bMobile Route Mizer & Beverage Industry Magazine
(Excerpts from June edition of Beverage Industry Magazine – used courtesy of Beverage Industry.)
BOISE, Idaho, June 11, 2010– bMobile Route Software, of Eagle, Idaho, received prominent mention from in the June, 2010 edition of Beverage Industry magazine. The focus of the article was Route Optimization for DSD, a topic bMobile is well versed in. The bMobile route optimization module, Route Mizer was introduced in 2009 and has continued to grow in popularity.
In the article, bMobile president Chris Macaw was quoted as saying,” when times are tough, people start to work smarter, not harder,” he says. “That’s what route optimization allows you to do.”
Macaw went on to say, “As it came back down, the need was not as immediate as it was before, but more and more people are asking now about route optimization. They now know that this is the future. They’re going to have to plan for [fuel] prices to go back up to over $4 a gallon.”
Within bMobile’s Route Manager software suite, the company offers Route Mizer route-planning software that uses Microsoft MapPoint. The software accounts for several factors, including construction, the time of day when a delivery needs to be made and optimal delivery time before giving an optimal route. Drivers also can plug cost factors into the software and can access mileage, labor, fuel and maintenance factors via a handheld mobile device.
To illustrate the savings that can be obtained through Route Mizer, Macaw cited a small company that implemented the software and reduced its number of routes from eight to five. A larger company with 26 routes used the software to save $1,100 in one day, he says.
Beverage distributors operating on a presale platform can enter presale information into the system, and based on volume, bMobile’s Route Manager can produce a plan to organize cargo onto specific trucks and routes each day, Macaw says.
To view the complete article visit BevIndustry.com
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bMobile Route Software Selected for SF Metro Project
May 4, 2010 9:00 A.M. EDT
bMobile Route Software, provider of mobile technology business systems, announces new project for San Francisco MTA.
BOISE, Idaho, May 4, 2010– bMobile Route Software, of Eagle, Idaho, announced their selection by San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) as technology provider for an upgrade project to the Bay Area’s transportation system. The Idaho technology firm was selected by SFMTA to supply a network of software and computer hardware to support the sales of transit passes to 700,000+ daily passengers of the San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI). The technology upgrade is funded in-part from the $1.1 billion provided to California for Transit Formula Funding from the federal stimulus package (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009).
The new bMobile system will include hardware to tender the sales, software to process the sales and track the inventory (transit passes), and technical support to link the sales locations with the MUNI data network. The technology system was approved by SFMTA after a pilot project by bMobile. The February, 2010 pilot project established MUNI needs and bMobile’s ability to develop the cutting edge technology.
MUNI, the nation’s seventh largest transit system, had outgrown their previous sales system which was a collection of older technology and manual processes. The new bMobile system will improve the sales process and reporting capabilities, and more closely track the inventory of transit card passes. The custom software system was developed exclusively for MUNI needs and is designed to function with various types of touch-screen devices.
Along with the software system, bMobile will also provide the transit system with an assortment of computer hardware components. The hardware provided by bMobile will include ruggedized handheld computers (for the most mobile sales needs), and tablet PCs with point-of-sale accessories for the fixed location points-of-sale. All hardware provided will be either totally mobile or removable for security reasons.
About bMobile Technology, Inc.
bMobile Route Software is located in Eagle, Idaho, near Boise. The privately owned tech firm is the sister company of the custom software development firm Software Outfitters, Inc. bMobile specializes in development of mobile software solutions and integrating those products with ERP systems from Sage®, Intuit®, SAP®, and others. Founded in 1996, the company has grown to a staff of twelve business software specialists who provide sales and technical support for over 650 customers throughout North America and Puerto Rico.
About MUNI
The SFMTA’s MUNI is one of America’s oldest public transit agencies, the largest in the Bay Area and seventh largest system in the United States. It currently carries more than 200 million riders annually. Muni operates a fleet of about 1,000 vehicles, over half of which are electric. Muni’s fleet consists of subway-surface light-rail vehicles (Metro streetcars), electric trolley buses, diesel buses and the world-famous cable cars and steetcars. MUNI is the only transit system in the world still operating historic streetcars. The first publicly owned streetcar system in a major city in the U.S., Muni has been taking the people of San Francisco where they want to go since 1912.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
New Sales Forecasting & Predictive Order Software for Distributors
March 31, 2010 9:00 AM EDT
bMobile Route Software, developer for the food and beverage wholesale industry, announced the release of Route v10.4 with Sales Forecasting & Predictive Ordering functionality.
BOISE, Idaho, March 31 – Today bMobile Route Software announced the release of v10 with significant feature additions, such as Sales Forecasting, Predictive Ordering, Field Asset Tracking as well as DEX, NEX and EDI functionality. The sweeping changes to Beverage Route, Bakery Route and other vertical market editions, follows the recent addition to the packages of Route Mizer, the route optimization feature.
