Intro:

Hey friend, I'm Sid Meadows and I'm a business leader and longtime student of the Office of Furniture Industry. Welcome to the Trend Report. Thanks for joining me today, and I'm excited to welcome Amy Edington, a product manager for commercial with Cyncly, to the show today and I'm confident we're going to have a really great conversation about technology, our industry integration, the importance of technology. So, as you know, my goal is simple to provide you with valuable insights, information and resources to help you grow and your business grow. So let's dive into today's conversation.

Sid:

Amy, welcome to the show.

Amy:

Hey, hi, thanks for having me.

Sid:

Oh, it's great to have you with us today, and I'm going to just start out straight with the question who is Cyncly?

Amy: 

Such a great question and I'm glad you asked. Cyncly, formerly known as 2020, is a company of many companies that have come together. So, to kind of get it quickly out there, the investors of two different companies right of 2020 and CompuSoft. Compusoft was our competitor over in Europe. 2020 was here in North America and they said you know what, you guys would just be better together, and so you had these two large companies come together and then, through that, more acquisitions that have come, and so, instead of just being a part of the residential community and the commercial community, we are now a part of Windows, doors and Glass and flooring as well. So it's really Cyncly is the umbrella for many different business units, one of them, of course, near and dear to my heart, which is commercial.

Sid: 

Okay, so thank you for that. So basically, Cyncly, has emerged because of a merger almost a pun there between two organizations, right, and a company in Europe that was your competitor, and then you guys here in the United States, you came together and you were originally offering commercial and then kitchen and bath, and now you've expanded to windows, floors and doors. I think you said Windows doors and glass.

Amy: 

Windows doors and glass, and then flooring as well.

Sid: 

Okay, and so now you're a worldwide partner under the umbrella of Cyncly. Do you have individual brands that exist out there?

Amy: 

Yeah, there still are. The brands that are underneath that umbrella of those products have been around a long time. Know that like CAP and Giza and Worksheet were the original, if you will, drawing and specification tools for the office furniture community.

Sid:

But behind the scenes you guys do a lot more than what we see correct.

Amy: 

Correct. Yeah, yeah, you are correct.

Sid:

Because you have like fully integrated ERP systems that run factories and process orders, and so it's much bigger. On our side of the fence we just see this small little component, but the reality is you do a lot more than that.

Amy: 

We do do a lot more than that, and I think that's the interesting thing about Cyncly is you have that front end right, more for that sales process, but the back backend all the way into manufacturing, which is what makes it powerful. And especially with all of the acquisitions, we're trying to really integrate even more so the tools, so that the user is having to do less work and just passing that content throughout the process of their projects.

Sid: 

And most of what we see on our side are things that reside in the proverbial cloud right Hang out in the cloud.

Amy: 

Yeah, so we're not totally in the cloud yet today. That's a solution that we are working towards. But, yes, we have all of our content that is available for anyone to download and use. But, yes, the ultimate goal of where Cyncly is heading is to the cloud and, for many reasons, right, being able to allow the end user to access the most recent information that they can, and today they can with pricing, which is great, inside of worksheet. 

And a lot of that got started when the world went on fire a few years ago and everybody was changing prices as fast as they could and there wasn't a great way to do that, and so I think, moving more and more towards that content. Next, and I think the big thing to write, to remember is, a big portion of our business is kitchen and bath, and so we're solving the solutions on both sides of it, and it's been really interesting now coming in and seeing both sides of it from a content perspective and, I think, really understanding the importance of the quality of your content and what that means when you are using multiple tools to get your job done.

Sid: 

And when you reference content, let's make sure we define content. You're talking about the symbols and the data that supports the symbols, which also includes finishes and pricing. That's what you're referring to as content.

Amy: 

Exactly, yep, yep. All of those lovely part numbers that designers still have memorized in their brain. I still have some memorized from my days at Hayworth, which is a little scary that I remember 18 years ago those numbers. But yes, yes, all of that fun information.

Sid: 

So we kind of grew up a little bit in the same way, because I started at Hayworth or at a Hayworth dealership and this was free computers. I think I've talked about it on the show before. I remember the day we got our first computer and we could draw electronically and it was a black screen, a huge monitor, black screen with little green dots that you could draw. Our designer was so excited about it, Right, but I remember sitting at my kitchen table at night. So I was trying to learn.

