacation if you have a connection to the web then you can see your inventory at the drop of a hat.  Not only do you know how much you have on hand but how much you paid for it and what type of department of transportation regulations cover that material. 

We make it possible to print up packing slips, bills of lading and invoices based on this information.  We are also proud to announce that it is now possible to print shipping labels with Avery® label technology.  No more typing up peal and stick labels for your products Sully 2.0 can print out 5160 and 5164 Avery® labels right off the web without having to use Microsoft Word or a third party program.  This speeds up the business and makes it easier to manage shipping and receiving.

Furthermore you get more full frontal business intelligence when you leverage our Microsoft Tag technology which makes it possible to do bar coding without expensive equipment.  Now every piece of paper you have can communicate with your mobile phone.  This is a free of charge service and we include it so that you can view information about your products anywhere in the world on any smart phone. 

Finally, we make it possible to put together purchase orders and incorporate them into your business with our purchase order piece.  You order an item and you can e-mail it or fax it out to your vendor and when you receive it they can add it inventory with a click.  No more lost faxes.  No more playing phone tag with vendors and no more double counting when you get it into the office. 

In spite of our board meeting being a very sober affair most of us were pretty excited when it was over.  We have a great product.  We have a marketing plan.  We also have an easy to use and economical business intelligence package which can be used everywhere.  We have full frontal business intelligence and we are not afraid to show it off.  Contact us to learn more. 

Until next time.

A Logistics Party Like its 1992.

Most fashions from 1992 didn't not age
well.  So why are you doing business like
1992?

I have spent most of my adult life around the world of logistics.  From my early days fresh out of college to my current role as president and chief of development at E₃ systems, I have been involved in the world of moving goods and services from place to place at the best price.

What has struck me is that while other businesses have become more automated and 21st century much of the logistics business seems stuck in the 1980's.  While the 1980's were a great time for music and fashion, it was not so good of a time for moving goods from place to place.  Deregulation cut a wide swath of creative destruction through the industry.  Additionally, rising fuel prices and increasing competition shrank the profits of many of the companies which remained.

Something had to give and that was investment in new and better systems to manage their business.  Computers were slow to be adopted in the industry and companies which did use computers used clunky AS/400 systems.  This became a perfect recipe for inertia and an office in the trucking business today looks very similar to an office twenty years ago.  Scattered PC's are in most offices but they reside next to green screen CRT terminals connected to obsolete mainframe and as/400 systems.  Stacks of paperwork fill countless file cabinets and many of the clerical people spend their time fat finger keying data from those forms into computer systems. 

This was one of the reasons I launched E₃ systems.  I wanted to put together an easy and cheap system which business people can use with existing equipment.  No hardware to install.  All you need is an internet connection.  Feel free to contact us and find out more.

There is a better way to do business in the 21st century.  It means knowing your inventory 24 hours a day seven days a week.  It means being able to generate electronic or paper documents at a moment's notice.  It also should be easy to understand, economical and available everywhere. 

I much prefer the 21st century so why do we continue to do business like it is 1992?

Until next time.

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. 

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.

Sully 2.0 Coming May 7th

I began E₃ Systems over a year ago.  In that time, I have made over eighteen upgrades to our product Sully®.  I have hired a sales person, put together a board of directors, and learned numerous lessons the hard way.  I am proud of this company and what it stands for.  Now we are ready for the release of Sully® 2.0.

The new version of the software has a lot going for it.  The interface is cleaner, customers can manage purchase orders with a mouse click and it works on all tablet computers and smart phones.  We will launch this product May 7th, 2012.

This makes Sully® 2.0 the most affordable and complete inventory management system on the market.  Any type of device with an internet connection makes it possible to view bills of lading, manage packing slips, and leverage Microsoft Tag technology to create bar codes which work with any smart phone.

We are redoubling our sales efforts and we are going to be posting videos all over social media.  Sully® 2.0 is coming and you are not going to believe your eyes.

Until Next Time.

Watch Me Pull a Rabit Out of My Hat

Pulling a Rabit Out of a Hat is Hard!

