Harrogate House

I began working with Shaun Adair and Lloyd Emmerson from SL Datakatch in 1997 to develop a handheld data capture system for using in a trade show environment. We wanted to replace the handwriting of orders with hand-held barcode scanners. Our main focus was not only to capture the data electronically but also to transmit the files over the Internet for importing directly into our back office system with no manual data entry requirement.

In its infancy, the system met our initial requirements and after 2 seasons, the development moved to smaller, more portable hand-held units. Many features were added based on requirements from us and new users and we found that this software was offering more information and detail for the user than any other system we had seen.

In 1999, we gave it to sales representatives to use while working on the road. Armed with a hand-held unit and a small portable printer, they found working with their customers was efficient and easy. Customers also appreciate a good quality printed copy that clearly shows what they ordered.

The software has now evolved into the current Order Stream product with full web-based data file management capabilities. I can now upload one master file of customers and use the web-based tools to distribute specific customer records to various reps based on territory codes etc. This now makes it very easy to manage and I find training new people to administrate the uploading of files and downloading of orders takes very little time.

At Harrogate House, the introduction of this system has enabled us to enhance the integrity of our order entry data and we have realized increased efficiencies that allow us to ship orders the same day they are taken. I would highly recommend this system to any company that wants to streamline its order taking process.

Michael Fluckiger,
President

June 19, 2004