Software : Innovation + Job News

Purchasing agents for mid-size companies have a very tough job, says Bob Ray, co-founder of Columbus-based ProcureSafe, which provides subscription-based online supplier management.

“Medium-size companies with 20 to 500 employees generally don’t have a formal purchasing department dedicated to making corporate purchases,” he explains. “The person responsible for purchasing may be the business owner himself, an office manager, the IT manager or so forth. He or she is inundated by supplier sales calls and has limited time to manage existing suppliers, let alone research prospective suppliers who may offer better pricing or functionality. This can lead to costly purchasing mistakes or missed opportunities for important savings.”

To address this problem for what Ray says is an underserved market, ProcureSafe  launched a new app in August that collects supplier data, organizes it and provides a rating system based on buyer experiences.

The company tested an Alpha version of the app with 22 users in eight industries, obtaining feedback on what they liked and what they thought would make the service more valuable. The company also conducted more than 100 interviews with additional businesses for their input as well.

“The new app completely automates and manages new information on existing suppliers,” Ray explains. “Buyers direct suppliers to a supplier registration portal where they complete a profile, input product information and pricing and then answer qualifying questions to match preselected qualifying criteria.”

This information is stored and categorized in ProcureSafe’s database. In addition to supplier data, the app offers a rating system based on buyer experience. “When a buyer is ready to make a purchase, he or she simply accesses the database for qualified suppliers, considers the feedback on them and can then send a quote request,” he says.

According to Ray, the new app reflects the best practices of market leaders in procurement, supplier management and group purchasing. “It’s a massive network of supplier information that will enable buyers in medium-size companies to make smarter decisions faster.”

Source:  Bob Ray, ProcureSafe
Writer:   Lynne Meyer

Cyber security is a red-hot topic of worldwide concern with would-be cyber attackers representing a significant problem for virtually every major service we use.

That’s according to Peter Jenney, chief technology officer of Dayton’s SCADA Security Innovation, Inc. (SSI), which develops software protection systems for Industrial Control System (ICS) equipment and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems (SCADA).

The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) has invented and is patenting software security algorithms to protect computers against cyber attacks. AFIT recently announced that it has partnered with SSI to commercialize the technology, granting an exclusive license to the invention for the ICS market and further rights for the automotive electronics market.

“This represents the first time in recent memory that AFIT has licensed technology for development in commercial markets,” says Rusty Baldwin, research director for AFIT’s Center for Cyberspace Research.

According to Jenney, the technology is aimed at general purpose computers, and SSI is focusing its efforts on specializing it for industrial control system networks that represent our critical infrastructure. The infrastructure includes everything from municipal water supplies, power plants and distribution systems to petroleum refineries, water and waste management facilities.

“Many of these computer control systems were not designed to withstand cyber attacks,” he explains.  “Unlike cyber attacks against banks or other institutions, the cost of these attacks is measured not in loss of credit card numbers and money, but in loss of life, environmental impact and cost of recovery.”

Vulnerable networks offer attack pathways into sensitive equipment that, should it be compromised, could enable an attacker to take over entire processes. The pathways may be used to capture sensitive information, such as research and development, process control or other proprietary secrets that could damage a company’s competitiveness or integrity.

“Our goal is to give cyber warriors the tools they need to make successful attacks against critical systems extremely difficult, if not impossible,” Jenney says.

SSI anticipates being ready to market the new technology in late 2013.

The company was established in late 2011 as a subsidiary of Boston’s Security Innovation, Inc. It received an investment of $200,000 from the Dayton Development Coalition (DDC). DDC says that commercializing technologies developed by or for the Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is a long-term key to encouraging new business investment that can lead to job creation.

Source:  Peter Jenney, SCADA Security Innovation, Inc.

Enforcer eCoaching, a personalized wellness coaching service, has secured $250,00 from JumpStart to expand services across the country. A spin-off out of the Cleveland Clinic, Enforcer eCoaching was founded by Cleveland Clinic chief wellness officer Dr. Michael Roizen, television health guru Dr. Mehmet Oz and entrepreneurs Steven Lindseth and Arthur Benjamin.
 
The eCoaching focuses on smoking cessation, weight loss, hypertension control and diabetes control through personalized one-on-one email coaching and behavior modification.

“It’s based on 25 years of health coaching by Dr. Roizen,” says Mart Butler, Enforcer’s president and CEO. “We’re seeing a lot of niche treatment programs in the marketplace for companies looking to reduce their healthcare spending. Employers see a very strong return on investment.”
 