One of the biggest constants in software development is failure.  Projects fail to get completed on time.  Software fails to work as expected and software developers fail to keep their jobs.  It is a vicious cycle and it takes an emotional toll on the people who spend their time working on it.

People want to be successful and competent.  Software humbles the smartest and best of us.  Add to the mix unrealistic time pressures, unhealthy lifestyles, and marketing professionals forcing me to keep their promises and you have a blueprint for mental illness.

Shortly after my wife moved out of the house, I sat in a planning meeting and I had a revelation.  A business analyst was talking about improving the click ratio for a page and it just dawned on me.  I was living in a bizarre world where people were making decisions about my work and life and they had no understanding of web development or the challenges it entailed.  To them, it was just like magic.  All I had to do was pull out a rabbit from my hat each day and hope I could correctly guess the exact color, size, and fur quality these people expected. 

I was not a professional with an opinion to be respected.  I felt like a birthday clown making balloon animals for ungrateful children.  Something had to give and I slowly began to start planning for the launch of E₃ systems. 

In the almost two years since, I have been writing code after hours and on weekends.  I put together a business plan and I have rounded up a board of directors to help me.  I even have a sales person.  All that is left are customers, because contrary to popular believe, just because you build something they may not buy it. 

I am not deterred because this has given me time to refine my production and this month we will be doing a 2.0 release of our Sully® Warehouse Management System.  I am pretty proud of it.  We now make it possible to manage inventory, bills of madding, addresses, invoices, packing slips, and not purchase orders.  I even have a movie version of the application which works with Microsoft Tag so that a piece of paper automatically communicates with a smart phone or tablet. 

What makes this so fantastic is that is less expensive than most software packages on the market.  There is not software to install and it works on most modern browsers and smart phones.  It is cloud based computing without the hype. 

I will have more news about the release of Sully® 2.0 as we complete testing.  We also have YouTube videos going up and we are putting together a training manual.  We are also going to start a full court press for customers. 

Two years ago, I looked and felt like a clown.  Now, I am on the cusp of being a full-fledged entrepreneur.  It is worth the wait. 

Until next time. 

Why you need Sully

Meet Sully, the software to help manage you inventory

I spend a great deal of time writing code and blogging about business.  At this stage of my career, I spend my days writing software for someone else and my evening working on my company.  It is a grind but I hope that my efforts now will translate into success later.  One can only hope.

Our main product at E₃ systems is called Sully®. With it you can keep track of your inventory and generate all the necessary documents to help run your business.   If you ship a lot of product we make it possible to create bills of Lading, packing slips, and invoices for your customers.  In addition, we make it possible to review that information anywhere you have a connection to the internet.  This is a big deal because most inventory systems only work when you are connected to your local network.

We make it possible for your sales force to know exactly what is in stock when they go to meet clients.  They can view that information on a smart phone or a tablet computer.  This is the beauty of a cloud based application.  You save time because you can view inventory and product information anywhere at any time.  If a customer has an inquiry you pull up the information on your smart phone.  Now you can concentrate on customer service instead of sorting through paperwork.

There is also a money saving component.  With the Sully® web application, you can track the turnover of product.  Inventory is now a breeze as we generate easily printable reports to help your pickers perform counts quickly.  You never have to scan a document again because any paper document communicates with your smart phone using Microsoft Tag Technology.  Finally, since this system is cloud based you subscribe to it like electricity or cable television.  Instead of having to purchase a server, software and a staff to maintain it, you can now allow us to manage your system for you.  This makes a huge difference and helps you concentrate on running your business instead of worrying about your inventory management software.

E₃ systems offers you a product which will save you both time and money. It can be used anywhere you have a web connections.  It can be used by most types of devices weather a PC, laptop, tablet computer, or smart phone.  Finally, you can have this entire time and money savings for the cost of cable television.

If you think this is a good deal then give drop us a line via e-mail at mail@goeeethree.biz  Myself or one of my sales people will be more than happy to help.

Until next time.

Selling It

I am NOT John Galt but Ayn Rand
would still like me.

October is a challenging month for anyone.  It is the start of fourth quarter which drives retail and sales organizations toward a mad rush to profitability.  In the IT world, managers looking to impress their betters push their departments harder hoping to get the most out of them.  I am no different.  I am firmly fixed in two worlds.  I am building my business while at the same time trying to work as a mild mannered software developer during the day. 

