Pricing
User: Every customer is different, every cost per copy is different. So, we have hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of different contracts in Thoroughbred. It might seem complicated on the surface, but it's really quite simple.
Inventory
Mark Lewis, VP of Sales and Marketing: The inventory is directly connected to order processing. So you have complete control of what pieces and products you’re using. You can get very complex with this, but most people don’t use it in that fashion. You can use as much as you want.
Integrations
User: We implemented SalesForce into Thoroughbred. We also implemented Pardot, which is a marketing piece of SalesForce. And I think we're using SalesForce Lightning for our service department, and it is all integrated into Thoroughbred. So our sales reps have the ability to see up-to-the-minute data on a customer before they walk in that customer's location. They know if there's been a service call, they know if there has been a part put in the machine, they know if they have purchased reprographics in the last, maybe this morning, something like that. So, it's real time data from that standpoint. We were the first ones to integrate SalesForce into Thoroughbred, and it's been a huge help for us, being able to do that.
We are now integrating Printerpoint. Last month was our first trial month of integrating Printerpoint, so because we have hundreds and hundreds of cost-per-copies, the billing time on that can take a long time. So we now have it set up to where we can hit one button and, literally within minutes, all of our cost per copy billings are done at that point.
Online Customer Interaction
Mark Lewis: We have the products and capability to do that, and we have some people using that. Online or offline ordering, online payments. It’s a growing kind of product.
Job tracking
Mark Lewis: Job tracking – we have a very complex job tracking system. Most of the people use a more simplified version of that. In a full-blown system, the system can tie people and labor rates and that can change for every job that flows through the department. The tracking starts with either a bid or an order. From the order it can be set up for the various functions that need to be done to it and the various products that need to be included. That can flow to the production department. When the product is finished it is processed and turned into a deliverable and invoiced.
Training
User: It's not very difficult to train somebody. You build them up through time by adding different modules. But once they master one module, the other module are very similar. Accounts receivable, accounts payable, once you learn accounts receivable, the module, then you know exactly how to go into accounts payable, the module.
Tech Support
User: We do almost everything via email. And we've learned that if it's not a major problem, don't send them a red alert email. You have to pick your battles. And so, if we have a red alert, then we send a red alert email, and literally they will respond within minutes at that point. But we don't abuse that. I think that's the case with any company. It's got to be a give and take relationship at that point.
I fly Thoroughbred in once a year, typically at the beginning of the year. And we set down and we identify areas that they can help us make more money. And so in January of 2019 we flew them in here, met with them for a day and a half. I had an idea that I wanted to implement. I had to pay for the airfare, had to put them in hotels and so forth. And [counting] the programming that I had them do, it cost $5,000. We ended up, because of their help with implementing this new procedure that I wanted to put in, we billed $160,000 in 2019. So, that was a $5,000 investment that yielded $160,000. I'll spend that anytime, to get that type of return.
Cost
User: It all depends on the number of users and number of modules. So, you can start at very basic package and work your way up to something like we have. So, I would have to think that we would be on the higher end of Thoroughbred, but I still feel like it's a very reasonable. I feel like it's an absolutely bargain for what we're paying.
Mark Lewis: We have two ways of pricing – an in-house server with a local license, or on our cloud system. Cloud is a monthly payment.