KBB - January 2015 - 18

TECH SAVVY
to change focus quickly. Of course, those industries start with a clean
slate - something we aren't used to. We're so entrenched with the way it's
been for decades that it clouds what we know we need to do to stay in
business. We need to learn how to pivot.

How can we compete in the digital space as we move forward?
Litt: I think every company needs to work on a digital strategy and fully
embrace technology. If I was to tell manufacturers 50 years ago that they
could be in direct contact with millions of consumers for astronomically
low per-user costs, they would be ecstatic. Today, many are afraid of what
that means since it is capable of disturbing their legacy distribution system. According to a new report by Deloitte, 50 percent of all dollars spent
in a retail store will be inﬂuenced by digital interactions. With numbers like
this, all companies will have a digital ﬁrst strategy. It's just a matter of time.
For more info:
www.adornably.com
Twitter: adornably
Facebook and Pinterest: adornably

need and your staff can learn fairly quickly. I think what mobile apps
teach us is that we want to be more productive, but we don't want to
spend a lot of time learning - and frankly, we shouldn't have to. The next
ﬁve years we'll begin to see more young designers who are primed to use
mobile solutions for business. They'll demand it, and we should be ready
to meet that demand.
For more info:
Connexionsoftware.com
Twitter: @whyconnexion
Facebook: whyconnexion

Mark Lewison, MarkOnCall
How it works: Take picture(s) of actual ﬁnishes, fabrics, rugs and ﬂooring from your favorite manufacturers and "skin" them onto any item or
surface in your MarkOnCall room using your iPad camera or images from
your photo library. You can customize with a full set of architectural and
room elements for intricate virtual planning.

Michael D. Garrett, COO of Connexionsoft

What made you decide to create your app?

How it works: Add/update new clients, project items, notes, details,
images, pricing. Log time, write messages, send out proposals from phone
or iPad, draw or import ﬂoorplans, save documents, communicate with
your design team and view ﬁnancial reports. The drawing feature lets you
draw on any photo - free-hand quick ﬂoor plans - and save measurements to any job. iPad touch features let you update and manage while
away from the ofﬁce.

Lewison: I felt that smartphone technology was really gaining ground.
The apps offered on iTunes were slowly becoming more productivity
centered, less game centered. This was 2008, and we were pretty early
in design-centric apps. We were the ﬁrst and only home design and ﬂoorplanning app available between 2008 until late 2009. And really, there
was a hole in the design market and a need for a tool that designers and
clients could use with the ease of a phone and the ﬂexibility of a pointand-click interface.

Why did you create your mobile application?

What is most rewarding about having created a mobile app?

Garrett: We actually created Connexionsoft for our family-owned design business. Back then it didn't even have a name. We used the solution
to manage all of our projects, sales and receivables and to collaborate
among our showrooms, staff and workroom. Using my Apple computer
background, I created what I thought was a more intuitive platform than
we were seeing on the market at the time. Our app allowed our designers
to keep working with clients and the home ofﬁce even when they were
not in the ofﬁce. That was in 2003.
Offering the app to the industry came about by accident. In 2007 one
of our designers moved to NYC and asked us if he could use our solution
for his new design business. That's when the lights went on. We quickly
did an in-house re-think and thought that if we could offer the ﬁrst, fullfeatured mobile app for interior design ﬁrms to manage, we might be on
to something. Obviously, we made the right move and we've been adding features ever since.

Lewison: The customer feedback by far; this was truly a labor of love
and continues to be so. We are in the midst of a total revamp and overhaul of the app, so when a client/customer writes in with either praise
or suggestions to improve the app, that's when I feel the magic. I am all
about collaboration.

What is most rewarding about having a mobile app?
Garrett: Hands down, it's our designers, our customers. It is so rewarding, as one of the chief developers, to get live feedback and to be part of
making a huge difference in our designers' lives.

What advice you would give designers about technology?
Garrett: Find tools you feel comfortable using, have the features you

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K BB

What advice you would give designers about technology?
Lewison: Contrary to what I have always thought and think that a lot
of designers still think, the use of productivity or presentation technology -
when used efﬁciently and correctly - will not take the personalization and
individuality out of design. In fact, it gives us more time to innovate and
push the envelope in our speciﬁcations and designs. ■
For more info:
Markoncall.com
Twitter: @markoncall
Facebook: markoncall

- Katy A. Garrett is CEO of Connexionsoft Project, Inc., producer of the
Design Tech Summit, a DesignCamp.com counselor and an author and
speaker. Follow her on Twitter @Designtechie, and like her on Facebook @
DesignTechSummit.

January 2015 / www.kbbonline.com / The Ofﬁcial Sponsor of KBIS www.kbis.com

http://www.Connexionsoftware.com http://www.Connexionsoftware.com http://www.adornably.com http://www.adornably.com http://www.Markoncall.com http://www.Markoncall.com http://www.DesignCamp.com http://www.kbbonline.com http://www.kbis.com

KBB - January 2015

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