The Sales Forecasting and Predictive Ordering functions offer greater inventory control and sales intelligence for better inventory management and increasing sales. These features are useful for the distributors using pre sales and DSD route sales models.
Field Asset tracking was originally developed as a stand-alone asset tracking module, but has since been fully integrated into the Route Accounting software package. Field Asset tracking allows the user to record asset location, asset value, schedule maintenance and other key data related to the placement of the field equipment. Bulk ice distributors, bottled water distributors and many convenience store distribution companies have requested this invaluable feature.
The addition of DEX, NEX and EDI as standard options for all editions, is the result of market demand by the small and midsize wholesale food and beverage distributors. Retail chains such as 7-11, Albertson’s and Kroger’s request suppliers to use a standardized EDI format for document delivery. Some of the electronic documents which bMobile EDI can provide are electronic purchase orders and change orders, electronic invoice and shipment notice, electronic credit/debit adjustment and electronic payment order. DEX, NEX and EDI all serve to streamline presales and DSD route accounting processes, reducing stop time and eliminating order and invoice errors.
About bMobile Route Software
bMobile Route Software is located in Eagle, Idaho, near Boise. The privately owned tech firm is the sister company of the custom software development firm Software Outfitters, Inc. bMobile specializes in development of mobile software solutions and integrating those products with ERP systems from Sage®, Intuit®, SAP®, and others. Founded in 1996, the company has grown to a staff of twelve business software specialists who provide sales and technical support for over 650 customers throughout North America and Puerto Rico.
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bMobile Route Software Improves SAGE Integration
March 11, 2010 9:00 A.M. MDT
bMobile Route Software, provider of DSD Route Accounting Software, announced the release of an advanced data integration process for Sage Software products.
BOISE, Idaho, March, 11, 2010– bMobile Route Software, of Eagle, Idaho, announced the released their business objects model of advanced data management and data integration with Sage products. The new data communication process between bMobile and Peachtree by Sage, Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200, is the latest bMobile offering for Sage users in the DSD and route sales distribution industry.
The business objects model of data integration replaces bMobile’s previous integration process of utilizing Visual Integrator. Improvements in user efficiency and technical capability led to the development, placing bMobile in an elite group of Sage developers.
“This advancement was purely customer driven,” said bMobile president Chris Macaw. “Our DSD Route customers wanted fewer steps in their data exchange process - involving fewer people. We agreed there was a better way, and we are very pleased with the solution.”
The advanced data model is specifically designed to link bMobile Route Software with the latest Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 versions 4.4. The Idaho software developer is among the first route accounting software solutions to offer the superior process, and the only such developer in their price range to offer the advanced data integration solution.
About bMobile Technology, Inc.
bMobile Route Software is located in the Boise, Idaho metro area, and is the sister company of the custom software development firm Software Outfitters, Inc. bMobile specializes in development of mobile software solutions and integrating those products with accounting software systems from Sage®, Intuit®, SAP®, and others. Founded in 1996, the company is privately owned with over 650 customers throughout North America and Puerto Rico.
About Sage North America
Sage North America is the North American operating company of UK-based The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and services. For more than 30 years, Sage North America has delivered easy-to-use, scalable, and customizable software solutions to 3.1 million small and medium-sized business customers in North America. Sage North America primarily serves small companies with 25 or fewer employees, and medium-sized companies with up to 500 or more employees
Sage North America’s parent company, The Sage Group, plc. (London: SGE.L), reaches a global client base that numbers more than 6.1 million SMB customers worldwide. It serves these businesses through more than 13,400 employees in operations in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South Africa and Australia.
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bMobile Route Software Partners with SAGE
Feb 2, 2010 9:00 A.M. MDT
bMobile Route Software, provider of Route Accounting Software, announced their pending partnership with Sage Software.
BOISE, Idaho, Feb, 2– bMobile Route Software, of Eagle, Idaho, announced their pending Development Partnership with Sage North America, a leading global supplier of business management software and services. As a Development Partner for Peachtree by Sage, and the Sage MAS product line, bMobile Route Software continues to extend their growing DSD and route sales market reach.
“It’s an exciting alliance,” said bMobile president Chris Macaw. “Our partnership will allow us to better serve our DSD Route Sales customers who are loyal to Sage. Becoming a Development Partner for both Peachtree and the MAS products - MAS 90, MAS 200 and MAS 500- we can offer a solid migration path as our DSD Route Sales distributors grow.”