So when I needed to do something I would work all day, then I'd go home at night and I would sit at my kitchen table and I had graph paper and then I had templates because Hayworth had a whole bunch of templates and I had my scale and then I had my price book. So I would draw out everything and then I would go to the price book and the price book was ordered so by what, like panels first and work surfaces, then support, then power, and so that's how I would learn. So I still know what a WS-2424 means, mind you.

Amy: 

Exactly, Exactly. But that's the part right when I really think. Once this content is in a good spot, designers shouldn't have to think about all of that. We should be thinking more creatively and being able to give what I always call that best solution versus the solutions that we know, because we don't have time because, we are worried about those W-U-S-S 24, whatever numbers.

Sid:

W-U-S-S 2424, which, for those of you that haven't figured that out yet, that's a 24 by 24 work surface Super easy WS work surface 24-24. So, Amy, let's talk about you for a minute. How did you get started into the office furniture industry?

Amy:

Yeah, yeah, so a little bit of a crazy way that I got here. I actually originally had a degree in psychology and special education and I was almost done and I realized I don't think I can do this every day and truly be happy, and I had always dreamed of design, but I never thought of it as quote unquote the real job and I took a. It was probably my first big leap in, like what are we doing here? But we're going to do it, and so I went to design school. I got my degree in interior design. I started with my internship at Hayworth, so that is where I got my first start into the business.

Sid: 

What did you do at Hayworth?

Amy: 

I was in their design department and I was fortunate enough where they allowed me to literally get to do a little bit of everything. At the time it was when they were, I think half of the building was already demolished for their new headquarters, so I got to dive really deep into facilities right away in-house. With all of that, I got the opportunity to work on multiple showrooms. I ran the entire materials and finishes section for the design department there, so working with all of the reps, and even got the opportunity to go to Chicago for a photo shoot, which that in and of itself was a very cool experience. So, yeah, I started in that and then, as I call it, I had my first big girl market crash in my career and it was, you know, your low man on the totem pole or low woman on the totem pole, and it was like, hey, we'll keep you on until you can find something which so so nice of them. 

And then, all of a sudden, this opportunity arose with Configura, and I knew who they were because at the time Hayworth was the only company that was actually utilizing CET, was the only company that was actually utilizing CET and I was very determined that I was going to use my degree, no matter what. I wasn't going to go back and work at a mortgage company that I had during school or go back to waitressing as well. I was like no, we are staying in this industry. So I took a leap of faith there and took a support position right Like just picking up the phone and answering questions and then quickly realized that oh, she can do a lot more than just support and went into training and helping out with pitching for sales to manufacturers and then worked basically for the next six years within a big portion of it was with the steel case dealers as they launched, and then have had a few things in between there and ended up over at Herman Miller and helped launch them as well. And then COVID happens. 

Crazy things in the world happen and this opportunity arose with Cyncly and one of the biggest things that I realized that was presented to me when I was at Herman Miller is I was bound and determined that everything was going. Everybody was going to utilize CET Designer and basically after about six months of implementing, I got the that's cute, Amy, but it's never going to happen from dealers and I was like okay, and it allowed me to kind of like step back and assess what was really happening. And it was when my eyes were really wide open to go. Designers use CET, everybody else uses Worksheet, right, so Worksheet is a massive part of the process at a dealership. And we're not just talking about design, right, we're talking about sales, design, project management, now ancillary specialists, all the way into if installers are getting sent.

Sid: 

Worksheet. Well, for clarification, let's clarify something. So, first off, thank you for that story, and we missed each other at Hayworth by just a little bit, because I left Hayworth in 2003, which was right after they had announced the new building, but I missed the construction part and you came in the middle of it because we missed by just a couple of years. But let's define worksheet. Worksheet is a specification tool that is basically a. I'm going to simplify, don't get mad at me, but it's basically a big old Excel spreadsheet with all the data inside it, right?

Amy: 

Yep, yep, you're right, you're right, with a lot of features in there to to make your day easier. But yeah, it's kind of what I call the nuts and bolts in order to get that order all the way through and installed.

