ADD Systems’ President Bruce Bott and Senior Vice President & COO Rob Culbertson recap ADD’s 2022 product enhancements & highlights; outline the challenges as well as opportunities that our industries could face in the coming year; discuss the significance of ADD Systems’ 50th anniversary; and offer updates on the upcoming Business Tech Conference.
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Brian Cohen: Welcome to ADDcast. I’m ADD Systems Multimedia Specialist Brian Cohen, and I’m joined today by ADD Systems President Bruce Bott, along with Senior Vice President and COO Rob Culbertson. Gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us today.
Rob Culbertson: Well, thank you, Brian.
Bruce Bott: Thank you, Brian.
Brian: Rob, it seems like only yesterday we were talking about what 2022 had in store for both ADD Systems and the industry as a whole. And now, here we are, moving forward into 2023. Can you start by giving listeners a recap of some of ADD Systems’ 2022 highlights?
Rob: Well, thanks, Brian. 2022 for ADD Systems has been another banner year. We’ve been busy on all fronts. Our Product Teams have developed and released new versions of every one of our ADD products all throughout the year. We’re averaging about two releases a week across all of our products, so these releases have been very, very well received by our customers. Our Implementation Teams have also been busy. With the COVID restrictions easing, we’ve been doing a lot more implementations onsite this year compared to 2021. And our customers, both new and existing, continue to request our partnership and services to better their business. We are constantly providing these services, both remotely and onsite. So, overall, Brian, this continues to be a very, very busy time here at ADD Systems. And this year looks like it’s going to be just as busy as last year. And we’re really looking forward to it.
Brian: Excellent. Now, Bruce, bouncing off what Rob said, the world is slowly navigating its way out of the 2020-2021 pandemic years. Can you talk about how 2022 fared in comparison to the last few years for the company?
Bruce: 2022, in comparison to the many, many years we’ve been in business, we fared pretty well. We’ve come out of the pandemic; people are working remotely, some are back in the office. As far as the company’s concerned, it’s been a very, very good year, and we haven’t had to make too many changes to kind of bring people back. People are doing their jobs from home. So, we’re very happy with that.
Brian: Rob, can you take a moment to spotlight some of the product enhancements and highlights that took place across the ADD Suite during 2022?
Rob: Well, Brian, all of our products have seen major enhancements. Our eStore product continues to receive praise from our customers and the industry in general. New features include many updates to pricebook, POS integrations, loyalty, recipes, lottery, and many, many changes to our Atlas BI product. The ADD Energy E360 product continues to lead the way with enhancements that enable high degrees of flexibility, scalability, and the ability to configure the product for each and every user. User training time is minimized, and the ability to service the customer has become easier, quicker and provides a full, 360-degree view of the relationship. Thousands of enhancements have been added this year, with major input gathered from the Add User Group. Our mobile products, Raven and Pegasus, have also seen a large amount of change, enabling the drivers and technicians to perform their jobs easier and raise productivity. The mobile products also allow our customers to provide a high level of communication with their end users, whether that be sending out Raven delivery notices or Pegasus information as to when the technician will be arriving onsite. All of these are done through multiple channels, be they text messages, email, or, in some cases, regular old mail. Brian, one of the things that we do is we publish the list of all of our product enhancements for all of the ADD products on our Client Portal. So, it’s available to anybody anytime they want to look at it.
Brian: Now, Bruce, 2023 is already shaping up to be an extremely exciting year for the company as this year marks ADD Systems’ 50th anniversary. Can you talk about the significance of this milestone?
Bruce: Sure, Brian. The 50th anniversary for any company is huge, but to be a technology company, it’s even larger. My father started the company back in 1973. We grew from one customer to now we have hundreds of clients all over the nation. We have grown from one employee to just about 165 employees. So, very exciting year with all the things that we’re coming out with, all the new functionality. It’s very significant to me that we can carry on a legacy for 50 years, hopefully we can do for another 50 years on top of that.
Brian: Now, Rob, in those 50 years, in 2023, you personally will be celebrating your 45th year with the company. So, you’ve been a part of the ADD family through nearly all of its history. Can you talk about how the industry has changed and evolved over that four-and-a-half decades?
Rob: Brian, it is certainly hard to believe that it’s really been that long, but, certainly, the technology and the software solution industry has changed tremendously over this time period. Back in the early days, all the hardware with proprietary software was highly limited. It was certainly in its infancy, and users connected to our applications using dumb terminals. Over time, the PC came about, Microsoft and Intel became dominant players in the industry, operating systems became more robust, development tools were easier to use, and our product just continued to enhance. We’ve rewritten our core products probably a dozen times over this time period, each time taking advantage of the newest tools, the newest delivery model for software, and, overall, a better feature set each and every time. It’s one of the main reasons why so many customers have been with us for so long. We partnered with companies for 50 years, and it’s exciting. We’ve tried to provide them with the best product that we possibly can, and their businesses have shown because they’ve been around for so long. During my time with the company, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with many, many companies, many customers, individuals, some of which I’ve known for many decades. The industry has changed a lot. It’s consolidated tremendously over this time period. Diversification has become more and more prevalent, and technology continues to advance. And I don’t see a whole lot of that changing over the next 45 years. So, all of these are great ingredients for a nice healthy business outlook for the future.
