Preparation for Passover requires meticulous cleaning not only of the kitchen and dining room, but of all spaces that might have contained food — it’s like spring cleaning on steroids. An alternative is the Passover program or Passover getaway: a visit to a hotel which has been specially prepared for Passover. Rabinically supervised cruises, hotel stays, and resort visits require complex preparations on the part of the tour operator or company that makes the arrangements.

Not only are there rooms to book, but there can be complex relationships among the rooms, as families travel together and one invoice may cover a number of rooms. Additional guests not staying at the hotel may join the Passover meal, and there may be special needs, from allergies or accessibility issues to birthday cakes and seating preferences at meals. There are multiple activities from golf to religious studies, and different price points for different ages and room arrangements.

Organizers of Passover programs also have to be able to accept deposits and payments and keep track of them. They have to have information for the hoteliers and for the guests. And naturally they want to be sure to have continued contact with their satisfied customers, in order to plan for next year.

This used to be a matter of sheaves of paper. Not any more.

We thought it was high time for an online system for Passover program operators. So we created one, initially for Grand Getaways.

The advantages of web-based systems for arrangements of this kind are impressive:

• Immediate access 24/7 from any standard web browser, anywhere in the world. For the travel and hospitality industry, this is a must.
• Constant access to up to date information. No need to check in with the desk clerk or the people in the home office, nor to work from last night’s data.
• A higher level of security than is generally possible with systems based on paper or requiring frequent emailing of data.
• A program that can handle the complexity of the arrangements without massive and expensive software downloaded to multiple computers.

Clevertech developed an integrated system for the Grand Getaways Passover vacation at the Waldorf Astoria in Orlando, Florida. The system includes project management, accounting, and customer relationship management elements, all combined into a single, highly user-friendly admin site.

The system has a number of special features:

• Alerts for accounts that haven’t been touched in seven, fourteen, or twenty-one days
• In-depth information for each guest, with view and edit formats
• A highly customizable system that can adapt to different packages, room types, stay dates, pricing plans, and hotels
• Invoices that combine maximum flexibility with speed and simplicity
• Ability to generate and email invoices, integrated with accounting functionality
• Reporting with a high level of control, allowing quick access to targeted information

While the specific functionality of the system is designed for optimum workflow and efficiency — that’s what we at Clevertech do, after all — the online nature of the system gives it a level of usefulness that simply wouldn’t be possible with a software package that lived in a single computer.

Is an online system what your business needs? Meet with me at one of my favorite coffee shops to discuss your particular needs. I’ll buy you a cup of coffee and we can begin the conversation that will lead to improvement in your workflow and your bottom line.

Permalink  |  Published in Business Strategy, Expert systems, Technology Tactics

Hall Street Storage has been a Brooklyn landmark since 1931, when the multi-building warehouse, nearly a city block in size, was built. They’ve remodeled and updated in some exciting ways. They’re now the biggest green business in New York City, using 100% renewable energy for their self-store division and taking recycling to new heights, but one thing stayed the same until very recently.

There was one woman who knew everything. When a delivery arrived at the warehouse, she would sit down with the customer, a calculator, and a piece of paper, and work out all the details and the costs. Without her, that process couldn’t be done. Even with her, it was a lengthy process, but it was part of the experience.

Hall Street used a computerized system, a DOS program that required that everyone key in commands. Again, only the experts who knew the commands could use it, and it was a lengthy process, but it worked well enough.

Until February 15th. The system stopped working, and Hall Street couldn’t send out the February bills. They called Clevertech.

We went to visit them. We looked at their operations, listened to their concerns, got to know their business thoroughly, and in less than a month we built them a warehouse management system that takes care of their inventory and accounting.

Now, when a delivery arrives, anyone can key in the details on the warehouse receipt form. The shipment is assigned a lot number and a location according to its need for refrigeration or freezing or dry storage, the weight or number of items is entered, and the costs are automatically calculated. When customers come to collect their inventory, a delivery ticket shows how many items have been removed, and automatically recalculates the charges. Recurring costs are automatic, too, and every customer has an account with a running total.

Hall Street can check on a given item, on a particular room, or on a customer. If there is a recall of an item, they can easily see where each item is and when it arrived. They can see how much space is available in each room so deliveries can be routed to the best place for optimum use of their storage. Customers coming to examine their inventory or to retrieve their goods can be directed to the right place immediately.

The process was painless. We met with them weekly during development to get their feedback and to move the system ever closer to their ideal.  We replicated what was familiar and comfortable: “Things are called what they wanted it to be called, ” as developer Brad Newman puts it.

We fixed what they didn’t like. For example, it used to be impossible for Hall Street to see a customer’s account information without printing out a statement. For this green company, the waste of paper was an extra frustration added to the time spent. Now, they can pull a customer up on the screen.

We fixed some things, too. Better reporting has made a difference for Hall Street already, and will continue to do so. Clevertech was able to export the historical data from the antique software system and migrate it into the new one, so Hall Street now has a wealth of data which they can analyze in ways that haven’t been possible before. The expert’s intuitions are still important, but now data-driven decisions are possible.

Hall Street Storage is a perfect example of a case in which an expert’s specialized knowledge could be incorporated into a custom software solution, thereby adding value to the business. Processes are more efficient and less frustrating, costs are reduced, and the entire workflow is streamlined in ways that improve life for the staff and for the customers.

As for the expert, her intensive knowledge of the business can be directed toward more creative tasks, instead of the routine business of calculating the costs of each delivery. Clevertech worked with her to get her knowledge into the warehouse management system, where it now constitutes valuable capital for the business, and she is freed up for more challenging work that takes better advantage of her years of experience.