Butler says participants in the smoking cessation program have an 85-percent success rate, while weight loss participants lose an average of two inches to their waist lines.
 
Employers or private individuals can sign up for eCoaching. They select the type of coaching they want, are assigned a coach, and then check in with daily email correspondence. “It’s part automation, part personal coaching,” says Butler. “Every email is reviewed by a personal health coach, and they really build relationships and people become more accountable for their own healthcare.”
 
The convenience of email contributes for Enforcer’s success. “People can email whenever and wherever they want, and read the emails whenever and wherever,” says Butler. “We’re slowly nudging people to success because of the daily email exchange.”
 
In addition to JumpStart’s investment to help Enforcer complete its computer platform, the organization has also provided expertise in hiring sales and IT staff.

 
Source: Marty Butler
Writer: Karin Connelly

“If you’re not paying for a service, then you’re the product,” says Bill Barnett, founder, BudgetSketch.

He should know – his product, which he describes as the antithesis of the popular budgeting website Mint, helps people plan spending in advance, rather than tracking dollars spent after the fact.

Like many of today’s lean startups and lean programmers, Barnett created the cloud-based BudgetSketch program for himself first, and tested it by rolling it out as soon as possible, then tweaking features and design for a layout that, he reports, currently gets rave reviews.

But why use BudgetSketch instead of the larger, more feature-heavy Mint?

“Most financial tools on the web are backward looking: what you’ve spent, what you’ve done, your history,” Barnett says.

He cites American consumers’ habitual overspending as evidence that tracking money spent doesn’t work. Instead, his program helps consumers shift their focus to planning future spending; if you don’t plan to spend money in a given category, you don’t spend it that month.

Talking to Barnett, it’s clear that he’d be a good financial advisor if he hadn’t chosen software programming as his second career (he was a mechanic for Delta Air Lines in years past).

He hates to watch today’s “get it now” spenders rack up extra expenses by purchasing over-budget items, and says he’s changed his own spending habits, driving older cars while saving enough to purchase new vehicles outright.

His advice for today’s hardship-driven spenders is offered in earnest.

“The solution to your problems lies in the future. If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’re going to keep getting what you’ve always gotten. Change your future behavior you’re going to end up in a different place and, hopefully, a better place.”

By Robin Donovan

A trio of tech entrepreneurs "from everywhere" are in Cincinnati to perfect a new online social platform that aims to transform large-group communication.

CrowdHall, set for a soft Beta launch within the week, allows a person or organization with a large group of followers to communicate with that group in a more organized way.

It works like this: a person -- like a politician, celebrity or blogger -- who has hundreds or thousands of online followers creates a profile on CrowdHall. Fans can ask questions that get voted on or followed by fellow fans. Questions that have the highest number of votes or interest get pushed to the top and the politician or celebrity can respond.

It sounds pretty simple, and that's the point, says CrowdHall co-founder and CEO Austin Hackett, who left New York's Columbia Medical School to perfect the site through The Brandery incubator here in Cincinnati.

"This is a platform that helps organize large audience communication. It gives people and organizations a real time list of what is on the minds of greatest number of people. It makes the whole two-way conversation more efficient," Hackett says.

The company has been in The Brandery program about four weeks, and co-founders Hatchett and
Jordan Menzel, along with developer Nick Wientge, came from different parts of the country to participate in the Brandery's 16-week program.

CrowdHall will be most valuable for those who have more than 20,000 followers, he adds.

"The current social tools are great for one-way communication. If Justin Bieber wants to deliver a message to millions of followers through Twitter or Facebook, it works. But when people talk back, it gets overwhelming. He can't respond to everyone, and it wouldn't be a good use of time," Hackett says.

Users connect to the site with their Facebook or Twitter accounts so they don't have to create a new profile. The service will debut free, but CrowdHall plans to unveil a paid, premium service in the future.

CrowdHall is an idea with local appeal. The company won the first Startup Pitch Wars at the inaugural Bunbury Music Festival. CincyTech and the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association sponsored the Pitch Wars that pitted 16 local startups against each other in a rapid fire pitch contest. CrowdHall won $1,000 and "a gaudy trophy."

Hackett is enjoying Cincinnati and the Brandery experience, but is unsure if he'll stay in the area once the program is over. He is open to it, however.

