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About The List Software firms integrate Internet in their offerings

The one thing the Internet has proven is the technology is here to stay.

Many local software companies integrated Internet platforms to offer improved services, customer relations and new product offerings.

The San Diego Business Journal ranked the companies on its List of Software Companies according to revenues reported in San Diego County in fiscal 2000. “Many of our clients are remote workers,” said Mark Robillard, CEO of Oceanside-based Clients & Profits, No. 22 on The List. “Account executives for these companies are usually out in the field or working from their homes.”

The company provides job costing, tracking, billing and accounting software for creative businesses, such as advertising agencies and design firms. The company had $4.2 million in revenues for fiscal 2000, an increase of 11 percent from its previous year.

Its Clients & Profits software programs are also adapted for the Internet.

The company provides My Clients & Profits, a Web server solution for its customers to access their jobs and orders at any place and anytime.

He said clients and customers can check on their accounts while away from their offices without being in their own offices. My Clients & Profits was launched in September 2000 and has already sold more than 120 units. The solution costs $2,500 and runs on a PC or Macintosh.

A Web administrator can set up separate user names and passwords for clients and their customers to keep track of the job accounts personally. For security reasons, the program also keeps a log to track every access into the Web server.


– Looking Toward Wireless Applications

Robillard said the company’s next goal is to develop the technology to support wireless applications such as the Palm Pilot in two to three years.

“Most of these people are usually traveling and need access to their accounts 24 hours a day and seven days a week,” Robillard said. “Without the technology, people will have a hard time keeping up with their jobs.”

Claritas, No. 3 on The List, provides soft ware for customer segmentation, market and site analysis and direct mail applications.

It also provides a portal destination site for its customers at (www.claritasexpress.com).

The portal destination site provides links to many of Claritas’ services for research information, from profiling business and consumer markets to compilation of direct marketing programs.

“The goal is to be a great resource tool for our clients and nonclients,” said Heather Oles, vice president of e-commerce and software product management.

On the site, claritasexpress.com provides a suite of Internet-deliverable products to enhance database information for businesses.


– A Variety Of Features

The MyBest series include MyBestProspects, consumer mailing lists based on their preferences; MyBestCustomers, in-depth profiling feature of customers; and MyBestLists, targeted business-to-business mailing lists for any trade areas.

In addition, claritasexpress.com provides analyses, market reports, data variables and demographics through its SiteReports and ClaritasConnect.

The features on the Web site allow a filtering system to gather reports according to the business’ criteria. For example, in MyBestLists, a business targeting other businesses can target its mailing prospects to the specifications of number of employees, SIC codes and sales volume.

“Claritas built components for speed and functionality on the Internet,” Oles said. “People can request specific reports and get the information back to them within a matter of seconds.”

This year, claritasexpress.com plans to expand its product offerings to more MyBest series offerings including MyBestMedia, to help target ad sales; and MyBestData, browsing through data sets. Oles said many of the expanded offerings are targeted for launch in June of this year.

“This is just the beginning,” Oles said.

Some companies adapted the Internet to function with its current software programs.

“Traditional retailers will adapt the Internet technology as another way to service their customers,” said Rich Harmatiuk, vice president of product management of GERS Retail Systems, No. 4 on The List. “These brick-and-mortar companies saw the lessons learned from the dot-coms and will use these lessons to their advantage.”

GERS provides retailers, both brick-and-mortar stores and Internet e-tailers, the retail management tools to be more effective to sell to their customers. The company provides services to home furnishings, consumer electronics, wireless, major appliance and general retail markets.

The company reported $51 million in revenues for fiscal 2000. It has more than 300 employees worldwide.

He said retailers could process their data collected on their customers on a real-time basis with help of the Internet. With an offline store, information can be sent to the company’s database within days, which may be too late with the fast technology of today.


– Early In The Ballgame

GERS also provides software for fulfillment management for the retail industry. With the software, it allows retailers to automate infrastructure and sell over the Internet.

Harmatiuk referred to the Internet with baseball terminology, saying the technology is only in the first or second innings of play. The Internet has led people to appreciate its speed, central access of data and real-time communication.

“The Internet’s still in its early stages as businesses are trying to adopt a strategy for support of revenues and profits,” Harmatiuk said. “There’s still a lot of business needs to be done on the Internet.

“And if anybody is not going into the technology it is going to be hurt in the long run.”

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