Sid: 

So no drawing, necessarily. You're not looking at a plan view and you're not in the building itself, but you see the product and then you specify every aspect of the product and it works you through each option that you need to select correct. And then, as you're doing that, it's calculating the pricing to make sure the list pricing is correct.

Amy: 

Correct and then, after that right, you get to go through and apply all of the lovely discounting and play with the margins that a dealer is going to want to do to ensure that they're getting the most out of it as well as everybody else is. So, yeah, it's really a tool that not only gets you to order but really helps organize an entire project. For is it a large project? What phases is it going to get ordered as well?

Sid: 

Right. So you got to Cyncly and you are now a product manager for commercial. So what does a product manager do? What does that mean?

Amy: 

Yeah, a product manager is somebody that owns and maintains either a specific product or, in my instance, many products. Right, so it's worksheet, it's cap, cap, complete Giza visual impression. It's ensuring that those tools are being utilized the best they possibly can be in the market and to continue to listen to the market and understand what they need in order to be efficient and effective in their jobs. So it's one of those things where you get I love it because you get the best of both worlds. You get to have a connection into the end user and listen to the business, but then you get to see all of the cool stuff behind the scenes with your developers and we have the best sprint review today, I think, to date, and that's the exciting stuff that I'm excited in the background, and everybody else just has to wait until the end of the quarter to get all of the fun stuff we're working on.

Sid: 

Okay, so you're going to have to explain one other thing, and thank you for the definition of product manager. So you basically manage the suite of products that we use as an industry the instant commercial right, yep, okay, that's very logical. Thank you for that, but you just said something that a lot of people might not understand if they don't work in a company that uses this what is a sprint? And then a sprint review? Because you use it. We just had the most amazing sprint review. I'm sure people are going what's a sprint review? So tell us what a sprint is and then talk about the review.

Amy:

Yeah, the way that we chunk up is the way I always call it is we have an idea and we have to take that idea and then we have to essentially chunk it up into what we call sprints so that our developers can take the time and focus on that specific section to ensure progress going forward is going to work. So we work in what is two-week sprints and that allows us to work through that progress, and then at the end of each sprint we get together all of my developers, all of my QA we've actually added in our support manager and myself and we review what happened in those two weeks. What was the progress? And then we look at it and we go what went well, what did we learn and what didn't go well? And so it allows you to develop in a way that you're making progress but you're not making too much progress. Where you might go? 

oh no, we just wasted three sprints and we don't need any of that Right and so it's really a way for you to manage your time through development to ensure that you are going to reach the end release.

Sid:

So thank you for that, for explaining that, and I believe in episode 142, I believe David Stella with Cresa Workplace talked about those types of sprints in the design process and how they're using them to design spaces. So it's nice to understand it from a main, from a technology perspective, how you're doing it to use or to create additional products. Absolutely.

Amy: 

I did not realize. By the way sorry, I probably forgot from that I did not realize designers were also starting to talk in sprints. So yeah, he did, he talked about it.

Sid: 

Yeah, he talked about it. It was he, he. He talked to everyone. I had a lot of times, but that's okay. We had a lot of fun and I learned a lot in that episode for sure. Sorry, david, you had all the products. Almost every dealer was using either Cap or Giza Worksheet, visual Impressions. I remember when Visual Impressions came out and then all of a sudden you kind of lost that and CET or Configura emerged as the market leader. What happened?

Amy: 

You know I think so I was a part of that right.

Sid: 

Yeah, because you were at the CET side right.

Amy: 

Yeah, right, right, right. So I think you know a couple of things right. If we look at what you mentioned at the beginning of this podcast, how you remember when you got your first computer right and that was huge and it was. And then I think we hit that next part of technology where visualization became key into how we communicate with our clients. And I always use my mother as an example, because my dad's a contractor, so him and I can go back and forth all the live long day and we know what we're talking about and we visualize in our heads. And then I have her over here and she's like what? 

And then we draw it for her and she's like oh, yes, that's what you mean. Yes, yes, yes. And I think it was being demanded from clients that they needed better renderings, better visualization, and so you had a company like Configura enter into this market, and the solution that they had was, I think, right at the time. I don't disagree with what CET has to offer when it comes to drawing, and I think, since a big portion of the designer's time is drawing, that's where you saw a lot of people, or people become more quiet, let's say, about 2020. I think the other thing to remember, too, is 2020 is in, and it was still in different markets. Right, you're in a kitchen and bath and you're in commercial, and so it's also priority. Right, coming from leadership, of where things are going to be.

