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When you think of password management software, products and services like LastPass or 1Password probably come to mind. Through a combination of websites and widgets, these companies seek to generate and create all the passwords you need in order to log into your favorite services.
Boulder-based Simpler.io takes a different approach. Built initially for auto-retailers and wholesalers rather than the general consumer, Simpler.io has created a single-sign-on system that doesn’t just link its customers to websites — they provide a robust login portal to web-accessible B2B applications.
If that sounds like a mouthful, don’t worry, it’s far simpler (pardon the pun) than you think. Most businesses, large and small, use a series of vendors to handle their specific needs. They may have a Yext login for managing their local advertising efforts or use Amazon for data storage or affiliate sales. Auto dealerships, which are Simpler’s target demographic during these early days, also make use of a myriad of online services. The problem Simpler’s trying to solve arises when an employee who’s been using one of these services goes on vacation or finds work elsewhere.
Built In Colorado spoke to Managing Director Brady Ferron during an interview on Boulder’s Pearl Street walking mall:
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“Right now our clients have problems keeping track of passwords and logins,” said Ferron. “They’re storing passwords on Post-It notes, or in email threads or in documents attached to emails. If you’re lucky you’ve got all this stuff in a shared Google document. It’s a mess.”
Simpler.io’s solution starts by providing a central, secure, web-based location for remembering and managing a business’s login information for various services. Currently, their clients can access hundreds of services via the Simpler.io portal. And just to emphasize how easy their solution is, Simpler’s web-portal even allows visual passwords.
Making log-ins easy is only the first feature Simpler offers to its clients. Simpler’s integration with these vendors’ Internet applications takes their core offerings a step further.
While businesses are always on the lookout for vendors to help them solve problems on the never-ending path to efficiency, rarely do they gain insights on how they, or more specifically their employees use these systems. This is where Simpler differentiates itself. Once a user logs into the vendor’s system via Simpler, the Boulder-based start-up uses the available APIs to integrate with the vendor, in order to securely record usage data.
This usage data is then available for the business owner, accounting staff, etc., to pour over later, allowing them to see 1) which of the various vendors are being accessed, 2) which of their employees is accessing the vendor’s services, and 3) how exactly their employees are making use of the service.
To illustrate further, if you run an auto dealership and you use a Cars.com affiliate login so that anyone browsing Cars.com can see your auto inventory, the Simpler.io/Cars.com integration will allow you to see how often your staff is uploading the details of new cars on your lot to the Cars.com interface. It’ll also allow you to see which employees are performing those duties and how often they’re performing them. When business owners cross reference that information with how many sales they see moving through Cars.com, they’re suddenly in a very good position to see whether they should devote more resources to or from that platform. If they have an Autotrader.com affiliate login, they may also gain insight for how the sales channels compare.
In the case of Cars.com, a dealership owner may begin to understand that a certain type of vehicle sells best on the auto website, and that could significantly change the way they do business.
[ibimage==31575==Original==none==self==ibimage_align-right]“Simpler allows dealership owners and trainers to receive a data driven view about how a sales team is working,” continued Ferron. He also explained that his team is “also exploring how to build a simple communications interface into the platform. This way employees can receive clear, push-like communications from their leadership and from vendors when they login, or on a dashboard, rather than miss something important or waste time sifting through email.”
To that end, Simpler’s already working with five vendors to build deeper key metric and notification integration.
The company, which was founded in August 2014 by serial entrepreneur Alan Kane of Phunware fame, has 100 active users spread over 20 client/dealer groups. As of this writing, the team numbers only five: Brady Ferron’s role as co-founder and Managing Director puts him in charge of the day-to-day running of Simpler. He’s supported by Product VP Bing Chou, a former Managing Director of Quick Left, one of Boulder’s leading web and mobile app development shops. Development is lead by John Bohlman, and customer development is left in the capable hands of Drew Fink.
Simpler.io is available for use today and charges about $500 per month for each dealership location their clients own. They allow clients to connect to unlimited users to unlimited apps through the platform.
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