FlooringSoft in the News |
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FlooringSoft.com offers easy-to-use
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Oct/Nov 2011 Issue Easy-to-use web-based software
Because it is web-based ‘cloud’ software, the user does not have to buy or maintain a server and does not have to install the software from a disk or CD. To use the system, the users simply open a web browser and log in from anywhere and at any time. The information is encrypted and sent from the user’s computers and the FlooringSoft system. Being web-based offers many advantages for the users. For example, the software can be used in your office, from your home, or from a customer location. FlooringSoft.com user Michael Street, General Manager of Hammonds Floors, said that FlooringSoft.com: “Is making its way into every part of our business because it saves time. The program combines a lot of the functions that we used to do on paper, in Excel spreadsheets and in QuickBooks into a few clicks on the same screen. I highly recommend it”. With most other software, if a computer fails (such as a disk failure or power supply failure), then the user may lose the information stored on the disk, and also may be out of operation for an extended period until a replacement computer can be set up with the software again. Not so with FlooringSoft.com. If a computer fails, all the user has to do is go to any other computer with an internet connection, and log in to have immediate access to all of their information. The FlooringSoft.com system is easy to learn and easy to use. When the user first logs into FlooringSoft.com, they will see a ‘dashboard’ screen that lists recent prospects and customers, quotes, contracts, purchase orders and work orders. The user can quickly and easily enter any information about a job or customer into the search window, such as a phone number or street address, and the FlooringSoft.com system will quickly show all related information on the dashboard. This kind of search function is on most screen displays throughout FlooringSoft.com, making it easy to navigate to the information needed. The system also makes use of colour-coding to allow the user to visually sort through information without having to read everything on the page. The colour-coding is especially useful in the scheduling portion of FlooringSoft.com. Jobs are colour-coded by type of job or by the crew-member who is installing the flooring material. The colours and labels can be chosen by the user. To move a job from one day to another or one crew to another, all the user has to do is click on the job and, using the computer mouse, just drag the job to the new day or person. To see the work order, the user just clicks on the job and the work order is displayed. One of the unique benefits of the FlooringSoft.com system is that it communicates and synchronizes with QuickBooks. FlooringSoft.com automatically synchronizes with QuickBooks in the background and does so on a regular interval throughout the day. For example, when a new customer is added to either FlooringSoft or to QuickBooks, the two systems recognise that communication is needed, and the information is automatically sent from one system to the other, saving time and reducing the possibility of typing errors. FlooringSoft.com also synchronises new contracts as QuickBooks sales orders as well as payments, purchase orders, vendor bills, and inventory updates as journal entries. Your QuickBooks system runs locally in your office and securely communicates with FlooringSoft.com. Recent additions to the FlooringSoft.com product include a new optional email integration module, which automatically attaches related email messages to customer records in FlooringSoft.com so that all communications between the company and the customer are in one easy-to find location instead of only being in the individual email accounts of people all across your company. This will be of great benefit if several people in your company are communicating with the same customer. FlooringSoft.com is also working on native iPad and iPhone apps and will begin beta-testing the apps with selected customers soon. In addition to these exciting new features, FlooringSoft.com has recently enhanced its inventory and job costing functions, as well as adding new features that are especially useful to flooring companies that specialise in timber flooring sales and installation. Visitors to the FlooringSoft.com website can register for special discount pricing and get the first month of usage free with a new system setup. A short video overview is also available on the website.
