Superb Management
Valuation involves gobs of information and a steady stream of communication. The information needs to be organized and lines of communication must be clear. Quist currently uses Microsoft Excel on their Macs to track and analyze much of the data, but for communication and project management, it has turned to something new. “The Macs opened our eyes up to fast, easy teleconferencing,” says Carroll. “Our staff was able to pick up video iChat without any help. Now we can see each other face to face no matter where we are.”
The two remote offices in San Francisco and Seattle are hard wired to the main office via a secure VPN, but when any Quist member is on the road, they can still use iChat for encrypted face-to-face meetings. “When you have remote offices or when people travel, face time really keeps the office together,” says Carroll.
Carroll also discovered a unique tool for their Macs to stay in touch with clients. Basecamp, a project management application by 37signals, lets coworkers and clients keep tabs on projects. “Clients can log into a secure site and see how things are going with their project,” says Carroll. “That used to take several phone calls or e-mails.” Clients can also upload financial data to Basecamp using bank-level encryption. “That’s very important to us because we’re constantly trading sensitive financial documents with our clients,” says Carroll.
The Mac and Basecamp have replaced $70,000 worth of Microsoft software and related equipment. “We pay a few hundred dollars a month for an unlimited version of Basecamp,” says Carroll. “It takes care of Microsoft SharePoint server, Microsoft Project server and most of Microsoft CRM. We've replaced a solution that would have cost at least $70,000 to fully implement and would have required a full-time tech consultant. And we never would have made the switch to Basecamp had we not made the switch to the Mac operating system.”
Better Valuation
Mac OS X also opened the doors to software development. “When we made the switch to Apple and our eyes were opened to open-source software, I woke up at 3 a.m. in the morning and drew out the initial idea for the software we’re now developing,” says Carroll. The CTO knew that there was a better way to value companies—goodbye Excel spreadsheets and awkward data management.
“We’re creating something that can capture the information that we need to do a valuation,” he says. “If we have a program that makes it easy to capture information then an analyst doesn't have to spend his or her time cutting and pasting information into an Excel spreadsheet. It frees the analyst up to do things that are more analytical in nature. Our program is designed to replace dependence on the monotonous parts of the valuation process.”
Carroll decided to develop the software using Ruby on Rails, an open-source web programming language developed by a partner of 37signals. Quist is working with a distributed development team in Colorado and India to build the software. Again, iChat keeps the team in almost constant contact with the Colorado-based company. “We have iChat meetings on a regular basis and it really helps us stay in touch,” says Carroll. The team also stores the development code on the Quist Xserve. “We set up the Xserve ourselves, we didn’t need any help,” says Carroll. “Like most Mac software and hardware, when you turn it on it pretty much sets itself up.”
With Macs, Quist has been able to launch a new division that will ultimately streamline valuation for everyone. “We had $150,000 budgeted last year to purchase and implement the Microsoft technologies and we stopped halfway through and took a different direction with Apple,” says Carroll. “Our total spending has gone through the basement. We have the ability to create a completely different arm of our company because of the money we've saved. Because we went with Apple we’ve been able to move forward in so many ways. It’s an amazing turnaround.”
Quist doesn’t have a specific launch date for its new software, the tentatively named Qval – RealTime Valuation Software™, but is already testing and beginning to use it internally. A public release is planned within the year.