"It depends on which city supports us, and the level of partnerships and investment they provide. We are in Cincinnati and we are happy for now," he says.

By Feoshia Henderson Davis
Follow Feoshia on Twitter.

NEOSA recently completed its quarterly survey of Northeast Ohio’s tech sector, which measures how tech businesses are succeeding and their hiring trends and expectations, and the results are strong.
 
“What we’re seeing right now is not overly aggressive growth, but steady growth,” says NEOSA director Brad Nellis. “What I see are generally positive trends. When we compare results from previous surveys, we’re moving in the right direction. We’re really going on measured expansion going on two years.”
 
The survey showed that 67 percent of respondents said first quarter business was either good or very good; 87 percent expect their overall business to improve within the next year; and 73 percent plan to increase their staff.
 
Eighty-two percent of the companies surveyed reported they are currently hiring, which Nellis says is an all-time high in the seven years NEOSA has conducted the survey. The downside is companies are still struggling to find the right talent.
 
“I’m worried about the lack of talent," says Nellis. "The problem is we don’t have a pipeline in the colleges – they’re not graduating enough IT students.”
 
While the lack of IT talent graduating from college is a national problem, Nellis said Cleveland's reputation is improving. “The challenge is it can be difficult to get people to move here from outside the region,” says Nellis. “But Business Week listed Cleveland as one of the hottest tech jobs markets in the country.”
 
And area organizations are working diligently to attract the talent to Cleveland. For instance, Global Cleveland is planning an online career fair for tech jobs.
 
Source: Brad Nellis
Writer: Karin Connelly
 
 

Games are serious business for Cincinnati-based GamiGen, a startup founded on gaming-inspired 3D training software designed for the health, oil and gas, mining, academic, manufacturing and public safety industries.

"What we do is take gaming engine technology to create training simulation technology and make efficient safe, cost-effective training programs," says company founder Brett Canter. "That is our goal: we want to simulate complex or dangerous simulations,"

The company, previously known as 7 Moose Games, is developing "games" to help companies train large groups of employees. One of the first is a fire extinguisher training simulation that users manipulate online.

"We give them the task of putting out virtual fires," Canter says. "They have to use a sweeping motion to spray and point the extinguisher in the right place," giving employees a more real-life experience than watching a video or just examining a fire extinguisher.

This form of training can be less expensive and more detailed than traditional employee training sessions, Canter says. Companies with between 5,000 and 10,000 employees can benefit from this type of training technology, he says.

"Our main customers are companies that maintain OSHA compliancy, and have the need for some kind of recurring training," Canter says.

The company plan to make its games compatible with motion sensor gaming systems like the Nintendo Wii and the Xbox Kinnect.


Source: Brett Canter
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

Online contests allow businesses and brands to find new customers, increase awareness and engage with followers through social media.

"This is a really a fast-growing space used to create media exposure to engagement," says Cincinnati entrepreneur Elizabeth Edwards, founder of the Cincinnati Innovates business competition.

But paying someone to create a custom contest can get pricey, and there's not much guarantee you'll get the results you want. So Edwards launched a new web product, CrowdSpark, designed to make contest creation more effective and accessible for businesses on tight budgets.

"A custom-designed platform and a management platform could cost $15,000 to create," she says. "Instead of paying a web developer to create a contest, for as little as $250 you could create your own."

Developers can also use CrowdSpark so that they can spend less time on code, and more time on creating a great contest, Edwards adds.

"We make it easy and economical to create and run those contests," she says.

Edwards is using CrowdSpark, now in Beta, to run the ongoing Cincinnati Innovates Contest, which wraps up July 15.

"I've learned a lot in the last four years of running Cincinnati Innovates, which has become of the most successful regional online contests in the world," she says. "But one of the things I learned not to do is spend a lot of money to get the results you want."

CrowdSpark offers social media plug-ins, analytics, contest entry forms, custom legal rules, tech support and options to create a custom domain and accept paid entries. There will also be a best practices guide focusing on creating and managing contests.

It costs between $250 and $2,000 to start using CrowdSpark, depending on the options it includes. Hosting fees range from $100 to $200 each month the contest runs.

By Feoshia Henderson
Follow Feoshia on Twitter

Getting real-time feedback from customers via social media might be very valuable for restaurant owners. Thanks to VenueSeen, which launched on April 17, that information is now easily available to them.

VenueSeen shows restaurant owners who is saying what about their business on FourSquare, Instagram, Foodspotting and other social media websites. The software also aggregates any photos that are taken at the restaurant.

