- Enhanced database to better enable integration to ERP packages

- Continued research on improving user interface

- Education for K3S personnel

- Collaboration with customers to build new enhancements

- Continued research on mathematical formulas 

2) Enhancements and fixes to K3S Base code 

- Last 10 years at least one new release a year, many times two new releases a year

- CDs mailed to Purchasing Department

- Implementation handled by K3S staff remotely 

3) 24/7/365 support on K3S base and K3S custom code 

- 24/7/365 phone # provided to IS Manager

- 24/7/365 customer support  

4) Phone support for Purchasing 

- Un-limited phone support for Purchasing during business hours 

5) K3S investments in the future 

- New IBM server purchased every 2 years

      - One IBM server dedicated for production

      - One IBM server dedicated for testing new releases and research

- All key K3S support personnel armed with Blackberry for instant communication

- All key K3S support personnel armed with AT&T wireless for instant connection

- K3S Wiki site powered by Google

- K3S Help desk system powered by Zendesk

- K3S Project management powered by Basecamp

- K3S Video training powered by Screencast

- K3S Customer Conference 
 

1) Research performed by K3S 

- Enhanced database to better enable integration to ERP packages 

K3S Release 5 (call R5) took years of planning and development with several customers to build a better K3S database which would to interface to the many ERP systems used by our customers. The 1^st release of R5 took place in January 2008, and as of April 2009 over ½ of K3S customers now converted over.  

- Continued research on improving user interface 

Over 8 years of research have gone into the task of providing a graphical user interface that would enable our customers to drive our application with either the 5250 method they already know and use today, or a web based browser. And we are also doing the research on how to take a buyer from 5250 to a graphical interface with little to no training required. 

- Education for K3S personnel 

K3S personnel attend IBM classes, conferences and web enabled sessions. The topics range from technical sessions, to better understanding IBM sales and support related activities. 

K3S personnel attend classes, conferences and web enabled sessions for the many different systems incorporated into K3S corporate model, including Google, PHP, Basecamp, Zendesk, Screencast, and Presto, to name a few.  

- Collaboration with customers to build new enhancements 

K3S-Replenish ®  continues to grow and improve from the feedback received from customers. A couple of examples would be: 

Daily Replenishment originally developed to handle cigarette replenishment, and now used in many other commodity lines  

CMO-5 Philip Morris requirement for retailers to comply with minimum ordering each week. 

F1=Help key for instant answers to K3S information on the internet. 

- Continued research on mathematical formulas 

Collaboration with Robert G. Brown since 1993 on exponential smoothing, and daily replenishment. 

Working with customers to try new ideas with a small sample of products, and monitor results. 
 
 

2) Enhancements and fixes to K3S Base code 

- Last 10 years at least one new release a year, many times two new releases a year 

From the year 2000 up until 2008 K3S customers received two new releases per year, in January and July.  

In January 2008 the next major database release for K3S was made available, called K3S Release 5 (or R5). Over half of the customers now live with R5. 

Each January since 2008 and going forward will be a new K3S release for all customers. 

- CDs mailed to Purchasing Department 

The latest K3S release CD is mailed directly to the person in charge of the Purchasing department, to hand over to the Information Systems Department. This ensures there are no surprises for Purchasing about a new release coming. 

- Implementation handled by K3S staff remotely 

The installation of the new K3S release is handled by the K3S support staff via the internet connection. The customer’s Information System contact performs the physical installation of the CD while on the phone with K3S support, who is connected and monitoring progress. The process typically take 10-15 minutes, and is performed to best meet the customer’s schedule, which might be early morning, at lunch, or after business hours. 
 

3) 24/7/365 support on K3S base and K3S custom code 

- 24/7/365 phone # provided to IS Manager 

The Information Systems Manager is provided with a 24/7/365 phone # for instant support for K3S technical related issues.  

- 24/7/365 customer support  

24/7/365 support can also be initiated by using the K3S support facility in two ways: 

Initiating a issue ticket at support.k3s.com

Sending an email to support@k3s.com

4) Phone support for Purchasing 

- Un-limited phone support for Purchasing during business hours 

The majority of K3S customer support today comes via the internet as an email question, but buyers can always call the support phone line during business hours. 

The majority of K3S customer support questions occur during the 1^st year of implementation and on-site training. K3S expects for there to be questions during that first year, and therefore monitors new customers heavily during the first three months of going live. 
 

5) K3S investments in the future 

- New IBM server purchased every 2 years 

      - One IBM server dedicated for production 

This IBM server is used by customer support and our development personnel and can handle past IBM operating systems, and past and future K3S release levels. 

      - One IBM server dedicated for testing new releases and research 

This IBM server is used by customer support and our development personnel to verify new K3S releases before they are shipped to customers, and also to develop the next K3S releases (example: to ensure customers have clear path to IBM V6R1) 

- All key K3S support personnel armed with Blackberry for instant communication 

The latest in new Blackberry communication devices enables mobile support personnel to communicate with customers from anywhere. 

- All key K3S support personnel armed with AT&T wireless for instant connection 

The latest in AT&T wireless communication devices enables mobile support personnel to connect with customers from anywhere. 

- K3S Wiki site powered by Google  

All relevant K3S customer content is being provided to the K3S Wiki site at wiki.k3s.com 

For buyers the K3S Wiki site will eventually contain a link to every screen and field, with descriptions, write ups and self paced training videos. 

For technical personnel a list of the interfaces between the K3S applications and a customer’s ERP system are described in detail.

- K3S Help desk system powered by Zendesk 

K3S customers can initiate a support question to K3S by: 

Simply sending an email to support@k3s.com 

Using the K3S support site support.k3s.com and filling out a simple form. 

Zendesk provides K3S a high end web based Help Desk application which enables multiple K3S support personnel to share responsibilities, and also include new support personnel to learn from monitoring. 

- K3S Project management powered by Basecamp 

K3S uses a high end web based collaboration tool called Basecamp which enables K3S, customers and out-site contacts and contractors, to easily work together to get the job done. Customers can stay up to date on progress for a project, and goals can be met.  

- K3S Video training powered by Screencast 

K3S uses a high end web based video tool from Screenbase which enables our support team to generate high quality self training videos on K3S applications. 

These videos are available 24/7/365 for all customers. 

- K3S Customer Conference 

The K3S Customer Conference brings together buyers and top management to learn and share ideas about how they use K3S applications today. 

K3S personnel discuss “best practices” of using K3S applications. 

Customers share experiences of using K3S applications. 

Future K3S initiates are described to the conference attendees.  

The 2009 K3S Customer Conference will be held in September at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center.