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Kashmoo adds more features
One of the new items that is getting a considerable amount of interest is the new FlooringSoft Email Integration module. With this module, FlooringSoft will copy all related email messages and automatically attach them to customer records in FlooringSoft so that all communications between the company and the customer are in one easy location instead of only being in the individual email accounts of people all across the company. This can be of great benefit if several people in the company are communicating with the customer. The FlooringSoft Email Integration module will bring in emails from any 'pop' server and also communicates with Outlook Exchange server. The new module has an extensive set of filters to allow for very clear control of which emails are allowed into the system and which are excluded. Kashmoo also recently released a new speedup version of FlooringSoft that runs up to five times faster than previous versions. This was enabled through implementation of advanced software using SQL server triggers and data caching, as well as upgrades to the latest, most powerful computer server technology. Kashmoo is also working on its native iPad and iPhone apps for FlooringSoft and will begin beta testing the apps with selected customers in a few months. The new iPhone and iPad apps will allow users to access FlooringSoft anywhere and at any time. In addition to these exciting new features and functions, Kashmoo has enhanced the inventory management and job-costing functions of FlooringSoft.com as well as adding new features that are especially useful to flooring companies who specialize in timber flooring sales and installation. Visitors to FlooringSoft.com can register to get the first month of usage free with a new system setup, and can view a short video over view of the product.
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FlooringSoft.com debuts in Australia
FlooringSoft.com is a web-based (cloud technology) software product for managing flooring business operations. Being a cloudbased software product means that no server is required, saving users many thousands of dollars over time. It also means that the system is accessible anywhere and at any time, whether it is in the showroom, at a customer site, at your home, or while you are traveling, such as when attending a trade show. One of the key features of FlooringSoft.com is its real-time, two-way interface with QuickBooks. Within seconds, any information that a user enters into either FlooringSoft.com or QuickBooks is synchronised to the other system, keeping both systems completely up to date. FlooringSoft.com syncs customers, jobs, sales orders, payments, purchase orders, vendor bills and inventory journal entries among other things, eliminating double data handling and closing the margin for data-entry error. The end result is improved efficiency. Paige Watts, owner of Knight Carpet and Flooring in Abilene, Texas said: "FlooringSoft.com saves me and my entire team easily two-thirds of the time we used to spend manually handwriting and calculating everything." In business for over eight years, Kashmoo started with a web-based scheduling system for managing flooring installations and work orders and then grew into a full flooring business management system over time. "During our first four years, our customers loved the Scheduler product and kept asking us to add more and more features and functions," said Tim Magnuson, CEO of Kashmoo. "We launched FlooringSoft.com as a full business operating system about four years ago in the USA, and expanded to Canada a little over a year ago." "We are very excited to be able to offer our new Australian version of FlooringSoft.com. The Australian version performs all of the calculations using the metric system and works with the Australian tax system through its interface with QuickBooks." At the recent Surfaces flooring convention in Las Vegas, a major Australian flooring retailer ordered FlooringSoft and said: "We chose FlooringSoft.com because it is a web-based 'cloud' product, has a friendly user interface and keeps us in front of technology in the flooring industry." He also said that a significant factor in his decision was that FlooringSoft is 'configurable', meaning that it can be customised to match the unique aspects of his business process, such as additional custom forms, fields, and calculations. FlooringSoft.com also has a quick and easy way to track carpet samples. "That will save us a lot of time and money," said the major retailer. Additional key features include drag-and-drop installation scheduling with one-click access to electronic work orders; automatic job costing and commission calculations and full flooring inventory with information about dye lots, roll numbers, etc. Magnuson said: "We will be happy to spend time with you discussing your business needs to make sure that your investment of time and money in software is the right fit." A free online demo with one of the company's flooring business consultants is available by contacting FlooringSoft.com.
