Medical equipment service providers know very well that sometimes it's all about the software. That's true not just for repairing equipment but for running your business, too.

DOTmed Certified Clark Wilkins, President of DOTmed 100 company JDI Solutions, Inc., Brevard, NC, has developed his own enterprise resource management software and a software company, QMD Accountworks, LLC, to market it to other sales and service organizations that want to run their operations anywhere anytime.

"Think of it as Microsoft Windows for business. It is a platform that runs the entire operation," Wilkins said. JDI has many divisions including consulting, parts, service and others. Wilkins runs them all using just the software and occasionally a word processor.

The key components of the application, called Insight, are a double entry accounting package, job scheduling module, "groupware" including a company-wide calendar and contact manager, a customer relationship management tool, and inventory control. It's the type of program that you "drop" onto your IT system.

"You've got all these modules such as job tickets, expense management, accounting, phone books, customers, inventory -- and they all talk to each other," Wilkins said "so you are sitting inside a web browser anywhere in the world... watching operations in real time."

Why did Wilkins become a software publisher? "Primarily because packages that do what I want are usually six figure installations."

In the old days--remember the 1990s?--everybody ran specialized database packages on internal computer systems. Insight allows internet access. Wilkins was ahead of his time with this now common configuration.

But forget about the cost and time savings, the convenience and organizational advantages. "The real reason for doing this was that I needed to answer some questions that were absolutely unavailable on other software at the time. Simple questions like--how much money does it take to keep the lights on? How much do you need every month in the bank to make your bills? I couldn't answer that question."

Insight lets you know your cash position, inventory position, calls to make and tasks to do. "I don't go anywhere else but this program to run my whole day," Wilkins said.

Other ISOs that have adopted Insight agree.

"We love the software. It has changed the way we do business ten fold," said Jeremy Probst, Operations Manager, Technical Prospects, LLC, Greenville, WI, who has been using Insight since it debuted in early 2007. "It's a management tool for your complete business which includes inventory, financials, a calendar, contact management, mass e-mailer, and other functions.

"Probably our favorite end of it is when you create an order or do a time- or order-based entry, that automatically gets dropped into the unbilled invoice section. There's no need for paperwork.... So instead of having two environments--a custom software for service and parts, and another for accounting--it's all streamlined. With a few clicks of the mouse you can create an invoice and it pulls all the information from that job such as time and parts used," Probst said.

The application produces all sorts of graphical charts to reveal important information that might be hidden in a spreadsheet. For example it takes a snapshot of cash flow trends and calculates return on investment--say the value of parts from an investment in an expensive MRI. Another important business question for ISOs is: What unsold inventory is sitting in the warehouse? Insight will tell you that.

"It is accounting for people who aren't accountants," Wilkins said. "I don't want to go back to school and study accounting, I just want to get an answer."

For more information about Insight, contact Victor Bubuioc.