Clevertech can do this for you too. Call us to begin the conversation.

Permalink  |  Published in Business Strategy, Expert systems, Technology Tactics

You need to keep in touch with colleagues, clients, prospects, and customers. If you had all the time and all the staff you could ever need, then you could do this with paper and pen. Or a spreadsheet and email. But you don’t have unlimited resources, so you choose a a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. The object is to stay organized, to document your contacts with all these people, and to make sure the contacts actually get made.

There are essentially three web-based options for CRM.

First, there’s Salesforce, ubiquitous among enterprise companies. Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM system that does an impressive assortment of things. It collects and sorts your sales leads, routes them to the appropriate member of your sales team, offers a variety of dashboards for each department  that integrate with other online applications so you can see Google maps of all a prospect’s locations and their credit info, maintains a content library which allows you to update Power Point presentations –

Most companies aren’t using all the features. In fact, most of the companies we’ve spoken with who are using Salesforce are frustrated with it.

What’s wrong with having a system that does more than you need?

• It increases the learning curve. Most of us use about 15% of the capacity of ready-made solutions — but we still have to learn all of that software before we can tell which 15% is the part we really need. What’s more, the entire staff needs to learn it. Add up the training hours — more for the less tech-savvy in the company — and you’ve got a sizable investment of time.
• It leads to hacks and workarounds. We end up trying to fit the way we work to the software, instead of working in the way that’s best for us and for our company. Salesforce is designed for enterprise-level companies, with multiple departments which may not be well integrated. Using it can force smaller, more agile companies to think like big corporations, which may not be what they want.
• We have to pay for all of it, even though we don’t need all of it. Salesforce runs $65 per user, per month. In a year, your growing company can pay $30,000 to $50,000. And you won’t own anything.

Compare that with Solve360. Solve360 combines CRM and project management capabilities in a simple system of shared virtual whiteboards in a shared online workspace. Sales leads are kept where everyone can see them, not routed to the executive in charge of that division. The main screen lets team members keep track of everything that’s going on, instead of doling out information according to departmental membership. You can upload files, use Google Docs and other familiar systems, and hold discussions right there in the shared space.Your company can use the service for a year for a couple thousand dollars.

We also like the fact that, when we went to get acquainted with the system, the CEO of the company walked us through it. That says something about the company.

Highrise is another nimble tool from 37signals, the outfit that brought you Basecamp. Combining a way to keep track of contacts with clients and prospects and a way to keep track of scheduled tasks, Highrise meshes with your personal GTD system as well as with other tools and systems your company may already use. You can use it on your smartphone to check a client’s previous interactions with your company while you make a call, review all the interactions between two companies, or see where everyone is with assigned tasks related to an individual. You can set up text reminders for future contacts, too. The cost is a small fraction of the cost of using Salesforce.

Highrise and Solve360 are alternatives to Salesforce. They’re more nimble, and give more flexibility. They’re less of an investment, too. Are they going to be perfect for you and your company?

Possibly not. You know a lot about how to make your business successful. What if you could get that information into your CRM? Not only would that improve your immediate workflow and systems for greater productivity and efficiency right now, but it will also increase the value of your company. Integrating that intellectual capital into your software systems makes those systems into assets for your business.

And that’s where the third option comes in. Clevertech can customize the functionality of any of the solutions we’ve discussed to make them perfect for your company’s needs now and in the future. This is one of our services: building things just the way you need them.

If your company is prepared to spend $30-$50k (the cost of using Salesforce for one year), then you should have us build exactly the right thing for you. Need a smaller customization? We can make your CRM work just right for you with that special application. Call us at 1 888 494-1260, or contact us with our simple contact form and we’ll call you.

Permalink  |  Published in Business Strategy

Businesspeople, according to a recent post at the Harvard Business Review’s blog, don’t like to work with IT.

Here’s proof:

• 75% of business leaders recognize the critical importance of IT.
• 30% identify IT needs when developing strategies
• 8%  are held accountable for IT  success.
• Internal technology is one of only four items that measurably affects firm performance
• It’s #16 out of 20 on a survey of the things business leaders believe will improve performance.

Is it really that business leaders dislike IT? We think that the negative feeling toward technology stems from not knowing how to work with it.

Here’s another number for you: only 27% of business leaders feel smart about IT. How much do you enjoy doing things that make you feel stupid?

At Clevertech, we have tech people with top business school degrees. We know how rare it is to be equally proficient with both. Our marginal utility is in translating the management and financial speak into technology.

We do this for our clients with custom software and systems. But we’re planning to share our proven abilities in this area in a seminar in the near future.

We’re currently preparing the seminar, “How to Get More Out of Your IT,” for the New York City area.We’ll be focusing on both personal productivity and business productivity, through technology.

First, we’ll be looking at ways that readily accessible technology can increase personal productivity, reduce stress, and improve your work life:

• Why the browser you choose matters, and how extensions can amaze you.
• Ways your phone can be something you swear by — not at.
• The inside tricks that make your computer your partner in productivity.
• Free tools and services that enrich your workday.
• Things your mail program can do for you that you never knew it could.

Then we’ll be looking at business technology — whether you do it yourself or go to your IT department and say, “Why don’t I have this?” — that will supercharge your company’s productivity:

• How defining processes properly can fast track the rest of the process.
• The difference the user interface makes.
• What iterative processes and exception handling can do for you.
• Why your IT department should be using Javascript to make your life easier.
• How data visualization can revolutionize your systems.

And much more. If you’d like to stay in the loop on the details of this event, contact us and we’ll make sure you get the word.

Permalink  |  Published in Business Strategy, Technology Tactics