Software innovations help retailers operate faster, smarter, better Tim Magnuson, CEO of Kashmoo, said the company is beta-testing a new high-speed version of its FlooringSoft.com product. "This new version runs five times faster and users participating in the test immediately notice the faster speed," he said. The product is planned for a May release. The company is also beta-testing new versions of a standard system for multi-family dealers, as well as a new system for distributors and importers.FlooringSoft.com also has a new dashboard display that features a list of prospects and customers, along with quotes, contracts, purchase orders and work orders on one screen. Users can type into the free form search box (like Google) to find all related information about a customer, job and work order. If the user moves the mouse over a record, FlooringSoft.com pops up a "Quick View" of the record. Michael Street, operations manager of Hammonds Wood Floors in San Antonio, said the FlooringSoft.com product has been a huge benefit. "For the first time we have the ability to see everything that affects our costs and margins, and that protects our bottom line," he said. "The result is better productivity for the company, better installation quality for our customers and better pay for our best installers." |
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Companies helping to build improved service, offering many customer relationship management programs
Excerpts from the article: Floor Covering News examined the concept of customer relationship management (CRM) in terms of what it is and how it relates to a retailer's business. The article also looked at why today's innovative software programs make it easier than ever for owners to grow and succeed, especially from products created specifically to meet the needs of the floor covering industry. Recognizing that CRM is an actual business strategy aimed at understanding, anticipating and responding to the needs of an enterprise's current and potential customers is one thing. Obtaining the software program that will best meet your company's CRM needs is another. Looking at it strictly from a technological point of view, CRM is the ability to take customer information and combine it with various operational, analytical and support tools to help the entire operation—from the employees on the front lines to those who work behind the scenes—provide customers with the best possible experience from start to finish. From this perspective, CRM is not sales force automation (SFA), although SFA is a component of CRM. By most standards, the minimum number of software components to achieve a true CRM suite is three, and include SFA, marketing management and customer service. Flooring industry software providers are quick to note their programs go beyond these three basic functions and offer a plethora of tools exclusively designed for the flooring retailer. With that, FCNews surveyed some of the leading industry software firms to get an idea of what their CRM software is about, what makes it unique and why it is an important tool in helping retailers better manage their overall business. ...
When it comes to CRM systems, it should be complete, noted Tim Magnuson, president. Meaning it will include not only prospect and customer information management and marketing management, but fully integrated notes, email, web-links, maps, work orders, and analytical reporting, among other things. And, that, he added is one of the key premises with which the software provider always works under. "We think the most important thing we can do for our customers is to provide software that enables better communication among all their employees." That is where Kashmoo FlooringSoft comes in as it allows for total communication throughout an operation. "Getting everyone on the same page is a huge benefit," Magnuson noted. Fully integrated notes flow throughout the system from the work order all the way up to the top level customer record and everywhere in between, "allowing all employees to speak to prospects and customers with the confidence that they know all that they need to know about that customer's status." What makes the system so easy, he pointed out, is that it is Web-based and straightforward. Being on the Web gives a retail owner and staff easier access anywhere, any time. "So, for salespeople," Magnuson said," "it means they can track leads, close orders, determine the status of jobs and much more without having to call, email, fax or talk with anyone, saving them hours of time and frustration." "The scheduler can communicate with everyone in the business by simply dragging and dropping color-coded jobs on an interactive Web-based jobs calendar," he continued. "The person doing purchasing can see all the jobs ready to order, and a list of all active purchase orders. The owner can see who is scheduled to work the showroom and who is out on measures at a glance. And the warehouse can see jobs that need to be staged for the next day and receive materials as they arrive from manufacturers." One of the program's key differentiators, he said, is its ability to seamlessly integrate with QuickBooks. "A large majority of flooring retailers use QuickBooks, and Kashmoo's FlooringSoft product is the only one with a real-time, two-way QuickBooks integration. This is very important to the CRM picture, since most retailers have been entering customer relationship information into QuickBooks for years." Not only does this feature allow retailers to "retain that hard-won investment of time, money and historical data" they have in QuickBooks, it eliminates the need for double data entry. Kashmoo, Magnuson added, is also "the only software vendor in the industry with a 'configurable system.' This means the program can be custom-configured to match the dealer's unique need—such as sales and work order forms—and because the system was designed from the ground up, custom configuration can be done quickly and at very low cost. No other flooring software offers this kind of flexibility."
Software companies dish on what's new |
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[Floor Covering Weekly] Floor Covering Weekly published their annual Software and Technology Issue on August 23, 2010. FlooringSoft was featured in the article. Download Article PDF. Excerpts from the article: Kashmoo |
FlooringSoft.com is a complete software system for managing a flooring business.
