Federal Government Contract Translates To Mobile Printing Sales
Due to its participation in two government contract programs, this integrator expects 300% sales revenue growth in 2007.
It's all in the details. That is, to land those lucrative government contracts, you're going to have to go through the lengthy detail-driven process of getting your company added to the state's and/or federal government's authorized solutions provider programs. In-Synch Systems, a custom software solutions provider and systems integrator, is one company that has gone through the process and now anticipates a 300% growth in sales revenue in 2007 by providing records management and mobile citation printing solutions to law enforcement agencies. While the integrator is based in Pennsylvania, inclusion in federal government programs has allowed the company to land a project for the Wolfforth, TX Police Department.
As part of a technological improvement campaign, Wolfforth County was looking to install a records management system (RMS) to allow police officers to electronically file paperwork from the field. The county contacted In-Synch after reading about the company's $25,000 MobileSynchRMS software solution. While progressing through the initial stages of purchasing the software, Wolfforth saw In-Synch marketing materials pertaining to the integrator's mobile citation printing solution customized for law enforcement. Mobile citation printing happened to be another technology area Wolfforth was interested in upgrading.
"The overarching goal was to improve the efficiency of the Wolfforth Police Department," says Mark Sentell, director of marketing and customer care for In-Synch. "Historically, the Wolfforth Police Department officers would issue handwritten traffic citations and later return to the office and re-enter those citations into some computer system for tracking. This was time-consuming and also produced sometimes-illegible citations that were prone to misinterpretation at the data-entry level and sometimes the prosecution level."
In-Synch's solution for each of Wolfforth's eight police cruisers includes Printek MTP-400 mobile thermal printers, MAGTEK mag-stripe readers (used to read driver's licenses to automatically populate personal information), and In-Synch's custom software to interface with laptops in the officers' cruisers. The cost of the mobile citation printing portion of the solution was approximately $17,000. "Because of the new hardware and software, Wolfforth officers now can digitally record citation information on their in-car computers and print those citations on the Printek printers," says Sentell. In-Synch had to work closely with both the Wolfforth Police Department and court system to ensure the citations being printed were acceptable in court.
In-Synch chose to use Printek printers due to the reliability the integrator has seen in its experience deploying the printers. "With any technology system, we sell it on the merits of making the client's job easier, less frustrating, and more efficient," explains Sentell. "When you have hardware or software problems, you can't make good on your promise and your business could suffer. While we've received many support calls on other printers, we have never had one on a Printek printer."
Partner With Existing Technical Assets
Sentell believes that the key to the successful remote management of a project is to get all expectations down on paper. That is, by thoroughly researching the specifications of the equipment and where it was going to be installed (i.e. inside the cars), the company was able to significantly minimize the chance of an unforeseen roadblock. In-Synch also was pleased to find that Wolfforth's Police Department had a capable IT technician who was able to assist during the installation. "Getting their technician involved was significant," adds Sentell. "We knew their local IT guy would know their user patterns and internal computer systems better than any contractor coming in." Interestingly, most of the work performed by In-Synch was done remotely. By using Wolfforth's in-house technician, In-Synch was able to save money on travel costs and help make the overall customer experience a good one.
Since being added to two federal programs only six months ago, In-Synch has expanded its geographic reach from 2 states to 13. Sentell anticipates adding 50 to 100 new custom citation clients across the country this year. There is opportunity in the government vertical. But how can you get involved? Sentell offers the following advice: "You need to have a great detail person devoted to the application process to make sure the correct information is included, in the right place, in the right format. Most government agencies, once you get far enough into the process, will give you a contracting officer/point person for asking questions. Get them on your speed dial."