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DTSystems, a Gainesville based company had one
really cool product for the hauling and heavy construction industry.
The DataTrack system. This is how it works: little dime sized
battery like "ibuttons" are affixed to trucks encoded with that
trucks identity and other information. Hand held scanning devices
capable of scanning the ibuttons and specially generated barcodes
that hold information on material type being hauled, tonnage etc,
work together in a system that at the end of the day generated
efficiency, logistic and accounting reports for the hauling operation.
Frank Nicotera, CEO of DTSystems knew that the system then currently
in practice was screaming to be replaced: a multi-part ticket
system that works on part honor system, part very involved accounting,
and part dedicated drudgery. As industries went, the heavy construction
industry was a stronghold for some well worn ideas of how things
ought to be done. Ain't no body gonna to tell this mac to do things
differently now. This was the demographic that liked to see things
in action and not hear about them - which was the reason DTSystems
had sales executives ready to move at a moment's notice to a client's
location for an on-site demonstration. The selling was in the
seeing for otherwise the DataTrack system was really speaking
just a clunky scanner, ibuttons and a disk with interfacing and
report generating software on it. It was evident to me that 1)
potential customers from the industry had to be educated on exactly
what the DataTrack system accomplished. 2) they needed the comfort
of others in the industry that were already using the product
and were willing to vouch for it, and 3) DTSystems should appear
to be doing very good business. Frank wanted a dog and pony show
(using Flash or Director) demonstrating the use of the DataTrack
system, which could be stamped out on those little CD-ROMS that
he could pass out at trade shows, or include in his demo brochure
folder. A professional looking corporate website was next. I extended
my talents to both projects. The website on this page, uses mild
ASP and integrates elements of Flash into the HTML. The results,
though the very objectives for the exercise, still managed to
surprise us. Business picked up and DTSystems managed to catch
the attention of the industry leader in accounting software for
the heavy industry. Exclusive partnership agreements later, DTSystems
is poised to increase it's turnover 1000 - 5000%. Gee, what a
great story. But it's true.
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DTSystems: 
