Ready for HST

June 30th, 2010

Although I don’t personally have any clients in BC or Ontario (yet) I’ve had to make quite a few updates to many applications to prepare for the switchover.

If you have a e commerce site that’s not ready for the GST to HST change coming up contact us and we’ll see what we can do to help!

Celebreating Our First Year

June 25th, 2010
Erk's Werks 1st Anniversary

Happy Birthday Erk's Werks

Although Erk’s Werks Custom Software was technically founded in 2008, I only started working on my own June 26, 2009. This year went very well compared to all the “new business horror stories” I was warned about. I know that this is mostly because of the help and encouragement I’ve received from my family, friends and wife (even though most of my family still think I create sudoku puzzles for a living)!

This year I’ve been extremely lucky to have found clients who are great to deal with!

So here are a few of the lessons learned this year

  • GST isn’t as complicated as it sounds
  • Invoicing is the funnest administrative task
  • Paying bills is the least fun administrative task
  • Getting the job done right impresses the client and saves time and effort
  • Creating a detailed schedule is important to avoid projects dragging out for too long

Inspirational quote for the year

Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.

Peter F. Drucker

To all that have worked with Erk’s Werks, I hope you’ve had good experiences and will refer me to anyone looking for Custom Software. If you have feedback, I’d appreciate it if you could either email me directly or add a comment to this post.

If you are interested in custom software, please contact me and you’ll be glad you did!

Thanks for the great year!

Image: Francesco Marino / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Great Canadian Long Weekend

June 16th, 2010

We will be closed the 1st and 2nd of July to celebrate Canada day.

Back on Google

June 14th, 2010

Back in December, we moved to Ile des Chenes, in a newer development that Google didn’t have in their Maps. It’s still not perfect (the street name is still not recognized and the street view image was taken before the house was built) but we are finally able to get our business location back on Google.

http://maps.google.ca/maps/place?cid=233385499977199668

Custom Software Ideas

October 21st, 2009

Here are a few examples of custom software applications that we can build to help improve your daily work flow and overall business. This is only a small sample of custom applications that we can build. Call us to go over your specific software requirements.

Inventory

  • Keep track of your inventory stock
  • Display your inventory for web or catalog purposes

Customer Management

  • Track relevant customer information
  • Keep your customers up to date with mailers – company updates / promotions / news

Employee Management

  • Track employee time on different projects
  • Employee scheduling

Others

  • Online file repository – Give your customers a location where they can get more information on your warranties, online coupons, products or services.
  • News – Keep your clients aware of what’s going on with you and your business (per example: What you’ve done for the community or how you’ve gone more environmentally friendly). Sites that have lots of activity and updates tend to get people to return more frequently.
  • Forums – Get your visitors involved, let them chat about how great your products and services are.
  • FAQ – Save some of your time by having all the answers to frequently asked questions available online.
  • Surveys – Get first hand information, have a survey on your website and see what your customers think of your products, services and staff.

If you can imagine it, we can build it. Call us today to get your project underway!

What is Custom Software?

October 6th, 2009

There are 2 major types of software:

“Out-of the box” Software

You can find “Out-of the box” Software at any store. These applications are built to work for everyone and every situation. Unfortunately, all of this added functionality comes at a price, it can make the simplest tasks a lot more complicated as well as taking much longer because it needs to keep in mind all the other possible scenarios even though they might not apply to you.

It’s like buying a size 30 shoe, your foot will fit in the shoe but you’ll have to walk very slowly so the shoe doesn’t fall off.

Custom Software

Custom Software is designed and built to fit your exact work-flow and processes. Custom Software applications focus 100% on your requirements. Together we analyze your work-flow and processes and come up with the best solution for you. Custom Software is made to save you as much time and money as possible, eliminating all workarounds and making you accomplish your work faster.

Links

Run for the Cure

September 15th, 2009
Pink Ribbon

Pink Ribbon

I’m doing the run for the cure to end Breast Cancer. Please sponsor me online by following this link

https://www.cibcrunforthecure.com/html/personal_page.asp?track=3566889&languageid=1

For more  information about Breast Cancer please visit this site

http://www.cbcf.org/en-US/home.aspx

Thanks for everyone’s support,

Eric Boisjoli

The Challenge

August 25th, 2009

Have you ever thought of an application or a website that you think would be very useful? Suggest these ideas here as comments and we’ll analyze these suggestions and try to develop a few of these for you.

My first month as “The Boss”

August 5th, 2009
day planner

day planner

Well I just finished my first month of working full time as Erk’s Werks Custom Software and I believe it was a positive one.

Here are a few items I’ve learned in the passed month:

  • As a custom software provider you don’t need to charge PST.
  • Cold calls are far tougher than expected.
  • A quote takes far longer than the 15 minutes expected.

A few good references to starting your own company (mostly useful for businesses within Manitoba/Canada:

A few of the most helpful bits of advise I’ve received:

  • Just go with the flow and you’ll figure it out along the way.
  • Ask questions.
  • Ask anyone and everyone for references.

Feel free to ask questions on this post and I’ll do my best to help you out.

En français s’il vous plait

July 31st, 2009

Erk’s Werks Custom Software is proud to be a bilingual company, offering services in both English and French. We strive to serve our clients with the official language of their choice.

Erk’s Werks Custom Software est fier d’être une entreprise bilingue, offrant des services en anglais et en français. Nous visons toujours à servir nos clients dans la langue officielle de leur choix.

Si vous avez des questions ou vous voulez simplement plus d’information au sujet d’Erk’s Werks et nos services, vous pouvez nous contacter par courriel électronique info@erkswerks.com ou par téléphone 204-990-1521.

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