By Ruth Richter • December 14, 2017
ROI Consulting has been an industry leader for over 20 years. Since our founding in 1997, the world has changed quite a bit, but one thing hasn’t changed. Our commitment to customer service and reliable Sage integration remains the same. Here are some highlights from our past with a look to our future.
1998 – 2001
We officially released the E-commerce Master Module (ECM) for MAS 90 at the State of the Art (SOTA) Accounting Software Visions Conference held in 1999. ECM had a lot of promise for MAS 90 customers pursuing “.com” websites in 1999. Back then, the estimate was that e-commerce would top $31.2 billion per year. Just for perspective, in Q1 of 2017, U.S. e-commerce sales topped $105.7 billion—in one quarter!!
At this time, one of the talking points was the fact that ECM for MAS 90 used Microsoft’s Open Database Connectivity. ODBC v3.5 enabled drivers for most platforms and most databases and opened up the ability to connect to MS-SQL which was very popular for MAS 90 customers, developers and partners.
By 2000, SOTA had become Best Software and then purchased by The Sage Group.
This was also a big time for new applications releases of both e-commerce and integration solutions at Sage. First was the release of internet.access (now called Ebusiness Manager) allowing for real-time integration to a B2B “out of the box” website. Then came Visual Integrator. However, ROI continued to fill a big opening in the market with our solution by providing real-time integration with existing websites.
2002 – 2009
In 2002, ROI re-branded E-Commerce Master with our current name: “IN-SYNCH®.” We compared it to Palm Inc’s popular “HotSync” tool to enable future buyers and partners to grasp its purpose immediately. The more generic name helped us to highlight that the application could integrate MAS 90 with just about any third-party database, in addition to e-commerce websites.
IN-SYNCH technology was truly revolutionary for its time. It continues to be the only integration solution available written in ProvideX that allowed for real-time data updates for virtually all versions of MAS 90, MAS 200 and Sage 100.
We started to emphasize in our marketing that IN-SYNCH was a “Master Developer-made module.” What was and still is very unique about IN-SYNCH is that the application is installed with the accounting system software on the MAS server, which gives us greater control of how the integration functions within MAS 90.
In 2005, our company relocated from Mission Viejo, CA to Bellevue, Nebraska. Since we work with all our customers on a virtual basis, the move made very little impact overall.
Our client base continued to grow, which helped us to build experience with a large variety of projects. IN-SYNCH was and remains a great investment for those who have already invested in a website and need reliable Sage integration.
2010 – 2013
By 2010, our list of products integrated with Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 ERP products was increasing into a truly impressive library. We performed our first of what would become many integrations with Magento, the very popular, open source website shopping cart that today has over 250,000 merchants around the globe. We began to see many “off the shelf” shopping carts being used by our customers, such as X-Cart, Zen Cart, and dozens more popular and lesser known carts and platforms.
Also during this period, we were fortunate to form a strong and lasting alliance with Clearnine when they launched their Clearnine e-commerce webstore solution that utilizes IN-SYNCH to perform a tight integration to Sage 100. This platform continues to fill a need for our customers who require a robust website, shopping cart, and content management system that is tightly integrated with Sage.
The availability of our solution that synchronizes data continued to be highlighted in all our marketing with images of intelligent dolphins, synchronized rowers, and the Blue Angels. The fact that our solution offered intelligent, real-time, customizable, efficient, proven, secure synchronization was emphasized, with the cost saving benefits included.
Sage Software released eBusiness web services with Sage MAS 200 V4.5, which spurned ROI to create a comparison chart between the two applications to highlight the fact that IN-SYNCH offers a more robust integration and is better suited for high volume projects.
In 2012, Sage Software renamed MAS 90 and MAS 200 to Sage 100 with the release of Sage 100 v2013. The database structure was enhanced; in addition, the solution offered greatly enhanced payroll integration capabilities and brought the integration into PCI compliance. Needless to say, we saw a huge number of our clients convert to this new version.
2014 – 2017
As e-commerce continued to grow, the explosion of shopping cart choices bewildered many of our customers. During this period, we began to offer “turnkey” integration to help many companies streamline their data through IN-SYNCH’s ability to work with so many varied carts and shopping platforms. No longer did third-party developers need to take part in our projects and we started to see larger integration projects that included multiple carts, marketplaces, and 3PL integration, some all with one customer.
We formally registered the trademark of our IN-SYNCH logo in 2015. While there are various options being offered each day by other developers for e-commerce needs, Sage 100 customers and partners, alike, continue to choose ROI for our experience and reputation with getting the projects completed to specification, on time and on budget.
Sage 100c was released in 2016, providing customers a new modern interface. ROI continues to support virtually all versions of MAS 90 and Sage 100 since our first release and IN-SYNCH is available for all Sage 100, Sage 100 SQL and Sage 100c platforms.
Today, we are working with just about every website platform, web store solution, and marketplace, and we have completed a number of 3PL projects. We also continue to develop new integrated shopping carts, websites, and portals for customers. Custom integration’s add to the suite of reliable products that enhance users’ abilities to view and use real-time data.
The Future
The future continues to look bright for our customers. Instead of slowing down, the world of e-commerce is expanding. What was once a cottage industry in the United States now accounts for over $400 billion in revenues annually.
Sites such as Amazon dominate B2C shopping and consumer searches. Dominant bricks and mortar players, such as Wal-Mart, are gobbling up e-tailers like Modcloth and other niche e-commerce sites in their quest to compete against Amazon.
And in this mix, are our customers—the specialty retailers, the B2B and B2C companies who fuel the nation’s growth and prosperity. Sage integration is an important part of your business. Here’s to your success, and to a bright future together with ROI Consulting!
ROI Consulting: Better Integration with IN-SYNCH
IN-SYNCH from ROI Consulting makes integration easy. Many clients have used IN-SYNCH to connect their systems with a wide range of shopping carts with excellent results. With over 20 years of experience, ROI Consulting understands the needs of Sage 100 clients and offers the right tools to support integration.
For more information on IN-SYNCH, visit ROI Consulting or speak with someone at ROI Consulting today. Contact ROI Consulting online or call us at 402-934-2223, ext. 1