 It'll be two years next month that I will have been in this position, and I think the thing that excites me the most and I think people definitely have been asking for it, but I also don't think they realize the complexity of it you mentioned earlier is the cloud. That's a major solution that needs to happen, and I continually hear from manufacturers. We need to have this single source of truth and there is nobody out there today providing a true cloud solution with a single source of truth. And so I think, in the back end, call it 2020,. Cyncly was quiet in the background working on this. And so I think, when people don't see things, it's like yeah, what are you doing? But this is a massive undertaking, right? It's like how I look at a major manufacturer implementing a PIM system, which is another way to handle a single source of truth internally with a whole bunch of technical knowledge around it. So I think, from all of that and then I think, also realizing the importance of where certain tools lie and it was one of the things through all of the dealers that I've worked with is, number one, it's their choice about what tools they use. And number two, tools that have been embedded with processes for years and years you can't just take away. 

Although Cyncly may have been quiet, what I still continue to see, especially when I was at Herman Miller, was the impact that worksheet had on everybody's day. That was where for me, coming in as the product manager, the number one goal for me is how do you take a 30-year-old plus product that is still file-based, still connected to a computer, not SaaS and make it better. It has been a lot of listening to the end users and really understanding where's the pain, and that was where one of the big features we added within the last year was cut sheets. Features we added within the last year was cut sheets. And the thing that shocked me the most, Sid, was when I had a coworker give me a cut sheet from 30 years ago and guess what? The only difference was in the cut sheet today from 30 years ago, there was one difference.

Sid: 

I'm going to guess the price, probably, but no, because I don't even know what you mean by the term cut sheet. So before you answer that question, describe what is a cut sheet. What do you mean by that? What is a cut sheet?

Amy: 

Yeah, a cut sheet is a way for a dealer to give a client a visual. Let's say, that desk that you have sitting behind you. Yep, okay, I would show a rendering of that desk. I would show a rendering of that desk, I would show the price, where that desk is going and all of the finishes with swatches below it you have a white laminate with a wood lead right. 

So it's very visual. Because what I started to hear from dealers is when they weren't giving call it that rendering of that specific image, it would get installed and the client was like that's not what I picked out and they're like, but that's what you signed off on. And so this way it's a sign off with visuals of materials, everything and the price.

Sid: 

So, knowing that now I think I know the difference. Now you described it. I know the difference which. The difference is the visuals, because back then we didn't have the visuals right.

Amy: 

Well, you did, but they were black and white. Yeah, yeah, so you got, you get the color now, and that was the thing. And so just to like, you know, full circle on what this cut sheet enhancement did is. It took 30 years of somebody typing and screenshotting all of those things just to get on a PowerPoint where, literally, you can hit a button and it automatically generates all of that content for you into a PowerPoint, which you can then still manipulate and do all the things that you need to within your dealership.

Sid: 

So clarification there. So thank you for saying that, but did you just say that you could take the worksheet, cut sheet and put it into PowerPoint with the button, it actually automatically opens into a PowerPoint. Get out of Dodge really Okay, that's cool. I didn't know that. So all these years ago, when I was creating presentations, I was doing it the hard way, and now you've got some.

Amy: 

Well, no, because I just added it a year ago, so not totally fair.

Sid: 

But I think one of the things you just highlight is that advancement in technology takes time. It does Right, it takes time, and so there's this perception that you guys have been left behind and the competitor outpaced you. The reality is you still have a, you have a market leading product that you focusing on enhancing, and then there's all these other things that were happening in the business. So the it's just a perception that you were left behind, but you guys have really great tools that a lot of the world still uses.

So, and I will in full disclosure, Thinkspace is a customer, we are a client of Cyncly. We embarked on a journey with them in January Some of you may have heard me talk about this where we optimized our AutoCAD symbols with them, and then we went down the path of creating our cloud base, because we are in the cloud. We have this single source in the cloud our product data. So everything is there. So we have one source of truth and, just to be honest with you, it weren't for Carrie Anderson at TechBox Collective, I wouldn't even know what the heck single source of truth meant. So Carrie was our consultant. Yeah, she consulted with us through this process. Thank you, Carrie and it's led us to. 