Kashmoo FlooringSoft
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CRM software key to running an efficient, profitable business [Floor Covering News] In an article by Matthew Speiler entitled "CRM software key to running an efficient, profitable business", published September 13, 2010, gave a general overview of how businesses are finding success using CRM. Kashmoo FlooringSoft CEO, Tim Magnuson provided input to the article. Excerpts from the article: Generally speaking, every company that has had even a modicum of success has some type of customer relationship management (CRM) strategy in place. In today's fast-paced, highly competitive business climate, having a system is one thing; having one that helps put your business ahead of everyone else is something else. While many equate CRM to computer programs, technically speaking it is not a piece of software as CRM actually predates machines. It is also not an implementation or an event; CRM is a process embodied from the highest levels of an organization and pervasive throughout. Though there is no standard definition for CRM, a widely held one defines it as a business strategy aimed at understanding, anticipating and responding to the needs of an enterprise's current and potential customers. … "Certainly before CRM software existed, businesses were doing customer relationship management with manual paper-based filing systems," noted Tim Magnuson, president of Kashmoo [FlooringSoft.com]. "But well-designed software takes much of the time and trouble out of it, and adds capabilities that would be difficult or impossible using manual methods." … Like the definition itself, there are generic, off-the-shelf CRM software products retailers can purchase. But suppliers of industry-specific software point out these broad-based products will note meet their full needs due to the many unique aspects of how flooring is manufactured, marketed and, ulitimately sold. … In today's world, consumers, specifier and any purchaser of flooring for that matter is much more educated than ever before. Thanks to the Internet, buyers can research products like never before and, in some cases, come away more educated than the person or place they eventually make the purchase. Added to this the economic hard times that have not only befallen most; the recession has changed how people shop, what they buy and even how products are made. … This is why experts say CRM software specifically designed not just for the industry but the type(s) of market you serve is essential. … [Kashmoo FlooringSoft.com's Magnuson added] "A good CRM strategy would include an analytical reporting capability to enable the business to 'slice and dice' the historical data to gain insights and make decisions." Because of this he said CRM is not just a module that can be "slapped onto existing software. The entire system must be designed from the ground up to support what we call an 'integrated top-down' view. By this we mean that a user should be able to perform any action and get to any information that he needs from anywhere throughout the software system with the least number of actions. A complete CRM system will include not only prospect and customer information management and marketing management, but fully integrated notes, email, web links, maps, work orders and analytical reporting, among other things." |
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Kashmoo Helps Small Businesses Simplify and OrganizeJuly 1st, 2010 5:24 pm CT
The result of the what if's was Kashmoo, an online service that has evolved into a complete business management system. The software, which is entirely hosted online, helps small businesses keep track of initial customer contacts, create and track estimates, set up purchase orders, and manage billing and invoicing, appointments, and inventory. Today, Kashmoo's customers include many firms in the flooring, lighting, restoration and other industries, such as insurance, banking, sales organizations, and software development. Kashmoo Business Management Software These firms can use Kashmoo to run multi-user schedules, create forms with custom fields, and install modular extensions that make sense for their business. The setup for Kashmoo takes about two weeks, most of which is time spent in customizing the software to the individual needs of the customer and training classes to keep the customer productive. Why use Kashmoo? "Customers subscribe to the service for a monthly fee," says Magnuson. "They don't need to own a server, they don't need an IT staff, we do all the backups and security." For companies with small or nonexistent IT shops, the software-as-a-service model means higher ROI and less risk. One key feature of Kasmoo is it's near real-time integration with Quickbooks. There's a two-way realtime synch between Kashmoo and Quickbooks which works within seconds, and eliminates double data entry." To give Kashmoo a try, simply go to http://www.kashmoo.com to request a demo.