Brian: Bruce, one aspect of ADD Systems that’s been a staple for 50 years is family. Can you explain why family is so important to ADD Systems as a company, as well as to you as the president?
Bruce: Brian, I can answer that one pretty easy. Family is important in all aspects. I think if you treat employees and customers alike like family, everybody wins. We each have our own families, and if you take the concept of how you treat your family and you expand upon it, you take your employees, you put them in that same family fold, you take customers, you put in the same family fold, you ultimately come out with the best of all worlds. Treating people like family gets you the best results. Ultimately, you know, you want to be fair, you want to be honest, you want to treat people the way they want to be treated, and I can’t think of any other way to do it other than treat people like they’re family. And so, honestly, that’s what we want. We want a win-win relationship with our customers, with our employees, with our family. Balancing all the things that you have to do in life is, it’s very difficult. So, you want time with family. You want time at work, you want to be successful, you want to make customers happy. So, again, we blended it over the years that, you know, making the best of things is really kind of just bring a family together. So, I do come from a very large family. I have five sisters and myself. My parents have always kept us close. It’s worked well for the family, but I think it’s also what worked well for the company — and for our customers. Looking at what you can do with family, there’s no limit. So, again, treating people properly, treat them like family, it has always been very, very high on the ADD Systems’ list of things to do.
Brian: Rob, what do you feel has been the secret to ADD Systems’ longevity in the technology space across five decades?
Rob: Well, Brian, it’s really doing the right thing for our customers. You know, our customers demand a product that will run their business 24 by 7 by 365. And we’ve chosen building blocks that are made for the enterprise, software and hardware that will run companies with a few users to companies with thousands of users. It doesn’t matter how big or small your company is. Every one of our customers needs a software solution that works, and it has to work all the time. So, we’re focused on making that a reality.
Brian: Bruce, what are some ways that ADD Systems has been able to keep up with our customers’ constantly evolving business landscapes to help them, as well as ADD Systems remain successful?
Bruce: I think it really comes down to a single word: listen. If you listen to your customers, they’re going to tell you what you need to do with the software. The landscape has evolved over the years. Sometimes, you have to focus more on security, or you want to focus on delivery efficiency — you want to focus on service. If you listen to your customers, they tell you what you have to do. The single word really is “listen.” And if you listen, you’ll win.
Brian: Bruce, sticking with you, along with the 50th anniversary of ADD Systems, 2023 also marks the first Business Tech Conference since 2017 because, in 2020, the conference was sadly canceled due to the pandemic. Can you talk about what ADD users can expect from the first BTC in six years?
Bruce: Sure, Brian. The user conference, the BTC, is very important to us because there’s a chance to sit with our customers, vendors that we work with very closely, and share some of the upcoming features that we’re going to put out into the product. So, this year, we’re going to have some deep-dive sessions; we’re going to talk about some of the basics of E3, maybe some cloud computing topics. We’ll get into our SmartConnect product, where it’s all the information about pushing information out to the end users without having to talk to them. We’re going to have “what’s new” sessions. We’re gonna have a lot of partner sessions this year. So, some of the vendors that clients are doing business with today, they’re gonna sit down and talk about what they can do for them. We have some sessions down here with our User Group where we sit and listen to what they want added to the software. So, it’s going to be exciting. Lots of content, lots of stuff that we still have to work out between now and when the session takes place, but we look at it as a great opportunity to kind of just expand what we offer, expand customers’ understanding of what we will offer. And we also take an opportunity to have a social moment with them. We want to go out to dinner with them; we want to have a good time; we’ve got some great events. Plus, again, going back to the family conversation before, we want people to bring their family. We want the kids and the husbands or wives or significant others to come to the event and experience what ADD Systems is all about. So, I’m excited about the event. Lots and lots of content coming.
Brian: Rob, looping you into this BTC part of the conversation, why do you think the BTC is an important event for both ADD Systems, as well as those in attendance?
Rob: Well, Brian, it’s really a great learning opportunity, and learning for both ADD Systems and our customers, ways that we can make our companies better. So, we learn a lot here at ADD Systems from our customers. It’s very rare that we get the ability to interact with so many companies that are part of the whole ADD ecosystem, whether they be partners, whether they be customers, or other employees. All of that melds together into a great learning opportunity. So, when we walk away from the BTC, not only have we hope to convey a lot of information about our company and our products to our customers but also open their eyes to other ways that they can look at making themselves better — making their companies better, more efficient, more profitable. And whether that be a session that they attend or just networking in the hallway or at some of the social events, they may find ways to talk to other companies, learn from other companies, learn from the partners that are there, to really find ways that their company can become better in the long run. And we look at it the same way.
