Where can you turn for help with those important projects you need to get out of the clouds and off the ground....?

Whether it's a case of "insufficient bandwidth" within your company, a project that needs special insight, or something that would simply require too steep a learning curve for your usual outside contractors, IDAT Consulting & Education can help.

We're not your typical outside contractor. IDAT Consulting & Education also provides consulting, education, and system design services to end-users. We know the technologies; we know the applications; we know the standards...in fact, we helped write some of them.

So, if you're wondering where to turn, may we suggest...right here?

• Consulting.
• Education.
• Market research and development.
• Product development and documentation.
• MarCom and editorial services.

Consulting

IDAT Consulting & Education offers two different classes of consulting services to AIDC vendors:

• Consulting to you
  (that is, advise you on markets, needs, opportunities, etc.)
• Consulting for you
  (that is, subcontract our expertise to help you meet contractual obligations).

Our broad range of knowledge of AIDC technologies and applications makes perfect sense either way. As a way to get up-to-speed with user needs in other markets or to help you win (and fulfill) client contracts, IDAT Consulting & Education can be a real asset.

Education

IDAT Consulting & Education offers you the opportunity to educate yourself as well as your customers.

We've provided specialized seminars for vendor employees to help them understand the markets and motivations, competing technologies, and emerging opportunities. We can also provide educational materials or programs to help educate your customers and potential customers.

Among the services we offer are:

• Custom in-house seminars,
• Focused customer education programs, and
• Procedures manuals and tutorial material development.

Market Research and Development

If you had the time, you could probably handle this by yourself. Or maybe not.

The fact is, you probably don't have enough time to do everything you'd like to -- or feel you need to. IDAT Consulting & Education can offer your company an impartial yet informed view of:

• How markets are developing,
• Where they're emerging,
• Which technologies are hot, and
• Why.

We've done good market research where there were no numbers, helped companies target new products, and helped promote new technologies.

If you've got the time to attend endless meetings in search of market intelligence, you have our condolances. If not, give us a call.

Product Testing, Development, Documentation

If you're looking for help in determining how to design a new product, understand what new applications it might need to address and where the action is, we're your source.

Sometimes, you get so close to a project you can't see it anymore (something like the forest and the trees). We can offer that "outside" look at it before you get too far down the road.

We can also develop useful documentation that will enhance customer satisfaction. (Remember the last time you had to follow badly-translated directions that were probably poorly-written in a foreign language to begin with? Gave you a real "warm, fuzzy" feeling about the product, didn't it?) Because good documentation can help identify potential problem areas, it also helps keep Help Desk traffic down.

Bert drafted the documentation of the public domain version of MaxiCode (UPSCode) and gave it its full-ASCII and multi-lingual capabilities.

We can get involved in the beta-stage to help you make sure everything makes sense before it goes into the "box." (Also a good time to begin documentation....)

We can also develop and run testing programs, either by ourselves or in conjunction with academic institutions.

Marketing Communications

Even if you have in-house MarCom and an outside agency, there may be times you need some additional "bandwidth" – or more expertise than your outside agency has.

Bert Moore has been the editor of Parcel Shipping & Distribution magazine and the AIM-published ScanJournal, has been a contributing editor for Frontline Solutions (aka Automatic ID News), ID Systems magazine, and Material Handling Management (aka Material Handling Engineering), and a contributor to many other periodicals (including Byte Magazine). Bert has authored over 250 columns, articles and professional presentations.

He appeared as a bar code expert in one segment of John Stossel's "American Computer" series, consulted on the "Computerized Society" volume of the Time/Life Books "Understanding Computers" series, served as a reviewer of sections of "Package Printing" (Nelson Eldred, Jelmar Publishing, 1993), and contributed a chapter to "Technology Trendlines" (Jessica Keyes, Ed., VNR, 1995). He has also reviewed book proposals for publishers on a number of topics. He's also often remembered for his "Data Collection" column in P&IM Review. It's a little-known fact that before Bert became an expert on AIDC, he was involved in marketing communications, PR, and advertising.

So, whether you want something "ghost written," want it under Bert's name, or just plain need help getting your message across, IDAT can help with:

• Case histories (applications articles),
• Technical articles,
• White papers,
• Collateral material,
• Advertising, and
• Web site design/development and content.