Now we have a complete catalog inside of the Cyncly tools that you can download and use to do your drawing specifications. In fairness, we also have the same exact thing inside of CET in the commercial interiors library. So we're in both places. That's a selfish plug and we are in the final phases crossing my fingers of a really cool development. I'm not sure of the published date of this actual episode, but hopefully it's after. But we are in the final phases of a product configurator rendering tool being put on our website under every product so that you can actually go and configure it the way you want. And the cut sheet that Amy so eloquently described is part of our configurator online and you can click it and it shows you everything with all the finishes the product name, the number, list pricing, all of that. Actually, I don't think we put list pricing, but all of that is on the cut sheet for you that you can download. So it's really cool. You'll be able to experience it live and in person on Thinkspace's website.

And I believe self is plugged in. We are the first US company to actually use the configurator right.

Amy: 

I literally was actually just going to say you are the first to utilize 3CAD, and actually just going to say you are the first to utilize 3CAD, and you know, I've seen many, many different configurators out there, and I have to say quality and everything that you get with it, and I think the big thing, right, that I have really learned about 3CAD is it's the manufacturing data behind it. That is so cool, right. Like most configurators, it's a pretty picture right To give that client an idea and maybe pass it on or order. What this will do, though, so everybody understands is if somebody liked that, it could actually be sent to the manufacturing floor, and you've taken out so much back and forth, and I don't think there's a lot of that out there, so definitely excited to see how everybody starts using it with you guys.

Sid:

I know. So, David, if you're listening, he's probably not listening. But, David, if you're listening, just remember what our deadline is. I will not put you on the spot here. Just remember what our deadline is. He gets mad at me every week, I think, because we have project calls every week, but anyways, no, but it's been a great process for us and really appreciate everything that you guys have taught, especially me. Taught me about tools, which leads me to our next question. So I have actually two. Why are e-tools important to our side of the table Manufacturers, dealers, salespeople why are e-tools and the enhancement of e-tools important to us?

Amy: 

I love this question, absolutely love this question. I had the opportunity early on in my career to work with an amazing gentleman by the name of Steve Erickson and he was the one that owned the extension at Steelcase. So I mean traveled with the man, was in almost over at Steelcase I feel like on a weekly basis with him, right, and he always talked about PPT, people process and technology. He always would talk about that people process and technology. He always would talk about that. And in my mind I'm a very logical thinker and I'm like, well, yeah, that makes sense, get your people set up, have your processes and the technology Duh makes sense Fast forward about eight years-ish. 

And here I am and I'm at a meeting at Herman Miller and it hits me and I'm like it's all wrong, it's backwards. It shouldn't be people process and technology, it should be technology, process and people. And funny enough, my lovely friend, as you have worked with Ms Carrie Anderson, we go back and forth on this right of which is the right way. But I continue to stand strong in this, and it's based off of years and years of experience of watching dealers and their processes. And the problem is is, when you set your people up first, you're not maximizing your technology, you're focused on your people. 

So I switched it and I flipped it on the way that I would handle going to dealers and helping them change the ways that they were working with their technology and what that means again for the manufacturer, the dealer and end user. And what it means is the technology is what sets forth all of the efficiency. What can that do for us? What the technology cannot do for us? We then have to set up the proper processes in place so that we can work efficiently, and through that and my goal if people do this the right way you then actually get to look at your people in a different way, and people who may have done things that you never would have thought of before will do something differently because they have the right technology in place to allow them to do their job efficiently. And so, if you continue this entire circle, I call it the technology continuous improvement, and that is why it is so important for there to be an e-tools manager or somebody who's owning that strategy at all the levels too at the manufacturer level, at the dealer level. 

Two, at the manufacturer level. At the dealer level, absolutely, because what I have seen over the years is I like to call it the bright, shiny object or the squirrel. Okay Right, we're all like Ooh, it's shiny, it's cool. It does one other thing that this tool doesn't do for me today, but I would pause and say what problem is it solving? 

And if you can't answer what problem it is actually solving, and it's just fun and new. Is it actually what you should be doing? 

