Web Site Finally Up and running

It's Official, the bugs with the new website are (cross my fingers) worked out. The new additions to the website are a much needed overhaul to the site. I have listed a few links below. Let me know if you see any "bugs"

Check out.....
The new Product page (actually has our new products listed)
Products Page

A new "benefits of GPS" page
Benefits Page

The new ROI Calculator
ROI Calculator Page

Website Update!

We have been very busy here and I haven't had time to do any updates. We are all working overtime to close some sales in the pipeline. This afternoon we are going to be performing some maintenance to our website. The products section is going to be overhauled as well as some new features and updates. I would expect to have everything back up and running by Monday!

GSA Advantage

If you didn't read the press release this morning our product line went live on the GSA Advantage site. You can see the schedule by clicking on the link below.

GSA Advantage Product line

Big Order!

Today we have some new and very exciting news . I officially received a PO for 450 units. We have been working VERY hard to close this account and it is the LARGEST domestic order that we have ever received. More details will be released soon about the company, but I can say that they are a Major security system installer. The company is going to use the system for dispatching, fuel savings and time management of their fleet and drivers. The setup that they purchased is a CT410 running on the Sprint network. I can't tell you how excited everyone is here that we got this account. This is one of many great this to come for HISS

New Study

Motorola Enterprise Mobility recently ran a study across 255 North American IT and Telecom decision makers and had the following results:

Field Mobility workers recover approximately 54 minutes of downtime per day when their organization utilizes GPS solutions. This equates to average annual recouped labor costs of $5,484 per employee
GPS enabled field forces drive an average of 231.2 FEWER miles per week netting approximately $51,582 in annual fuel savings

I was very surprised when I saw these figures!

Thought I would share…

GSA Update

Just a quick update this morning. We are now listed on the GSA website, you can follow the link below and check it out for yourself!

Click here for the GSA site.

More GSA!

Yesterday I did a quick overview of the GSA contract. We have gotten lots of calls and Emails about how positive the release was. I wanted to do another blog about how the GSA will affect us... Yes this blog is going to be very long. I can't stress enough how BIG being GSA listed is for HISS. It is one of the biggest things to have happened to us in 18 months. Being able to show our products on the GSA schedule brings credibility and validity to the products and the Company. The due diligence the GSA performed on both the company and products was extensive.

GSA is basically a mall for government agencies and we now have an storefront in that mall. There are so many things that are positive about being listed on the GSA; first and foremost it has the potential to bring immediate sales of our products. Being listed on the GSA eliminates many of hurdles that have to be overcome in making sales to local, state and federal government agencies. In many cases it allows us to sell to the government without filling out vendor applications and to sell direct without bidding.

If you read my blog yesterday, you will know what we are 1 of 8 companies listed on the GSA under fleet management. Competition is healthy, but we really stand head and shoulders above the other products on the Fleet management side of the GSA. To be quite honest, there are some companies listed under the Fleet Management that really don't have a competing product. For Example LoJack is 1 of the 8 companies listed and they sell recovery equipment to police departments off the GSA and it has nothing to do with Fleet Management.

Over the last few months we have had conversations with other companies that recently got listed on the GSA and there advice was to "get ready". Obviously we hope that we have the same experience as the others. Below are some benefits and additional information on the GSA.

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) helps federal agencies better serve the public by offering, at best value, superior workplaces, expert solutions, acquisition services and management policies. GSA's Federal Supply Schedules are large contracts through which federal customers can acquire more than 4 million products and services directly from more than 8,000 commercial suppliers More than 1 million of these products and services can be ordered using the GSA Advantage! online ordering system. The US General Services Administration is a reliable and proven source for thousands of Federal purchasers worldwide.

