Getting right to the Point

Imagine a company that can meld ideas influenced by cuttingedge software and hardware technologies - combining these elements to mold the building blocks that construct cuttingedge software products for the marketplace. Imagine these products easily integrating the Web-based world, enabling traditional

In Fort Wayne, such a company exists: SolutionPoint Inc. specializes in planning, designing and building customized software applications for commercial and government clients, simultaneously searching for the technologies that form the building blocks and ideas that define the shape of innovative and new high tech products for the marketplace. Its software designers have expertise in many industries - including defense, aerospace, manufacturing, logistics and service - with experience designing many different systems like EDT systems, mobile vehicle-based systems, public kiosks, project and workforce management, customer relationship systems, asset management document control and more.

The company first offered services and products in 1994. Its founders, a group of high-tech system designers from the defense software development communty, planned to bring sophisticated software design and proven development methods to the commercial marketplace.

SolutionPoint's customer base quickly grew to include companies in nine states and, in 1999, it relocated operations to downtown Fort Wayne. SolutionPoint is providing software products and services to innovative businesses nationwideexpanding knowledge and resources necessary to accomplish long-term objectives internationally.

"When people ask me what exactly it is we do, we sit down and discuss examples of the projects that we've done-with Raytheon, ITT, Daimler-Chrysler -then it starts to click with them," says Chris Beck, SolutionPoint CEO. "A lot of what we do focuses on allowing businesses and organizations to collaborate and interact electronically, removing barriers to productivity. Since we focus primarily on business models and business relationships, we've geared our software development to the types of services that are needed by the business community"

"From our experience in defense technology, we have a lot of ideas about how software should be developed," Beck says. "We have stricter methodologies than you'd typically find today from those starting their own businesses. When you've worked within the guidelines of the defense industry, as we have, you learn that when you're shooting bullets, you can't aff ord to have one go astray. So, we have a broader picture, basically a focus on how reliability is important and how usability is important. This has set us apart, because in many ways, we do have a wider focus than many other local software development companies."

Using the Internet for Business

Since its inception, SolutionPoint's focus has considerably shifted from one of "desktop-centricity" to looking at the Web as the common tool that allows people to work together. "Just about any kind of computer device that has access to some type of Internet Web browser can be used to send and receive information," Beck says. "You don't have to install software anymore, you don't have to have desktop software anymorethat's really the direction we've taken."

SolutionPoint uses the Internet and Web-based technology to tie together business partners. The Internet is a useful tool because almost everyone has access to it. "It's a low-cost mechanism, and you don't have to buy expensive equipment to connect with people," Beck says. "By using the Internet as a conduit and using the Web as a common front-end, we can start to tie together a lot of different people who need to interact with each other."

Driving Technology

Some companies are actually being forced to adopt technology in order to comply with their clients' requirements. "Many of the large companies, like Daimler-Chrysler and Wal-Mart, require their vendors to be compliant-to support EDI, to be ISO 9000 certified, or maybe to implement a special computer system that talks to their company," Beck says. "As the larger companies expect compliance, their vendors in turn may also be forced to require it from their vendors and so on down the line."

Another case driving technology adoption is with a company that realizes it is inefficient in certain areas. "A firm might have a staff that spends an inordinate amount of time on a process that appears to have the capability of being automated," Beck says. "For example, they might have a lot of duplication where one person records something on a document, the next one does the same, and so on. It's often possible that using automation can reduce the time spent and improve the accuracy on those tasks. It can also establish more accountability for the task and even free one or more individuals for other tasks."

Automation is not always the best solution, though. "You have to be careful or you can fall into the trap of creating a solution for a problem that doesn't exist," Beck says. "That's something a lot of people don't give much thought to. It might be a great idea to automate the shop floor, for instance, but a year later you could discover you aren't happy because there really wasn't a problem with the way a task was being done before. You should not automate just for automation's sake. Proper upfront planning and analysis is key."

Product Idea Incubator

SolutionPoint is exploring some innovative technologies that would reduce the cost of developing new software. As a result, it is shifting its focus from strictly service-oriented work to becoming a product idea incubator. "We're in an interesting transition right now," Beck says. "We're becoming more-of a research and development organization. That doesn't mean we're not going to assist people in implementing their products. We're always going to provide the tailored service that people need in order to make the technology that we've produced work for them. That is a part of the 'idea incubator' role, too, to understand business models by helping people build new software or helping them apply new technology."

Through this idea incubator model, SolutionPoint plans to turn its experience into software products that are sold to targeted markets. "In the future, we'll be spinning these ideas off into their own organizations, to market that product or that technology effectively," Beck says.

Technology partner

With the capabilities to provide technology solutions for many scenarios, SolutionPoint sees its role in two parts: as a consultant or technology partner; and as a technology implementer. In the role of a technology partner, SolutionPoint often acts as either an extension of a company's existing IT staff, to help out with the load when they are overworked and introduce them to new concepts; or act as a company's sole IT resource.

"As a technology partner, like a consultant, we come into an organization and learn about their business processes," Beck says. "They talk to us about their needs and objectives, what their goals are, where they're frustrated, what systems they have, what systems they're using, what's working, what's not working. This is usually a pretty informal process that takes place over the course of time. In our capacity as a consultant, they can rely upon our experience and the lessons we've learned on other projects. We can also share our understanding of existing technology in order to transfer that knowledge to the organization."

Companies that don't run their own technology and even some with dedicated IT departments may be sheltered from the latest trends and applications. SolutionPoint can bring them up to speed. "We can show people what the latest trends are and we can also share the successful applications we've learned about from other projects," Beck says. "We can also save them some mistakes by sharing the lessons we've learned about what doesn't work."

Technology implementer

In its role as a technology implementer, SolutionPoint designs and builds software systems. "This process is similar to building a house," says Bill Westrick, chief technology officer. "The planning stage is so critical to the final product. You wouldn't build a new home without thinking through your current and future needs. Then, you would plan where to put the rooms and the pipes and the wires. The actual construction is often a matter of getting the right labor. It's the design and planning that often have the biggest impact on the final product."

Often, one part of that implementation is helping to find existing third-party products that may be more cost-effective. "Sometimes we can integrate or customize a third-party product to meet the needs of the customer," Beck says. "For example, a customer may need an inventory product to be integrated with their existing accounting system. In seeking the right solutions, we try to be sensitive to the needs of the company, the budget, the schedule - all the various considerations. That may also require us to go out and identify several other companies that we need to partner with in order to bring a full solution to the plate."

From providing businesses with well-planned and developed software systems to providing whole industries with innovative, well-targeted software products, SolutionPoint is creating a mark in the software industry as an idea incubator, tapping into experiences and ideas to make a difference in business technology. for your information

SolutionPoint Inc.

ADDRESS: 1401 Broadway Fort Wayne, IN 46802

CEO: Chris Beck

TELEPHONE: (260) 420-7441

1-888-486-2077

FACSIMILE: (260) 420-3662

WEB ADDRESS: www.solutionpoint.com

EMAIL: sales@solutionpoint.com

NO. OF EMPLOYEES: 9

YEARS IN BUSINESS: Since 1994

PRODUCTS/SERVICES: Applying technology to create productivity and operating efficiency improvements; bringing processes, staff and trading partners closer through shared information; delivering critical information, when needed, to key decision makers; and creating and expanding markets through alternative e-business channels.