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Software covers all the bases, new programs make life easier [Floor Covering News] In an article by Louis Iannaco entitled "Software covers all the bases, new programs make life easier for dealers, distributors", Kashmoo announced its new website and product, FlooringSoft.com Excerpts from the article: When it comes to floor covering software, the buzzword is user friendly. Anything a dealer or distributor can use to make his business run more smoothly and efficiently in an easy-to-understand format can greatly impact profitability. … Kashmoo |
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Software developers let industry be mobile, efficient
[Floor Covering News] In an article by Matthew Speiler entitled "Software developers let industry be mobile, efficient", Kashmoo FlooringSoft CEO, Tim Magnuson, commented about the company's latest innovations. Excerpts from the article:
Going mobile. It's no longer just a 1970s song from The Who; it's how more and more business is being done as technological advances allow people to leave the confines of their place of work without losing productivity. From new modules to expanded uses, the company is preparing for a very active 2010. Topping the list of new capabilities is the ability to use all of the features in the Kashmoo.com system from any advanced mobile device, including iPhones and Blackberrys, allowing users the ability to manage their business while away from the store. Tim Magnuson, president, said one of the unique things that Kashmoo has done is to give dealers the ability to handle related industry segments, such as cabinets, countertops, window treatments, decorations and lighting. "To stay competitive, many flooring dealers are expanding their offerings to make themselves a one-stop shopping destination. One of the problems encountered with this was being able to incorporate these new items into their system so as to manage everything together. Now they can." While many software companies are starting to integrate their systems with QuickBooks, he noted Kashmoo has always has that ability. For 2010, the company expanded its QuickBooks interface to be compatible with QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Enterprise, and also added integration with sales orders, vendor bills and more. "Changes that the user makes in Kashmoo are instantly shown in QuickBooks and vice versa, saving hours of data entry and avoiding possible typing errors." Later this year, Kashmoo will release a new Web-based flooring B2B module as well as a general Web-based programming interface that will allow the system to exchange information with many other third- party software systems, such as estimating and takeoff software systems, and Microsoft Access and SQL databases. |
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[Floor Covering Weekly] by m.avrasin@gmail.com
”Last year it was just dead,” said Tim Magnuson, CEO, Kashmoo. “This year, it went great.” Last year’s official numbers were about 23,600, according to Kelly Cooper, marketing manager, Hanley Wood Exhibitions. Even though the show floor shrunk from 350,000 square feet to 310,000 square feet, many of the larger manufacturers showed up in force along with hundreds more dealers and distributors than were expected. ”We hope this kind of optimism continues for the next several months as we go into the planning stages of next year,” Cooper said, adding that the show has already sold space for 2011 — something that has never happened before. Next year, Surfaces will be moving down the strip to Mandalay Bay, Jan. 25-27, and will again coincide with the Las Vegas Market dates. Both shows will continue a partnership that started this year and Cooper hopes the partnership will yield more attendance (see Market coverage on page 19). “Just the ability for our attendees to be able to see floor covering, countertops, natural stone and tile — all the products they’re really looking for in one location -- it’s going to add even more excitement and upbeat atmosphere,” Cooper said. Many of the exhibitors FCW spoke with shared the same thoughts, while retailers crowded their booths to look at new product and pick up samples. “I feel like the appointments that we have this year are more meaningful,” said Giovanna Carchidi, sales and marketing manager for Diversified Industries. “Last year, with the unsteady economy, no one was buying. This year, the conversation is different.” Roy Bomberger, owner of Bomberger’s Store in Lititz, Pa., said he came to Surfaces to buy and did his homework prior to making the trip. “We’re looking to see if companies are taking different directions and how we fit into that,” he said. Jeanne Nardone of Superior Surfaces of New England in Plaistow, N.H., attended Surfaces for the first time. Her business is primarily a concrete company, but she is diversifying into accessories and came to Surfaces to buy underfloor heating and other items that will help her grab more market share, she said. Underlayment company Sound Seal had four times the amount of leads this year vs. last year, said Gerry Maatjes, Sound Seal-Unifloor export manager. Donna Adams of Adams Family Floors in Newburgh, N.Y., was impressed with the show, not solely from a product perspective, but she appreciated the return of Armstrong Floor Products and the big showing of Mannington Mills, she said. “Just because seeing the big manufacturers back supporting us ... just means it's going to be a better year,” she said. |
[Las Vegas] According to preliminary estimates from Hanley Wood, attendance is up in the single digits vs. 2009, and the sentiment was also on the rise. |
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