i2 Trade Service, San Diego, has expanded its partnership with ConEst Software Systems, Londonderry, N.H., as part of its current initiative to provide more of its pricing and product data to software companies serving the electrical contracting business.
The ConEst partnership is intended to build stronger synergies between i2 Trade Service’s content and ConEst’s estimating software.
“In order for our customers to increase their profitability — which results from delivering competitive estimates — they need to fuel their systems with accurate and up-to-date content,” said George Hague, ConEst’s president. “ConEst is committed to providing our customers with solutions that allow them to achieve this goal, and our expanded relationship with i2 Trade Service demonstrates that commitment.”
John Henry, i2’s director of corporate communications, said that over the past six months, i2 has worked with major end-user software companies to help them develop accessibility to i2’s Tra-ser product and pricing program so users can use it in conjunction with their estimating applications.
“We’re coming out with a new version of Tra-ser, and we want to make sure that we engage these folks on a much more regular basis,” he said. “It used to be on an ad-hoc basis. Now we’re setting up regular dialogue so we can address product issues, customer issues, business issues, relationship issues, and make sure we stay on track meeting our goals and objectives. It’s just better to do it in a more formalized way.”
In addition to its expanded relationship with ConEst, i2 Trade Service has formed partnerships with Accubid, Concord, Onatrio; Estimation Inc.; Linthicum Heights, Md.; ComputerEase Software Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio; and Computer Pundits Corp., Bloomington, Minn.
Estimation Inc. provides estimating, purchasing and business management solutions for the electrical, mechanical and HVAC trade.
The agreement will strengthen the relationship between the i2 Trade Service pricing and product data and Estimation software products.
“The contractor industry has expressed their need for high-performance solutions that integrate well with one another since time and money savings are critical to their success,” said Alan Mech, president of Estimation. “The powerful link between Estimation’s software and i2 Trade Service’s content will offer our customers the comprehensive, streamlined and quality solution they require to achieve their business objectives.”
Computer Pundits offers a digital cataloguing software program called Catalog Builder that helps contractors build and maintain print, CD-ROM, PDF, e-mail and Web-based catalogs.
ComputerEase offers Windows-based programs designed to tackle accounting and project management tasks such as job and equipment costing, scheduling, document and inventory control, billing, union reporting and service management.