Thursday, October 16, 2003
Pre-MTI Meeting Notes
Attending: Chuck, Melody, Todd, Andrew, Roy
Chuck will be out for 8 days for the ATA show. Trade show starts on Saturday until Wednesday.
Set up weekly or twice-monthly that sales technology is being shared with development and vice versa. Both Todd and Andrew are happy with it.
Would like WebEx demos set up for new stuff for entire staff. Recorded presentations of some of this stuff should be set up by next week.
Earlier this week, spoke about more communication re Ryan Presidential Programs are very good ideas to help companies trying to grow their systems. We should be heavily promoting them. Marathon seems very happy. We need to get feedback and Todd believes that this is where Melody and Chuck should be heading up.
Only implementation schedule is their final EDI. Todd is working on mods for custom booking so that Roy can call Custom Booking from the Load Tender screen to use custom booking to not have a separate screen. The existing mapping logic will be moved out of the booking screen into the mapping structure instead. This is a function of the new EDI system.
Andrew - (from Chuck) - please consolidate notes.
Chuck: Dev is as strong as it has ever been in his 19 years. Very happy. Not as aggressive on the sales model which will pick up once the issues with Allen Furrer have been dealt with (hopefully by new year). As Roy finishes up EDI stuff, Todd and Andrew should increase communication on Presidential plan work.
Roy: Has negative opinions on the presidential program but when things work like they did with the Custom Data Center, it really works well.
Andrew: Will follow up with Jerry and schedule some training for other employees for the Custom Data Center. Chuck should be contacting them on the quarterly basis as per the Presidential program details.
Melody: Some of the things being worked on need to be made aware for the rest of the company. Andrew will head that up.
Chuck: Until such time as we can remove development from doing support, we still don't transfer enough information to our second tier support staff. Todd's comment to Chuck: you've got to have DEDICATED development time for development and NOT being spent talking to customers.
Andrew: It may be valuable for development to share information of what they are working on during the week. Similar to the What's New from Marketing Tech Group.
Chuck: Yes, but this should be done as a WebEx or company-wide meeting. We have to stop abusing developer time. Weekly meeting will be instituted on a regular basis again in short-time.
Melody: What C&M have been talking with customers on is doing similar programs as with Ryan. So it is crucial to share that information and push the training and support issues down to Susan and Dale/Angie.
Chuck: We should provide the training for free with the hope that we will present options that they have to buy. Even our best customers are likely only using 35% of the capability of the software. Even if it's not something we can't sell to them, the process will improve their awareness and reduce support.
Melody: Already came up with $250K of time-savings for them, with better overtime management and delay handling. This is important to present ROI with the program to other customers. Increase people's efficiency by showing them what's available on the system.
Andrew: All new features (be it from Development or from Marketing Tech) should go through the same process: After dev of any kind, docs need to go through, Webex needs to be trained, etc. This should be done prior to identifying if a feature is sellable or not.
Chuck: Who decides how we should sell it?
Andrew: Anything that adds definite value and is something new, should be charged for. But features that enhance the product should not be charged for.
Roy: The Custom Data Center is really something that is a benefit to us but to customers in general. It likely shouldn't be charged for.
Chuck: Andrew you are the first person to recommend if it's chargeable or not. Then we can discuss it as a group.
Status:
When all dev issues are moved to testing, that is when they are also noted to Andrew so we can build up documentation and schedule in WebEx Training for these features. At that time, training is pushed to Susan to the customer and support is aware of it at the same time. Andrew will make a recommendation as to if a feature is chargeable or not. The final decision will be made by all.
These are all discussed in twice-monthly meetings.
Roy: What's Changed Since October 2002
In 2003 MTI began using the Internet as it's primary method for distributing Horizon applications and updates. The Horizon Installation Manager (H.I.M.) is a complete rewrite of the previous Horizon Application Administrator (HAA). In addition to replacing the "installation duties" of the HAA, the H.I.M. added complete download support for new products, product updates and product licenses. The H.I.M. utilizes Microsoft .NET technology to provide our customers with personalized downloads. The H.I.M. displays the currently installed version, currently downloaded version and the current available version of each Horizon application. A few mouse clicks and a few minutes is all it takes to create a new Horizon installation or to update an existing Horizon installation. The H.I.M. can even display approximate download times.
Roy
Todd: What's New Since October 2002
I'll list what I thought of here, and try to come up with more for the meeting.
Over the past 12 months, MTI has responded to it's customers by implementing over 130 enhancements. These enhancements, whether it be more features and control, easier navigation, or entirely new solutions, touch upon the entire Horizon product line.
We have also increased the stability of our products even further, and at the same time, built smaller, faster core applications and add-on services.
We now support the latest versions of Accpac's accounting solutions, Petro Vend Fuel import, and the latest FMCSA driver hours-of-service regulations.
Our error log service has been revamped to allow immediate upload of errors when they occur. This means we can be more proactive in responding to customer issues.
We are not resting on our laurels, and have many new exciting development plans, and projects already in progress. One of those is a new application geared towards user definable data files. This application would allow users to store a vast amount of custom data for all Horizon entities.
Todd
How has our software and customer service improved since October 2002?
Since October 2002, Horizon has added several powerful functions that make trucking operations work better with the Internet, mobile communications and overall productivity.
MTI introduced E-Services, a suite of services that increase a trucking company's public awareness. E-Notification allows companies to send email notifications to customers as the load progresses from pickup to delivery. These emails can be completely customized. E-Settlements sends drivers their payroll settlement sheet and checks via email. We will soon be showing our new E-Load Booking service that allows customers to book loads over the Internet through a customizable form.
Our Mobile Communication service now supports several vendors for messaging including Fleetilla, Aether MobileMax, PeopleNet, Qualcomm, and WebTech Wireless. Mobile Communication can also be done over cellular phones that support text messaging. We also support trailer tracking solutions for Terion, Fleetilla, Aether and SkyBitz.
Our new seminars and documentation online have been a hit with our customers, allowing us anytime anywhere access to them for demonstrations, support and training. Customers can now download full documentation for any of our modules.
Our online reporting facility and Report Writer allow customers to create new custom reports or request reports from us and download them as they become available.
Over the course of the year, we have also introduced several new powerful productivity enhancements for customers including Drag/Drop, Power Filter, faster ways of adding columns and color coding in the Dispatch screen, enhanced Preventative Maintenance codes in Vehicle Maintenance, and more customized rating schemes, increasing the way customers can rate their loads quickly and efficiently.
We've enhanced our Tanker Product to include AutoFill, a feature that speeds entry of loads by prefilling gas products based on the shipper. We've also added support for tracking Gross & Net as separate entities for powerful reports.
New LTL features include Route Planner, allowing LTL customers to predefine standard routes and automatically identify which loads should be placed on these routes for more efficient dispatching.
The Vehicle Maintenance product also now supports bar-code scanning, making it faster and easier to process work orders.