Family or friends dining out might take a photo and make a positive comment or give the venue a big thumbs down. What diners post may present a marketing opportunity or the need to remedy an unpleasant dining experience.

“Photos and comments form a brand’s social identity,” explains Brian Zuercher, ceo of FlyMuch, the parent company of VenueSeen. “What we’re offering is original content and photos to restaurant owners. It’s good to be aware of what’s being said about your business, and photos add visual content.”
 
According to Zuercher, VenueSeen gathers what’s posted about a restaurant on those three social platforms so that the owners can see, track, analyze, connect and compare the information in a meaningful way. “Owners can use this content to help them have a consistent message communicated across the board,” he notes. “The information can also help them collect feedback, show appreciation, respond to suggestions and interact with their customers online.”

FlyMuch began in the consumer travel industry. Based on feedback gleaned from its experiences in that field, the company launched VenueSeen for restaurants.  VenueSeen's clients currently include some independent restaurants, the Macaroni Grill restaurant chain and a food store in London.

FlyMuch has three full-time and two contract employees and plans to hire five more full-time employees by the end of 2012. The company has received funding from the Ohio TechAngels Fund.


Source:  Brian Zuercher
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Two budding Central Ohio entrepreneurs have identified a problem in the bankruptcy marketplace and  developed a streamlined solution -- a new company called One Exchange Street.

One Exchange Street is an online bankruptcy claims trading engine that Todd Zoha and Sean O’Riordan established in January of this year. The startup company is designed to be a one-stop shop for both buyers and sellers of bankruptcy claims.

While working together in the turnaround and restructuring advisory unit of a global business consulting firm, Zoha and O’Riordan noticed something critical.

“We were working on the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and saw how the marketing for unsecured bond positions was very transparent and liquid,” explains Zoha, President and CEO of the company. “We wondered why there wasn’t that same kind of transparency and liquidity for other types of bankruptcy claims, specifically general unsecured claims and administrative claims.”

Buyers of bankruptcy claims are generally sophisticated about the process, he notes. “If you’re a claims seller, however, you’re getting all these calls and contacts from buyers, and you have no way to evaluate whether the price you’re being offered is fair and reasonable,” Zoha says. “This is a big problem for sellers.”

With One Exchange Street, Zoha and O’Riordan have opened up and streamlined the process for bankruptcy market participants. “Claims sellers can list their claims and see recent transaction amounts for similar claims,” Zoha explains. They can also see prices at which bidders are willing to buy. “An important advantage we offer is that all members on our exchange agree to transact using a standardized claim transfer agreement. This enables real-time execution of transactions. These two things differentiate us from our competitors."

There are advantages for buyers of bankruptcy claims as well. “First, we’re a source of information for them about claims sellers,” Zoha says. “Buyers can also aggregate and buy multiple claims at once. Finally, buyers can turn around and sell a claim to other institutional buyers.”

Zoha and O’Riordan raised approximately $600,000 from friends and family for their startup and received a $300,000 investment from TechColumbus in April.

Source:  Todd Zoha, One Exchange Street
Writer:  Lynne Meyer

Developers at Gaslight Software have done what many just daydream of doing. The young software development company was forged by freelancers, many of whom left corporate life.

"We were independent contractors. Most of us met at what's now called Cincinnati Agile Roundtable," says Gaslight developer Doug Alcorn. "After a few years, we decided we could do better if we worked together instead of on our own. We have no titles, no boss. This is 100 percent team-driven."

A dozen developers work in Gaslight's Blue Ash office, helping clients develop mobile- and web-based applications that improve efficiencies and promote business growth.

Gaslight works with growing companies and startups across the country. Among applications they've developed are Tweethopper, which allows you to manage multiple Twitter accounts; WebPulp.tv, a video podcast that explores the inner workings of scaling a web ap; and Vendor Wizard, which securely automates the tracking and management of vendor relationships and documents.

"We want to make an impact, and work to benefit our clients in tangible ways. We want to feel we're part of their team in developing software and not just a vendor," says developer Peter Kananen.

Gaslight works to cultivate a culture of community and teamwork that carries into the wider Cincinnati tech community. The company participates in a number of local developers' groups, including Cincinnati Ruby Brigade and Cincinnati Lean Startup Circle. They're also the lead organizer of the first Queen City Merge web conference May 10 and 11.

