ePonti Web Portal Organizes Your Installations

Walk into an installation company's back office and you might see any number of management methods — from sticky note collages to e-mail bombardments.

"Integrators are sitting there with Excel and a white board," says David Keen, co-founder of ePonti, a Web-based management solution. "They're trying to keep all their information in one place."

Back in the day, Keen helped start D-Tools, makers of the design and documentation software that has become popular among installers. He left D-Tools in 2002 and created ePonti with industry veteran Bill Battaglia.

While D-Tools provided installers with documentation tools, and other office programs (like Quickbooks or MS Office) provided administrative tools, there was still a need for process-focused communication, he says. ePonti is a Web portal that integrates such programs with project management activities — like procurement, change orders, install status, etc.

"Ponti is Italian for bridge," Keen says. "ePonti is a bridge between D-Tools and Quickbooks. The Web-based portal posts times, tasks, work orders, change order requests. You get to manage the process from the job site."

Implementation Process

Since ePonti is Web-based, companies can subscribe to it. Rates vary depending upon the number of users. There is no software to ship or installations to sit through with ePonti.

"We wanted to offer a solution that's affordable, not a lot up front," says Keen.

Keen says data on ePonti is safe from tampering or theft. "It's all secure, with the same encryption as a bank."

Keen says plenty of training is available, but minimal is needed. "A one-hour training [session] could provide a good overview," he says.

ePonti has a network of partners that also play into the company's offerings. Though D-Tools is one of these partners, Keen says no sales package connects the two companies.

An important partnerships, Keen says, is ePonti's relationship with Abacus Prime. "Part of our theory is that you need a business process before you pick software," he explains.

Some of the programs ePonti integrates with include:

• D-Tools
• Excel
• MS Office
• Peachtree
• Accounting Pro

Keen says software choices can be overwhelming to some integrators. "That's why Susan Sipe of Abacus Prime is a partner, working to get users set up right," he says. "She's really a process expert."