Software firm thrives in Madisonville
| Jim (left) and Jon Love are shown with the hardware used with the retail point of sale software they have developed. Displayed are an electronic signature pad, bar code scanner, PDA with a built-in bar code scanner and thermal receipt printer. The software is being used by the local True Value Workshop store. (Messenger Photo / Lowell Mendyk) |
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A Madisonville firm has received $25,000 in funding through a grant program authorized by the Kentucky Innovation Act of 2000 to further develop a software application. Profile Systems Design Group is developing a retail point-of-sale software application that will be used in hardware stores and gift shops. The Rural Innovation Fund grant will be used to refine and complete development of the software, which is called TransActPOS 700. The firm originally got into point-of-sale software about 14 years ago, said Jon Love, who owns the company with his brother, Jim. “Two years ago, we looked at what software is doing in the world,” Love said. “It’s becoming much more sophisticated and allowing you to do more things. At the time, because of continuing work, we decided to scrap the entire software project we had and restart it from scratch.” This involved spending two months rewriting the database of how everything ties together, then taking more than 1 1/2 years to rewrite the entire program. Profile Systems Design Group learned about the innovation fund through state Rep. Eddie Ballard’s office. Ray Cullum, information technology development coordinator with the Madisonville-Hopkins County Economic Development Corp., helped with follow-up work, Love said. The old point-of-sale system is in about 450 stores, with the new system already installed in three stores. True Value was the first store to obtain the original system, and the second store to go online with the new version. The new system allows the capture of electronic signatures when credit cards are used. The store’s statements will also show the signatures of the individuals who signed for the purchases. “This grant will let us go externally to get experts to review product and finish up pieces we feel we would get a lot of help from,” Love said. The firm plans to develop SQL database testing and set up a wireless hand-held network that includes inventory scanners. “We’ll be able to expand further with it, and that’s part of what we’re working with True Value quite a bit for ideas we haven’t even thought of yet,” Love said. “It’s a way to tie someone portable to the inventory and customers without having to go to a computer.”
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