My only critique is a critique for the software. And it is also a critique for any software. If you have to explain how your site works in order for people to use it, then you need to work on your user experience. If you think about the most popular software in the world, which would arguably be the software powering iPod devices or Windows, neither of them need much explanation. You get in, you click buttons, and things happen. Windows probably needs more explanation, but I have seen videos of two year olds learning to use an iPod in 30 seconds. And this is the benchmark any software provider should aim for. If your users need a video to figure out how to use your software, then you need to go back and re-engineer. BUT sometimes you make videos for reasons other than to help people use your software. Sometimes it is just for marketing.

Hopefully that’s the case with this video…

The first quarter of 2011 will also see the opening of The Trade Banc offices in France to service the growing European market.

The TNT System platform enables International Monetary Systems to rapidly implement new features, improve usability, take advantage of database, internet, and email connectivity, and facilitate tighter integration with the company’s imsbarter.com website. By developing this proprietary software internally, IMS benefits from unlimited flexibility, customizability, in-house support, and cost savings. The TNT System lies at the heart of International Monetary Systems’ day-to-day operations; handling the processing of real-time B2B trade dollar transactions, managing client information and transaction histories, internal reporting, business intelligence, and customer relationship management (CRM). It is a database-driven, service oriented architecture created on the latest Microsoft(R) .NET Framework technologies, including the Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Presentation Foundation.

Donald Mardak, CEO of International Monetary Systems said, “The roll-out of the TNT System brings a multitude of new features and enhancements to the firm’s brokers and managers. The new platform is expected to not only benefit the company through the creation of significant internal and other reporting efficiencies, but also provide our brokers with improved market intelligence. We believe this platform provides us a unique competitive edge and we look forward to benefitting from its immediate improvements as well as from its future capabilities.”

The user interface has been redesigned to promote simplicity and efficient multi-tasking, including a Microsoft Office 2010 style navigation ribbon, and docking/floating tabs to allow for organized multi-tasking between TNT workflows and/or multiple computer monitors. Brokers now have personalized dashboards, allowing them to efficiently manage their assigned client base. The dashboard automatically presents alerts and suggests workflows to the brokers, giving them an actionable list of work items that might otherwise go unnoticed or be tedious to procure manually. The dashboard also presents brokers a competitive view of their month-to-month targets–ranking and comparing them to peers in their office and the entire company–increasing accountability, while reducing the need for micro-management. Managers and administration staff will also benefit from an integrated business intelligence, data mining, and ad hoc reporting toolset called Data Queries. Data Queries gives management an unprecedented birds-eye view of company, office, sales rep., and broker performance, client purchasing trends, and practically any other metric desired through its easy-to-use customizable interface.

A number of major features are planned for future versions of TNT. Keeping IMS’ clients informed of ways to spend their trade dollars, and client-to-client promotion to increase sales are two essential parts of the company’s value-added marketing service. TNT expects to expand on this many-fold, by generating targeted and personalized promotional emails, in a similar spirit pioneered by Amazon.com, promoting items to customers that the system believes they will be interested in, taking purchase history, business profiles, and personal profiles into account. IMS also plans to offer its clients a web service interface that allows them to accept payments in IMS Trade Dollars through their e-commerce websites or order management software as seamlessly as a VISA card or MasterCard.

To create new regions, we had to set them up for you in the exchange and then set each region to the proper permissions and configurations. There was also a fee for us to do this for you.

Now we’ve made it easier for you. You can create your own region simply by going to Control Panel > Exchange Mgmt. You’ll see a new heading under Exchange Settings called Regions. If you already have multiple regions, you will see them listed and will be able to manage the settings from there.”

More info at http://www.bcslsoft.com

Get more info at http://www.communityforge.net/

Barter21 has also recently updated and re-released their software user manual.

Next on the development list, according to Barry Cohen, includes a revamping of the commission system.

A Different Way to Think About Business Categories

Barter21 has always been an industry leader in their approach to business categories. They were the first software to match Member Directory and Trading Floor categories, making it easier on both members and exchange brokers to place businesses into the Directory and items and services onto the Trading Floor. And in a new twist, rather than adding more categories that are very specific, Barter21 has substantially reduced the number of categories and made each heading much broader. This is contradictory to the industry norm for barter exchange management software. “Placing a member into a broader category rather than multiple categories that are very specific gives them the greater exposure. Rather than a specific category like ‘Italian Restaurant’ we’ve put all the restaurants together into one category. So for the exchange that does not yet have an Italian Restaurant perhaps their member will choose another place to eat in the same category. Instead of a lost sale, all the members will get greater exposure. Greater exposure leads to more sales and trade volume. More trade volume means greater profits for the barter exchange.” said Barry Cohen, COO of BCL Soft.

Catherine Cohen, CEO of BCL Soft, continued, “The combined power of a redesigned Trading Floor, a more robust Member Directory that shows not only the member information but items that member has on the Trading Floor, and a more intuitive category structure is sure to have a positive impact. The members will have greater ease of use and that will reflect well on the bottom line of barter exchanges using the Barter21 platform.”

Launched in February, 2009, Barter21 is the fastest growing barter exchange management software in the modern Barter & Trade industry. Barter21 specializes in assisting start-up exchanges as well as being able to handle the greater trade volume of established exchanges.

Among nine new features and numerous enhancements to existing features, the highlight of this latest software release, Referrals, adds a new member referral system for brokers and exchange administrators to easily refer providers to members requesting a particular product or service.

Exchanges interested in learning more, can visit www.virtualbarter.com, or call 941-870-5560.

Software, any software, is created for you to license or subscribe to in order to use. Bill Gates doesn’t require that every letter you print and mail have “Created by Microsoft” in the header and footer of the page. Then why should the software you use to run YOUR business have another company’s name in the forefront?

If your barter exchange is a franchise, then of course, the identity is the franchise’s, not yours. You paid good money to be aligned with a certain already created brand.

But when you are running an independent barter exchange, the brand identity throughout the website should be all about your company, not the software. For example, one software encourages you to change your company name so that the name of their software is in your name.

Another barter exchange management software has about 2 inches of space at the bottom of every page of your website talking about himself, his company, and how wonderful that software is. There is even a poetic quote on your company’s website attributed to the programmer’s mother. Really? And to add insult to injury, emails from the system go out with not your company’s name but the name of the software instead.

But as much as I dislike those two, I have to say there is a worse thief of your brand’s identity out there. A lesser known software allows absolutely nothing on the landing page of it’s users. I typed in the www. of a well known barter exchange only to land on a page that was blank except for a login form in the middle of the page, a logo at the top corner, and a couple of menu items. At the top a contact button brings up some contact information about the exchange. But when you click on the home button, guess where you go? NOT to the home page of the barter exchange paying good money to use this software. No, you are directed to the home page of the software.

Not every software out their puts their brand identity before yours. Barter21 is an excellent example but there are others. The problem as I see it is that so many exchanges are using the software that make them – the exchanges, second and the software first. When I Google exchanges I find that their online description devotes much to the software they are using and nothing to the exchange itself. Most barter platforms even put their own brand in the title bar of every page on your website.

As a barter exchange you need to develop your own brand and cultivate that identity. Software is just something you use. It is a tool to run the exchange. It should never be the identity of your exchange. So if your software is hogging up the entire spotlight and taking away from the brand of your exchange, you may want to look at other options. And here’s my plug – Barter21 puts your brand at the forefront. We have just a small logo at the very bottom of the page.

NEW YORK, January 16, 2010 – BarterQuest (http://www.barterquest.com)