Benefits of being GSA listed:

· Maximizes the opportunities for contractors' participation by notifying them of new government requirements for their specific supplies (products) or services;
· Saves contractors money by reducing the cost of finding government business opportunities and reducing lead time and cost to submit quotations;
· Provides an interactive capability for contractors to communicate requirements and quotations via the web and email;
· Helps contractors establish new business relationships as new opportunities are discovered;
· Provides a fast, efficient, and easy-to-use electronic Request for Quotation (RFQ) system that streamlines the acquisition process;
· Increases sales potential by making contractors more aware of new business opportunities;
· Provides valuable information on the federal marketplace, allowing contractors to expand their customer bases; and
· Saves time, since business opportunities are sent directly to contractors via email and quotations can be sent electronically

GSA Advantage offers the most comprehensive selection of approved products and services from GSA Schedules as well as all GSA Global Supply products
Benefits of using the GSA Advantage for online ordering:
By using the GSA Advantage a customer can:

· Search for items using keywords, part numbers, National Stock Numbers (NSNs), manufacturer names, contractor names, or contract numbers;
· Browse by category of products and services;
· Compare features, prices, and delivery options;
· Configure products and add accessories;
· Place orders directly online;
· Review delivery options;
· Select a convenient payment method; and
· View order history to track status, reorder, or cancel.


A special thanks to Alex who has championed this project and has spent endless hours fighting through the red tape to get our GSA certification!

We are now GSA Listed!

I have not blogged in a long time, to long actually. I have a lot of catching up to do and I will try to do that over the next week. Today's announcement was too big for me not to say a few things about it. A few months ago we made an announcement that HISS was going to apply to the GSA and try to get GSA approved. Today after battling the paper work and proving our technology to the GSA, we have followed through with that promise and our product line is officially GSA approved!

Being GSA listed is HUGE news. It gives us a sales channel that we never had before and it makes it much easier to sell to government departments. We are 1 of 8 companies that are approved for Fleet Management on the GSA. I have to say that there is not much competition. When looking at the competitors that are already listed, our products really stand out. Looking at the other competition, we are the ONLY company that offers a full product line from basic GPS tracking to more complex monitoring. We are also the only company offering leasing programs.

GSA Schedules offer customers direct delivery of millions of state-of-the-art, high-quality commercial supplies and services at volume discount pricing. All customers, even those in remote locations, can order the latest technology and quality supplies and services, conveniently, and at most favored customer prices. GSA Schedules also offer the potential benefits of shorter lead-times, lower administrative costs, and reduced inventories. When using GSA Schedules, ordering activities have the opportunity to meet small business goals, while promoting compliance with various environmental and socioeconomic laws and regulations.


I have lots of product updates and sales updates, I will try to get them out in the next week!

Software Sales!

Today is the day where the rubber hits the reoccurring revenue road. Before today, HISS’s revenue stream consisted of margin on the hardware sales of the CT line and accessories and a small amount from sales of the data pipeline. Today we have all of those things along with the ability to bill our own software. This process allows us to collect a portion of the revenue billed and add it to our bottom line, rather than all of it going to the software vendor. We have only been doing this for a few weeks and already have had an incredible response to our offering. We have already had committed over $20,000.00 annually of reoccurring revenue on the system and currently have 10 active demos going with new customers. With the addition to our own software we now have 3 avenues of revenue, hardware, software and (pipeline) Kore. From a software sale, we are now able to add software to the deal and vice versa on the hardware. It seems like a winner for everyone. We are still carrier and software agnostic, in other words we will still sell on any network and use any software. This is a giant step in the right direction for HISS

CT-100

The CT-100 is something that we have been working on for the last few months. Currently the CT100 only runs on Sprint/Nextel networks. It works using a combo of GPS satellites and cellular triangulation. Since it does not have to have a clear view of the sky, it can be worn on a belt or placed in a backpack and still send accurate positions. The CT100 is currently in the field being used by real customers and is in its final stage of testing. The customers that are using/testing the CT100 need it for a variety of reasons; one customer is using them to track small parts on large campuses and another is using the device for child safety by placing the CT100 inside a child's backpack. We expect that many more uses for the device will come forward as it gets greater exposure in the field.

Contract with Sky Shield

I couldn't wait for this news to come out this morning. Our team has been working very hard to secure a contract with Sky Shield! I can't go into all the details of the solution, but basically HIISS is being paid to integrate our Cyber Tracker technology into a full bus solution. The solution will include a Cyber Tracker, RFID and Video. I am very excited to begin working on this project as we have lots of experience in integration of different products. This is a great step for us in securing a contract to provide a full solution. We expect the entire solution to be completed in the next 90 -120 days. ( bearing in mind no changes are made to the scope of work) We will be having weekly progress calls with Sky Shield to update them on our progress and after the solution has been built we will do a live field test in school busses. Its a very exciting Monday!