Brian: Now, Bruce, we talked earlier about family being so important to the company, and the BTC takes place in Walt Disney World, which is pretty much synonymous with family. Can you talk about how the BTC merges the business and family aspects into an all-inclusive conference?
Bruce: Sure I can, Brian. This is probably the tenth time we’ve had a BTC, probably the eighth time we’ve done it in Disney. Disney just does everything spectacularly. Disney treats us well, treats our clients well. Anybody who comes down is in for an experience. We work hard, multiple years in advance, trying to pick a venue that really kind of works for the family. During the day: sessions. You sit around. You talk, you have some food — lots of good food at Disney. But then you get a break at the end of the day. We take you out a couple nights. We take you to the World of Pandora, which is the first time we’re going to go there. So, it’ll be a few hours in the evening where you can socialize with other guests. You can socialize with ADD Systems employees, ADD Systems family and take your kids, your significant others. So, it’s a blending of the most important things, family and business, that we have going on.
Brian: Rob, Bruce had mentioned earlier about the AUG, or ADD User Group, and one of the sessions that will be taking place at the 2023 BTC is the AUG Annual Meeting. Now, this will mark the first time that this has taken place in person in quite a few years. So, can you talk about why this meeting is significant to the User Group, as well as BTC attendees, including those attendees who maybe haven’t become part of the ADD User Group yet?
Rob: Sure, Brian. First of all, the ADD User Group is a really important part of the whole ADD ecosystem. It’s made up of users, run by users, by-laws by users, and supported by ADD. The AUG provides year-round opportunity for our customers to learn about our products, provide us feedback on future development, network, and discuss common industry topics. The User Group is great as a place for our customers to get together and learn best practices and, really, much, much more. Although the members are all users of the ADD products, they regularly meet, and they talk about things that may have nothing to do with the ADD products. So, any given session for any monthly meeting that the User Group may have, maybe about an ADD feature or some function within the ADD system. Or it really could be completely separate and just about an industry issue, whether that be controlling receivables or whether that be onboarding new employees. It’s really a place for those that are common to the ADD software, those that are in the industry to get together and to talk about industry and ADD topics. Getting together face-to-face down at the BTC conference will be important because they haven’t seen each other in a long time. So, some people are really good at doing these Zoom meetings where they can focus in, and they can gather a lot of information. And other people are much more adept and gain much more information by those personal interactions. So, we’re looking forward to the User Group meeting. I’ve talked to the Leadership Team from the User Group; they’re also looking forward to it. And we’re really thinking that this is going to be a really good year for the User Group, where they can all gain great information and network with a lot of the other ADD users.
Brian: And, Rob, if somebody who is not a part of the Add User Group was interested in learning more, how would they go about doing that?
Rob: They can look at our web page at www.addsys.com. That has a whole link into the User Group. And they can join the User Group by just sending in an email. And participation in the User Group varies. We have some companies that like to join some of the committees, listen to the calls. Some are involved, some are in a just listen mode, but I think as people get more and more comfortable with the other members of the individual committees, then they start to contribute more. And I think that’s really where they find that they get the most value.
Brian: Rob, sticking with you, can you talk about some of the challenges, as well as opportunities, that all of the industries that ADD Systems serves could face in the coming year?
Rob: Well, sure, Brian. The industries are facing a number of challenges right now. I mean, the the price of product is very, very high. So, figuring out how to control receivables, how to put the emphasis on credit and collections, that’s a big thing right now. I mean, certainly, price plans are a key way to deal with that. And many companies are really putting extra emphasis on budget plans. So, high price is certainly a big issue. I think the other major issue that people are going through is the labor shortage. Trying to find drivers, trying to find service technicians has been difficult. It’s a fairly specialized job function. So, one in which, you know, it does take a lot of work to onboard new people, to attract new people, and certainly to retain them.
Brian: Bruce, let’s close things up with you. How would you like to see the continued success and growth of ADD Systems continue throughout 2023 and into the future?
Bruce: Brian, I think it’s always interesting to kind of measure growth and success based on the bottom line. I think the big thing is we never want to be so big that we can’t have a connection with our clients. Talking with them with some regularity, having these conferences that we’re putting on, the BTC, is important to us. Revenue is ultimately important, as well, but it’s not the only thing that drives ADD Systems. If you look at the company, you look at the people who are here. They’ve been here for a long, long period of time for a reason. I think we’ve got a lot of those family-type relationships established, and it’s lifelong. So, to grow the company is important, and being successful is important, but we want to be successful with our customer base being our partners.
Brian: Well, gentlemen, I’d like to thank you both for joining us today.
Rob: Thank you, Brian.
Bruce: Thank you, Brian.
Brian: To learn more about the BTC and to register, please visit www.addsys.com/btc. And to keep up with the latest happenings at ADD Systems, visit www.addsys.com/blog or connect with us on social media by following ADD Systems on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. If you have any questions about ADDcast, feel free to reach out to us at addcast@addsys.com. Thanks for listening, and have a great day!
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