"There's a lot of talk about brain drain in the city. It's a constant battle. We want to highlight tech in this city, get people together and have them look around to see what's going on around them," Alcorn says.

By Feoshia Henderson
Follow Feoshia on Twitter

With current technology, retailers must negotiate each site individually on which they want to sell, requiring a lot of extra time and coordination.

Yet the Columbus-based company nChannel has come up with a way to simplify the process. It has created a cloud-based service that allows retailers to connect all the sites and channels they must negotiate every day, making it easier and faster for retailers to navigate the system.

“It’s a unique technology that no one else is using in the marketplace, and a unique approach to multi-channel management,” says Lisa Steinhart, Vice President of Marketing for nChannel.

Steinhart explains how the new technology helps retailers function better from day to day. “I have to go to Amazon, enter all my images, prices, inventory, etc., and then do the same thing on eBay, Walmart, my retail store, and so forth," she says. "If you really want to be a retailer you have to be both online and at your store, and you’re also trying to compete with everyone else who has web presence.  We help connect all those systems, knit them together.”

Steinhart says, “Today, companies have two options. They either hire a developer (expensive, time-consuming, a major disruption), or choose products that already work with what they have. Maybe they’re not the best products, but the integration is possible. The advantage of nChannel is that it’s low-cost, quick, and gives companies the ability to use the system in which they’ve invested.

The nChannel site was launched in January of this year, and can be purchased directly from nChannel or through resellers. The company has landed two large customers -- one is an NFL team and the other is a large triathlon organization. nChannel will enable the latter to connect all their race locations and inventory.


Source: Lisa Steinhart
Writer: Catherine Podojil

Matt Mastrangelo knows first-hand the hassles of putting together a group outing to an Indians or Browns game. After nearly 10 years in group sales for both sports teams, he witnessed the amount of work staffers put into organizing a group outing.
 
“It was in the Stone Age,” he says. “Figuring out the paper flyers, who wants how many tickets, how much they cost, collecting cash and checks. I thought there was something I could do to alleviate that work.” So in March, Mastrangelo created GroupAide, an online system for organizers of group events to manage the ticket sales.
 
Organizers go to the GroupAide site, set up an event page that includes all the details of the event and send email invitations to the group. Attendees can view the seating chart and buy tickets. It’s free to set up but a service fee is attached to each ticket sale.
 
“So if they’re sitting at home one night, they can just go to their event page and place an order really quickly,” says Mastrangelo. “We provide sales support, who bought tickets, how many seats were sold and how much money has been collected.” With a click of the mouse, the organizer can issue a sales report and collect the money for the event.
 
“Maybe it’s just from being around it for so long, but I don’t feel like I’m reinventing the wheel or changing the world,” says Mastrangelo. “I’m just putting together a way to promote and organize an event.”
 
Mastrangelo already has a few clients through GroupAide, from sporting events to a ski race and even a poinsettia sale. Right now he is still operating GroupAide out of his house in Lyndhurst, but hopes to grow as people catch on to GroupAide.

 
Source: Matt Mastrangelo
Writer: Karin Connelly

NEOSA Tech Week 2012 was held last week at various northeast Ohio locations, promoting the region’s technology companies and the work they are doing in the field. This is the second year for the event, which increased participation by 80 percent with more than 900 people attending nine separate events.
 
“It was awesome,” says Brad Nellis, NEOSA director. “The main goal is to raise the profile of the technology industry in Cleveland.”
 
The week kicked off with Tech Pitch night at the 100th Bomb Group, where 10 companies pitched their businesses to IT executives. “The purpose was for business development and to make business connections,” explains Nellis. The audience voted for the most intriguing company, most wanted product and best pitch.
 
A talent networking event linked 100 young professionals and college students with 25 area companies -- from small employers to international power companies. “We heard from a number of companies who participated about how good it was for them,” says Nellis.
 
The sixth annual Best in Tech Awards recognized outstanding tech companies and impressive tech entrepreneurs in the region. Six companies out of 60 nominations were named as winners in various categories. Sparkbase was named Tech Company of the Year. The CIO of the Year awards were also announced in four categories.
 
The Cool Tech Challenge invited 31 area high school teams to compete in web site design. Seventy students on 43 teams competed. Six students on three teams from Mentor High School, Beaumont School and Copley-Fairlawn High School each received $1,000 in scholarships.

 
Source: Brad Nellis
Writer: Karin Connelly