Gas Prices

It has been one busy week. I have been super busy with calls with new customer leads as well as existing deals that are on the verge of closing. One of the reasons I have been so busy is that customers are seeing the benefit of asset and fleet management with the cost of gas going up. One benefit of our product is that we can monitor the speed of a vehicle. You may think that monitoring the speed of a vehicle is to much like big brother, but if you are a business owner with a fleet of vehicles and your employees have a heavy foot, they are costing you a lot of money. Of course there are lots of benefits to a company that installs a GPS systems, but this is what we are seeing today. Below is an article that was done by CNN that really explains why employers are looking to mange the speed of there fleets.
The facts presented are very sobering.

With gas prices rising, gas-saving advice abounds: Drive more gently, don't carry extra stuff in your trunk, combine your shopping trips.
This is all sound advice but there's one driving tip that will probably save you more gas than all the others, especially if you spend a lot of time on the highway: Slow down.

In a typical family sedan, every 10 miles per hour you drive over 60 is like the price of gasoline going up about 54 cents a gallon. That figure will be even higher for less fuel-efficient vehicles that go fewer miles on a gallon to start with.
The reason is as clear as the air around you.
When cruising on the highway, your car will be in its highest gear with the engine humming along at relatively low rpm's. All your car needs to do is maintain its speed by overcoming the combined friction of its own moving parts, the tires on the road surface and, most of all, the air flowing around, over and under it.
Pushing air around actually takes up about 40% of a car's energy at highway speeds, according to Roger Clark, a fuel economy engineer for General Motors.
Traveling faster makes the job even harder. More air builds up in front of the vehicle, and the low pressure "hole" trailing behind gets bigger, too. Together, these create an increasing suction that tends to pull back harder and harder the faster you drive. The increase is actually exponential, meaning wind resistance rises much more steeply between 70 and 80 mph than it does between 50 and 60.
Every 10 mph faster reduces fuel economy by about 4 mpg, a figure that remains fairly constant regardless of vehicle size, Clark said. (It might seem that a larger vehicle, with more aerodynamic drag, would see more of an impact. But larger vehicles also tend to have larger, more powerful engines that can more easily cope with the added load.)
That's where that 54 cents a gallon estimate comes from. If a car gets 28 mpg at 65 mph, driving it at 75 would drop that to 24 mpg. Fuel costs over 100 miles, for example - estimated at $3.25 a gallon - would increase by $1.93, or the cost of an additional 0.6 gallons of gas. That would be like paying 54 cents a gallon more for each of the 3.6 gallons used at 65 mph. That per-gallon price difference remains constant over any distance.
Engineers at Consumer Reports magazine tested this theory by driving a Toyota Camry sedan and a Mercury Mountaineer SUV at various set cruising speeds on a stretch of flat highway. Driving the Camry at 75 mph instead of 65 dropped fuel economy from 35 mpg to 30. For the Mountaineer, fuel economy dropped from 21 to 18.
Over the course of a 400-mile road trip, the Camry driver would spend about $6.19 more on gas at the higher speed and Mountaineer driver would spend an extra $10.32.
Driving even slower, say 55 mph, could save slightly more gas. In fact, the old national 55 mph speed limit, instituted in 1974, was a response to the period's energy crisis.
It was about more than just high gas prices, though. The crisis of the time involved literal gasoline shortages due to an international embargo. Gas stations were sometimes left with none to sell, and gas sales had to be rationed. The crisis passed, but the national 55 mph speed limit stayed on the books until the law was loosened in the 1980s. It was finally dropped altogether in 1995. (The law stuck around more because of an apparent safety benefit than for fuel saving.)
Despite today's high gas prices, don't expect to see a return to the national 55 mph speed limit. The law was unpopular in its day, and higher speeds have become so institutionalized that even the Environmental Protection Agency's fuel economy test cycle now includes speeds of up to 80 mph.
Driving 10 miles per hour faster, assuming you don't lose time getting pulled over for a speeding ticket, does have the advantage of getting you to your destination 50 minutes sooner on that 400 mile trip. Whether that time difference is worth the added cost and risk is, ultimately, up to you.
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