In this span of about three weeks I have learned a little about myself.  I am not super human.  I need sleep and food like everyone else.  I also learned that I need to push myself harder than I have in the past because if I am going to break through the clutter of what people are selling I need to make an impression. 

This is the month; I joined the chamber of commerce in my community.  I walked into their office and showed off my Sully® product and they asked me to join right away.  I am pretty proud of that because there is usually a vetting process.  In addition, I have a big trade show this week and I want to close at least one client before the New Year.  It is pretty exciting. 

Many people ask me what I am selling, let me try to explain.  I have noticed for the last few years that many small and medium sized businesses are keeping track of invoices, bills of lading, and packing slips with plain paper and pencil.  Inventory is often managed with index cards or excel spreadsheets; no one had authored a set of tools which could do inventory and warehouse management.  This was a problem begging for a cloud based solution.

Over the last year, I began to write a web application which would work on smart phones, tablet computers and standard web browsers.  I called it Sully® to give it a little blue collar credibility.  Just over a year later I have a working piece of software and I am starting the sales process.  Ayn Rand would be very proud of me.  Like many cloud based applications it is low cost because I didn’t think a business should have to pay a lot of money to have a 21^st century inventory management system.  It is a dream come true but the reality is this is only the beginning.  Now I have to sell my creation. 

I will do my best to keep you posted and up to date on my progress.

Tags are Going to Make the World go Round.

Found a great article on the Procurement Leader’s website.  The general theme is that most ERP and Supply Chain Management systems are too complicated.  The most shocking statistic was the following snip:

“…More than 65% of respondents age 35 and younger would be at least somewhat likely to change jobs due to negative experience user their company’s enterprise software.  “

In other words, bad software equals employee turnover.  We have something to correct that situation.  We have an easy to use web based interface which works over the cloud.  We have provided a way for you to look at information with your smart phone using the Microsoft Tag technology so that at any time you can view a Bill of Lading or piece of inventory. 

Go and click, you know you want to!

E3 systems wants to promote easy to use software that solves real world problems, we think that Microsoft Tags are going to make life around your loading dock easier.  Now you don’t have to type or lookup information.  Now you just scan the information and it shows up on your smart phone.  Tags can be incorporated in sales materials and are easy to use and reproduce.  The best part about tags is that they hold more information than a standard bar code so they can be hooked into web pages and other systems. 

Once you see tags in action you are going to be surprised how they will make the world of logistics go round. 

We have lift off!

We are now live and on the web. 

Please visit our site at: http://www.goeeethree.com/

Look forward to seeing you.

Sometimes you can't fake it

Sometimes you can't fake it.

Software developers by their very nature are creative people.  Ask us to solve a problem, and depending on whom you ask you might get thousands of different answers ranging from something overly complex to something elegantly simple.  It just depends on the problem and the person solving the problem.  Business is much more complicated than engineering because we are not dealing with technological problems which tend to follow set laws of physics, chemistry, and mathematics; we are dealing with human emotions and money which can be far from rational.

This is why I enjoy reading the opinions and experiences of other entrepreneurs.  You can learn a lot from others.    Andrew Thomas posted an interesting blog about Lean Startups which had a very intriguing title “Fake it Before You Make It”.  In short, Thomas argues that before you even have a product to sell customers, the budding software entrepreneur should mock up some prototypes or wireframes to generate customer interest.  Then based on the customer feedback you build a product and close the sale. 

For someone who has been in the business a while, I rolled my eyes and bit my lip.  Thomas’ ideas sound suspiciously like vaporware.  For those not familiar with the term, it is that interesting sub-set of computer programing that exists only in the imagination of a sales person or marketing professional.  It doesn’t exist.  It doesn’t work and it is unethical.  Businesses and consumers have been swindled out of millions of dollars by vaporware.  In fact, each year Wired Magazine honors the most egregious examples ofvaporware nominated by its readers. 

Digging a little deeper into the blog post, the author clarifies his position saying snip:

“Just to be clear I nor anyone in lean startup is advocating deceptive practices or vaporware.”

