Demand Generator: Pete DeLong, Northeast Ohio Digital

THE PROJECT

Contrucci was referred to NEO Digital and its president, Pete DeLong, by his accountant, who also happened to keep the books for the solution provider. "He needed somebody to come in and help him set up a point-of-sale system, and he needed Internet access at his first salon as well as at the office," DeLong said. "So we went in and proposed a POS system for him, [for] which we used QuickBooks POS, and we also supplied him with PCs."

NEO Digital installed the system and the computers, but the salon needed Internet access, and the local cable company didn't provide access to the store's location. It also would have been costly to bring DSL to the location. The solution was to go wireless and put an antenna on the building.

"We suggested we put wireless Internet access within the salon so customers that came in with their laptops could get onto the Internet. We installed an access point in the salon," DeLong said. In addition, NEO Digital installed its own custom firewall and created a VPN between the salon and the business office. The VPN enabled Contrucci to use the technology to its fullest while managing his salon business. NEO Digital programmed the system to automatically transmit daily sales information over the VPN to the main office in Contrucci's home, and update the main POS system. Contrucci also can use the VPN to connect remotely to the POS machine in the salon.

NEO Digital is now leveraging its relationship with Contrucci and the Due Amicci Salons into a Web-development project, including e-mail for salon employees and stylists. Customers will be able to view stylists' profiles online and make appointments online.

Contrucci is pleased with the work NEO Digital has done. "Pete knows technology, but he's also a very forward thinker," he said. "He's put in some nice tweaks to this business that helped. We have about a 4,000-square-foot salon. The entire unit is wireless for our customers. Some of the stylists are starting to use it now as well. It's making it very convenient for both of them. "[The wireless Internet network] was all Pete. After getting to know each other and spending months together, he knew the direction we were going, and he added his thoughts and they blended really well," Contrucci said.

The salon has invested about $13,000 in the project so far, DeLong said. At press time, a final quote for the Web-design project had not been submitted.

For DeLong and NEO Digital, bringing the POS system and Internet access to the salon and office had its challenges. "He had never used a POS system, and we had never installed a POS system before. It was a first time for us," DeLong said.

Contrucci said the technology has helped give his business an edge.

"Initially, I explained to [DeLong] what our long-term goal was. We hope to have 10 to 12 of these [salons] open in five years, and we wanted software and hardware that would expand with our business.

I wanted something large enough from the beginning so that we wouldn't have to continually update throughout the process," he said.

"It's time-saving," Contrucci added. "The profit potential we've realized from the software he picked out for us for inventory management will be a very profitable venture for us."

UPSIDE FOR THE VAR
NEO Digital was able to leverage a POS sale into a wireless-access and Web-development project for a growing beauty supply and salon business.

THE CUSTOMER VIEW
Wireless Internet access, a VPN and POS software help the salon and beauty supply operation keep track of appointments and inventory, giving it an edge on the competition.

VENDORS REPRESENTED
Dell computers; F-Secure antivirus, antispyware software; QuickBooks POS from Intuit; Soekris Engineering hardware; and open-source firewall software from m0n0wall