About bMobile Route Software
bMobile Route Software is located in the Boise, Idaho metro area, and is the sister company of the custom software development firm Software Outfitters, Inc. bMobile specializes in development of mobile software solutions and integrating those products with accounting software systems from Sage®, Intuit®, SAP®, and others. Founded in 1996, the company is privately owned with over 650 customers throughout North America and Puerto Rico.
About Sage North America
Sage North America is the North American operating company of UK-based The Sage Group plc, a leading global supplier of business management software and services. For more than 30 years, Sage North America has delivered easy-to-use, scalable, and customizable software solutions to 3.1 million small and medium-sized business customers in North America. Sage North America primarily serves small companies with 25 or fewer employees, and medium-sized companies with up to 500 or more employees
Sage North America’s parent company, The Sage Group, plc. (London: SGE.L), reaches a global client base that numbers more than 6.1 million SMB customers worldwide. It serves these businesses through more than 13,400 employees in operations in North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South Africa and Australia.
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bMobile Route Software Named to Top Tech List
January 15, 2010
“bMobile Route Software, provider of Route Accounting Systems for Food and Beverage Distribution Industry, was named to High-Tech Company Top List by Idaho Business Review.”
Boise, Idaho – bMobile Route Software, of Eagle, Idaho, was named to the list of top high-tech firms by the regional business publication, Idaho Business Review. The route software development company gained industry recognition in 2009 with record setting sales despite the historic recession.
“Being included on the list with Micron Technology and other prestigious tech manufactures is a real honor,” cited bMobile’s President Chris Macaw. “Being able to grow our staff and our product line during such tough economic times was a real confidence builder.”
“We attribute a portion of our growth to the timely release of some very innovative products.” Macaw went on to add, “The other component of our success is our extremely devoted and customer-focused staff.”
The V.09 release of bMobile Route Software revealed the high anticipated RoutMizer route optimization software. That highly anticipated feature reduces route costs in fuel, labor and equipment.
As a developer of mobile distribution software, bMobile Route Software services food and beverage route sales and route delivery distributors. In 2009, bMobile enhanced many of their product lines with specialized features for beer distribution, bread and bakery product distribution, prepaid calling card distribution and propane wholesale distributors.
bMobile Route Software is branch of Software Outfitters Technology founded in 1996. The company is privately owned with over 650 customers throughout North America and Puerto Rico. bMobile is an authorized developer for the accounting software firms, Intuit®, SAP®, Mas 90®, Mas 200® and Cougar Mountain Software®.
bMobile also announced an upcoming release of V.10, and promises even more inovatin that has placed it among the top technology companies in the northwest.
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bMobile Route Software Names Jeremy Russell as National Channel Manager
Aug 18, 2009
“bMobile Technology, provider of Route Accounting Software, announced the addition of former Sage Software executive Jeremy Russell to their management team.
BOISE, Idaho, Aug 18 – Today bMobile Technology, of Eagle, Idaho, announced the selection of Jeremy Russell as their new National Channel Manager. In addition to his nine-years of sales and management experience with Sage, the former Idaho resident also served as an Authorized Sage Software Partner and most recently managed the Denver branch office for BCS ProSoft, also a business technology provider.
“We’re delighted to have Jeremy on our team,” said bMobile president Chris Macaw. “The importance we place on channel sales required someone of Jeremy’s caliber to lead our National Business Partner Channel division. Having been a Sage Partner, and having supported channel partners, gives him a unique understanding of Partner needs and challenges.”
“The opportunity to work with cutting edge mobile technology and the highly regarded bMobile organization was compelling,” said Russell. “Joining this awesome team and returning to Idaho is a double win, for me and my family.”
Mr. Russell is an Ohio native with a BA degree in business, from California State University of Chico. Married with two children, Jeremy is also a non-practicing CPA.
About bMobile Route Software
bMobile Technology, Inc. is located in the Boise, Idaho metro area, and is the sister company of the custom software development firm Software Outfitters, Inc. bMobile specializes in development of mobile software solutions and integrating those products with accounting software systems from Sage®, Intuit®, SAP®, DacEasy®, Cougar Mountain®, and others. Founded in 1996, the company is privately owned with over 650 customers throughout North America and Puerto Rico.
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Fuel Costs Weigh on Trucking Industry
October 24, 2008
While the past year’s record-breaking fuel prices have found millions of motorists moaning at the pump, they’ve had a much more dramatic effect on an industry that serves as the backbone of the U.S. economy: trucking.
According to Kathy Fowers, president of the Idaho Trucking Association, nearly 2,000 trucking firms went out of business nationwide in the first two quarters of 2008, and best estimates are
that another 1,000 went under in the third quarter. That doesn’t even take into account companies with five or fewer trucks or independent companies, both of which make up a good portion of Idaho’s trucking industry.