And so I think that's where, especially now in the age of AI, right and everybody and don't get me wrong, I am super excited about it and the things that we'll do, but I will also say this AI is only as good as what you feed it. So if your content today is not great, ai is going to give you not great content, and so I think that's the other thing that manufacturers especially have to start assessing is this may be the way that we've been able to do this for years and years, but we have to ensure, going forward and in order for us to be effective in all of the tools that are out in the landscape today, that our content is as clean as it possibly can be to be transferred across many different platforms.

Sid: 

Because that's exactly what we do. We take the data in the cloud our single source of truth and then we distribute it to everybody else. So we have a person that manages that data for us, keeps it update, and you guys have been great with helping us make sure we're keeping it update, and you guys have been great with helping us make sure we're keeping it update right. And then we take it and we send it, and Carrie actually gave us a list of to your your thought process about shiny objects. I mean, good golly, miss Molly, there's so many tech. Carrie gave me a whole spreadsheet of possible e-tool things for us to look at. 

But I think it is important to go back to what you talked about E-P-T people process technology and then you flipped it on its head, which I think is also great, because, as you were talking, I'm like, yeah, because technology, once you know what technology you're using, it's going to drive your processes and then your processes are going to help inform your people. Right, and we all want to do things more efficiently and faster and we want to be better at our jobs and we need tools that help us be better at our job, right, and I wish that Excel could just do what I think, rather than me have to type it in. But that's another conversation. But I love it right. But I'm curious what's the argument you and Carrie have about it? Because you're saying technology first. She's a technology person.

Amy:

She says people first and I think right Like it. I think it depends on where you're at in the process too, right? 

And so I'm also, you know, I again Carrie and I have known each other for 18 plus years now. She's amazing, and so we totally like to push each other right and make sure like, are we? Are we right about what we're saying here? And I think it's just a matter of ensuring you're not forgetting about the person and the talent that's out there, and I think that's the thing that is is what is so amazing that technology does is it can bring out and show talented people that never would have before because they weren't able to do it themselves.

Sid: 

And I think there's something here about a lot of times when we hire people, we put them in the wrong job, right. And I think if we understand the technology and then we know what our processes are built around to support what the technology can do for us, then we have this gift of being able to put people in the right jobs where they're going to thrive. Because, as a business leader, that's what we want. We want people to be joyful, we want them to be happy, we want them to love the work they're doing, love the customers they're working with, and when they're doing something they love every day and they really enjoy, then I think that's like the trifecta there, right, everybody's happy, a hundred percent. 

I think that you could layer this in with what Rex Miller calls the genius spark in his cliff finder strategy, and that's way back, episode 139,. Guys is where that one was and there was a follow up. I forget what number that was. 139 was the second one, so the first one I'm looking at this was 131. But you layer in the people's strengths to what the business needs and then you've got people working in their zone of genius, if you will, which is maximum production for everybody.

Amy: 

Totally, 100%, agree with you, yeah.

Sid: 

So tell us your thoughts. So you guys had a space at NeoCon and so tell us about your perception of NeoCon and how was the show for you guys.

Amy: 

Yeah, the show was great. You know we're on the seventh floor, so it's a matter of all of the new business coming in, which is always exciting and fun, and it was fun this year. 

We got to showcase another version of 3CAD with another client, so that was really nice as well as a prototype for them, and then, I think, just showcasing more of what Sinclair has to offer. When we are so entrenched into the commercial business of call it worksheet and cap, it's what else is out there and it is it's 3CAD, it's Insight, it's these other manufacturing tools that exist that really are going to help continue to improve the landscape of the commercial space. So overall I felt like it was a wonderful Neocon. It was lovely getting to be outside and go over to design days as well. So I took Tuesday, basically the half a day, and went over to visit some friends over there and I just think you know I've been going to Neocon. I think out of the 18 years I think it's either 15 or 16, you know I only missed a couple and it continues. It was just inspirational this year too, I think, to see all of the products that are out there.

Sid: 

It's an important event for us as an industry.

Amy: 

It's a very important event for us Absolutely, absolutely. We missed you. I came down to see you, but you were at lunch.

Sid:

Ah sorry, sorry, I had to escape for a few minutes and but yeah, you know, I think it's a. It's a really important show, especially for manufacturers, right, and it gives us the opportunity to meet people that we don't normally get to meet, and see us that maybe don't know who any of us are, right, and so I thought it was a great show as well, and it's always like what can you do different or better the next time, right? 