This is good.  It is nice to see that people who advocate lean practices are not saying you should fly by the seat of your pants. 

I am still deeply skeptical of this “fake it,” approach.  I am going to be launching my own company website in the next two weeks.  It works and so does the software application I am selling.  It is not complete or perfect but it is good enough to start showing clients.  They can lease my cloud services as is or if they want to customize it they are going to have to pay for the iteration.  I also plan to add other features in the future like Microsoft Tag technology and a logbook application for over the road truck drivers.  Currently, these new features exist only on paper, but they will be added on to the existing application in a modular fashion. 

I think it is more important to the lean software development process to use scalable architecture and object oriented design in order to grow in a quick and sane manner.  That way it is not a big jump from prototype to working software.  In addition, sales people must be trained to avoid making promises and then forcing the software developer to keep those promises.  There must be a financial risk to someone who oversells your product.  Thus, if a sales person mocks up a Power Point or Visio document of  what my software can do to a client and I don’t know about it someone is going to be docked a few percentage points of commission.  Sales and technology must work together. 

I feel that I have put together a lean and mean company so I don’t have to “fake it” in order to close some sales.  I realize that I will have to do some prototyping and that on occasion a sales person is going to over promise.  That said, I think the best approach is to have a few stakes on the grill before I start selling the sizzle. 

The Cloud and Logsitics



This is the cloud

One of the more interesting things about going into business is that you receive a great deal of advice from all sorts of people.  From the bartender you visit on occasion to your parents everyone seems to have an opinion about how you should run your business.  I smile and nod most of the time listening politely and attempting to sort out which nuggets of wisdom are worthwhile.  It isn’t easy.  My bartender seems to think that fixing a good drink translates into being a good administrative assistant.  I have also been told numerous times that starting a business in this environment borders on crazy. 

Advice comes and goes but one thing remains the same; I hear all the time is “So you are going to be a web company like Facebook?”  I smile and say “Sort of,” and go about my way.  E₃ is a web logistics company on the cloud.  In other words, we help your warehouse or trucking company manage inventory and bills of lading without having to purchase software, servers, or developers.  Everything works over the cloud. 

Cloud computing has been around since the early days of the internet.  Anything that works over the web and doesn’t require software or hardware at your operation to run is running on the internet “cloud.”  E-mail could be considered the first “cloud based” application.  The term “cloud computing” came into vogue over the last three years as servers became more powerful and companies sprung up to lease server space to companies who didn’t have enough money for their own servers.  Nobody saw the importance of this except for developers’ at large companies who wanted to side step red tape and put together quick and dirty prototypes.

 It quickly became apparent to business leaders and accountants that the cloud was also a good way to save money because the cost of leasing a server on the “cloud” was less than the expense of purchasing a server, hiring a network person to maintain it, and the energy to cool it and keep it running.  Thus, the great cloud computing gold rush began as companies began to start leasing server space from these cloud computing providers.  According to the March 7^th 2011 issue of Business Week there are three big players in this market.  Microsoft, Google and Amazon own roughly 75% of the market and they are slugging it out to become dominant players.

So for a guy trying to keep his warehouse running where do you fit in?  The cloud was designed for people like you.  You understand freight and logistics.  You don’t need to know servers, software, or how to hire people who do.   If you know how to use a web browser you know how to use cloud computers.  You can save your files remotely in a secure location.  You can track your inventory online with either a web browser or smart phone.  Finally, you can rest assured that it is safe because cloud server farms are designed to be up and running 24/7.

That is why I started E₃ systems because too many trucking companies are using outdated systems or paperwork to manage the daily operation of their business.  Now, you don’t have to worry about purchasing new equipment or software because it runs on the “cloud.”  The cloud vendor is responsible for upgrading the equipment or software leaving you to run your business.  You are going to have modern up to date systems all the time.  This is going to give you a competitive advantage and if other people use our “cloud” based systems they can easily communicate with you.  This is mutually beneficial partnership which will make it easier for you to compete and more money. 

At the end of the day, that is why anybody goes into to business is to make more money and better service their clients.  So yes, I am a little crazy starting a business but with the power of “cloud computing” I think that I can help customers do more with less.