“I know one of our members had been struggling for months but he finally got bought out by a company in Oregon,” she said. “In order to pay his insurance premium for a month he sold his truck just to keep his company open.” Though diesel prices have fallen off in recent weeks – to between $3.60 and $3.90 around the state – Jason Andrus of Doug Andrus Distributing in Idaho Falls said fuel economy is a primary concern.And small things like tire pressure, speed limits and basic equipment choices mean a lot.
“One thing we’re doing is really analyzing closely which equipment configurations get the best fuel efficiency,” said Andrus, who serves as the 71-year-old company’s chief financial officer.
With 260 trucks, Doug Andrus Distributing is the largest trucking firm based in Idaho, so it needs to save every penny it can. Andrus said simply lowering the firm’s fleet speed limit from 68 to 64 miles per hour is expected to save about a half-gallon per mile. “That might not seem like a lot, but Doug Andrus Distributing does 30 million miles a year,” he said.
But aside from basics like tire pressure and speed limits, technology can also help trucking companies streamline their operations. Andrus said his company uses two pieces of software, PC*Miler and Expert Fuel, to determine the most efficient routes, track fuel prices and establish when and where drivers can fuel up for the least amount of money.
While Andrus said his company has been using the programs for years, they haven’t been enough to completely overcome the challenges posed by high diesel prices. Still, route optimization, as it’s called, provides a big enough benefit that freight giants like UPS have developed their own programs to plot routes – even down to the minutest factors.
“In order to not have any idle time and keep things moving smoothly they (UPS) have figured out their routes so they only have to make right turns,” Fowers said. According to Chris Macaw, president and CEO of Eagle-based software firm bMobile, the key to making route optimization really work for small- to medium-sized trucking companies is bundling everything together – taking into account speed limits, construction zones, fueling stations, prices, weight, distance and inventory, and making it all accessible from a handheld device that marries work in the field to back-office operations like bookkeeping and proof of delivery.
“We look at time as an incredible resource, so if we’re efficient in terms of loading or making sales in the field or not having someone key data in when they come in, we look at that as a tremendous return on investment,” Macaw said.
The company, which has been in operation since 2000, today counts about 1,000 users in the U.S., Canada and even Aruba. Macaw pointed to a Boston-area Pepsi distributing company as an example of what bMobile’s RouteMizer 2.0 software can do, saying the firm saves about $1,100 a day just by optimizing its 26 routes.
“We’re not really intended for May Trucking or a company like that,” said Macaw, who added that about 100 Idaho firms use RouteMizer. “We’re mainly intended for somebody that’s actually distributing products.”
With its own designers and developers, Macaw said bMobile is able to customize its product to fit client needs, and uses industry standard tools and hardware to keep costs down. Still, efficiency carries a price tag – software and training cost about $10,000 and each handheld device comes in at about $2,000. Macaw said that’s still less than many other route optimization systems, and RouteMizer features the added benefit of consolidation.
“To bring it all together and have it so one system talks to another is what we think is the key benefit of our program,” he said.
Reprinted by Permission of Idaho Business Review
© 2008 Idaho Business Review
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New Gas-Saving Software Released
June 9, 2008
“bMobile Technology, provider of Route Accounting Software, releases new route management software with gas-saving route optimization feature.”
BOISE, Idaho – Today bMobile Technology announced the new version release of its bMobileRoute Manager™, route accounting software, version 8.0. The route management software system is designed for small and midsize wholesale distribution companies, with focus on the consumer package goods industry (CPG).
bMobile also announced that its latest release includes a new gas-saving feature, RouteMizer™ route optimization package. The route optimization package, RouteMizer, utilizes sophisticated route mapping technology as well as the capability to distribute workload throughout the delivery fleet and labor force, using a variety of fleet, load and personnel criteria. While fuel the savings is the obvious benefit to any route delivery operation, vehicle and labor optimization functionality was also developed to reduce operating costs for midsize companies.
bMobile President Chris Macaw stated, “RouteMizer is by far the most requested of all the new features, and has the greatest potential of immediate payback for the wholesaler.” The RouteMizer addition has drawn increased interest due to the recent fuel cost surge.
In addition to route optimization, the route management package 8.0 added advanced asset tracking features and additional in-depth sales reports. The PC portion of the package is Windows® compatible and the real-time mobile application utilizes the industry leading Windows Mobile® platform, allowing installation on most handheld computing devices. The two systems communicate via WiFi, wireless broadband, or the ubiquitous digital cellular.
About bMobile Technology
bMobile Technology is located in the Boise, Idaho metro area, and is the sister company of the custom software development firm Software Outfitters, Inc. Founded in 1996, the company is privately owned with over 650 customers throughout North America and Puerto Rico. bMobile is an authorized developer for the accounting software firms, Intuit®, SAP® and Cougar Mountain Software®.
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