So we've got our own little list of internal notes about.

Amy: 

Right, and you kind of start the day. It ends right.

Sid: 

That's pretty much. Yeah, pretty much, pretty much, especially depending on what you're doing right. So you've got multiple different customers. You've got manufacturing, because you have manufacturing software that runs factories right. So you have the manufacturer's customer. You've got people like us, a distributor, if you will. That's a customer. You've got a dealer that is a customer, and most of the people listening are either manufacturer reps, independent reps or office furniture deals, some interior designers and some end users, as I found out at Neocon listening. So shout out to all of you that approached me at Neocon Thank you. It's always great to see and meet listeners in real life. As they say, why is knowing Cyncly important to us?

Amy: 

Knowing Cyncly is important because of where we're going with the future. I am so confident with where we are going with our cloud solution that it's going to completely impact the way people do business. It's coming down to what I would call as content is king. Right At the end of the day, if we're not holding that content in a manner that is going to make it easy for a manufacturer to be able to provide new products out to their customers, I think you're going to start to see a big difference between what dealers sell or the other day you make it hard. Your content isn't clean and easy. I will find somebody who is similar to you, with the same price point and the same look, and I will sell them. 

Because you have made my day complicated, I think knowing that Cyncly truly does care about the quality of that content and where it is going and what that means, not just for Cyncly but for other areas of different tools that are out there, that's what I'm excited about, and so, as I have told my children and I now tell myself, is, you know, through acquisitions and all of the changes that go with that, I'm just I'm putting my patient pants on for just a smidge longer, because we're getting really close and it's going to really evolve the way we work. 

And I think what I'm most excited about is it's going to change the conversations we're having. Instead of having conversations around the quality of the content what do you have, what you don't have, what we won't be talking about is that, because it'll be there. What we'll start talking about are the solutions and, to your point and you mentioned it earlier through the list that Carrie gave you what are the right solutions for you to ensure that your business is going to continue to be profitable and have great margins? That's the conversation I want to have, because that is actually a conversation that's going to solve a problem and not put a band-aid on a problem.

Sid: 

Yeah, and so many times we do put band-aids on the problem. So you gave us a whole glimpse into the future, and that was one of my follow-up questions was what's the future like? But you just told us, which is awesome.

So I mean, and what kind of way I interpreted and what I wrote down as you were talking, was the easy button, and I think all of us I know at Thinkspace we thrive. We strive to be the easy button for the product category that we're in and to be easy to work with, to be easy to do business with, to be just as an example, now that we have Worksheet our team is, our team is all using Worksheet. It makes our specification and quote process even faster. But we're also just sending, as a compliment, if you will, easy button. We're sending a copy of the worksheet file along with a copy of the quote, not ask for, we're just including.

Amy: 

The dealers love you. Well, let's hope so, but it's like that's what I'm talking about is. Is that ease of business and I think you nailed it perfectly, as if you're easy to do business with you will do great, and the fact that you are providing that will continue to. Users will see that and they will continue to come back.

Sid: 

Well, it all boils down to the customer experience right, Knowing who our customer is what they experience with our brand. For those of you that are followers and readers of my column that I write for Viewpoint Magazine, my column in the August edition of the magazine is, which comes out the first week of August is about customer experience, so go check it out if you haven't already done so Not late. 

Yeah. So, Amy, what a pleasure to have you on today to share all things Cyncly. Educate us a little about who the brand is, where you've come from, and really appreciate your thoughts about technology, first process and then people. And if our community would like to get in touch with you, what is the best way for them to do that?

Amy:

Yeah, they can email me [email protected]. They're free to call me as well if they need to. I am always happy to chat with whomever. So yes, please reach out Any fun ideas, new features your life is going bad and you need something. Give me a call.

Sid: 

We'll be sure that all our contact information, LinkedIn profile, all that is down in the show notes for you. Just remember if you do reach out to Amy, let her know. You heard her here on the Trend Report and that's why you're reaching out. So, Amy, thank you again for being here and that's why you're reaching out. So, Amy, thank you again for being here.

Outro:

For all of you, thank you for joining us today. Go out there and make today great, and we'll see you again in a couple of weeks. Thanks everyone.