Business Spotlight: E.S. Systems Inc.

by Laura Scott

SBJ Contributing Writer

sbj@sbj.net

Instead of looking for another job when the software development company Robert de Wild was working for closed, he decided to start his own company. Since then, he's never looked back.

De Wild created E.S. Systems with an emphasis on service that has built a strong, loyal clientele since March 2000.

"Right away I hired a full-time employee, and in October 2002, I hired a second one," said de Wild. A third employee joined the company a year ago. De Wild and his three employees Project Manager Billie Cleek and Senior Systems Developers Valter Herman and Chris Coffman focus on creating data-management solutions for their clients.

"All of our work is from word-of-mouth. We don't have a sales staff," de Wild said. "It allows us to keep our overhead down and be very efficient and affordable to our customers. I've been very pleased with the way our staff has worked together. Customer service is our number one priority. Our mission is to provide our customers with the tools and services they need to maximize their business opportunities through data collection, data management and data analysis."

E.S. Systems develops custom software and hardware for its customers, which are mostly small companies. Local customers include Brown Derby, Community Hospices of America and Drury, de Wild said. They also service an electrical supply company in St. Louis and a liquor store chain in Connecticut. "Currently, we're working with a start-up company and developing their system from scratch," de Wild said. "We own our own Human Resources Management software that handles tasks like deductions for employees, tracing pay rates for employees and an employee time clock."

The system, called ESSI HRMS Human Resources Management System, facilitates configuration and connectivity for multiple geographic locations, secure access that is highly configurable, and various optional modules that provide multiple job descriptions, pay scales, shift pay, access security and dynamic reporting with Crystal Reports. Optional with this software is biometric identification, Internet access, live update, payroll and exchange data with QuickBooks Financial Software.

"Our customer software solutions can reduce data entry time because a company can integrate their existing software with various QuickBooks versions," de Wild said. With QuickBooks, E.S. Systems can integrate invoicing, estimates, contact management, customer and project tracing, human resources, payroll, point of sale, express shipping and time, and inventory tracking. "For one company, we installed the system for $17,000 and they immediately were able to save 20 hours a week on data entry," he added.

E.S. Systems customizes solutions for its customers, allowing a business to prevent long lines at the check-out counter. Their asset and inventory management software (Automated Identification Data Collection) systems allows mobile computers to track inventory in batch or in real time. It can organize receiving, moving, counting, shipping, label printing and price checks.

"Our idea of custom software arises when a company contacts us and explains a particular problem to a business process. Often we suggest a particular piece of custom-written software to solve that problem in the most economical way," de Wild said. "They call us and ask us if it can be done, and usually the answer is yes, depending on how much money they want to spend."

De Wild and his employees are always searching for new ideas and solutions to grow their customer base.

"We have a new product we're working on right now for a Web application that the customer will be able to use," he said. "It's a brand new idea that I can't yet disclose. We also just finished installing pilot software at Brown Derby where they can use their existing (computer) system to process payment reports through payroll processing software. It's in the testing stages. The advantage is that the customer doesn't have to take paper time cards and do data entry into their payroll. The system transfers data to the corporate office, so the data entry step is virtually eliminated."

Kelli Fleck, human resources director for Brown Derby, recently had E.S. Systems install software to upgrade Brown Derby's payroll system. "We wanted to customize our payroll center for our 18 stores to bring us into the 21st century," she said. "We had manually added up our hours, having employees write in their hours, for our payroll process."

Brown Derby wanted to automate its system and eventually connected with E.S. Systems. The company offered ideas that utilized Brown Derby's current equipment and installed software to enable employees to clock in and out with ID badges.

"We're really excited about the benefits," she said. "It saves money and things run much smoother. We found Robert to be extremely professional. He has good ideas and listens to what you're looking for."

De Wild obtained a degree in computer science from Southwest Missouri State and immediately started work as a computer programmer for four years before opening E.S. Systems. His wife, Tamara, provided the family of three with a steady income while de Wild grew the business. E.S. Systems grew to $201,000 in sales for 2003, a 70 percent increase from its 2002 revenues.

"We also give back to the community. It's our philosophy," he said. "One thing is that we're developing a Web site for New Hope Support Group for no charge."

The growth of the company has been a learning experience full of challenges, de Wild said.

"We didn't realize how much competition there is. We made up for that by offering different products with more value. Our challenge is to develop software and keep changing and modifying it to make it better," de Wild said.

"On the flip side, if you do try to keep up with the latest technology, you have to be careful not to alienate your customer base that might want to use a system for a long time. Cutting edge technology doesn't always perform on older technology. We try to help our small companies by keeping our overhead very low so we can maintain an affordable rate base to our customers."