RHOBI Blog

Manage, Connect and Sell with RHOBI

RHOBI has created a marketplace where businesses can manage their inventory
and buy and sell products & services.

Sellers – can publish their entire inventory of products to the web using RHOBI and keep it up to date in real time.

Buyers – can search RHOBI for products and services they need, by searching a database that contains ALL of the products and services from ALL of the sellers who have published their details on RHOBI.

Manage your Inventory

• No software deployment cost
• Reduces overhead and IT expenses
• Speeds the research and procurement process
• No extra fee for additional modules or functionality
• Access your system from any internet connection
• Reduces  potential of lost data with off-site data storage
• Reduces or eliminated need of onsite servers and specialized hardware to manage

Connect with Buyers

• Opens  new sources for buyers
• Builds business social network on top of personal relationships
• Reduces or eliminate the need of additional social networking sites
• Smart Phone compatible for on job site or off site functionality
• Reduces or eliminate the need of additional locator services and expenses
• Reduces need for phone calling & faxing to search for products & services
• Instantly talk with any customer or vendor thus reducing procurement and sale cycles time

Sell Your Products

• Low cost advertising
• Opens  new sources for buyers
• Opens  new marketing channels for sellers
• Speeds inventory turnover, thereby enhancing profitability
• One stop shop for all your business needs to market and sell your product or services.

Additional Features

• Communication tools such as instant messaging, email & groups. This creates a “Supply Chain Social Network” for buyers & sellers
• QuickBooks plug in for accounts payable & receivables
• Complete inventory management solution with automated sales order, invoicing, purchase order, RFQ and Quote generation
• Specialized automatic document generation (ex. 8130, Work Orders, Material Certification for Aviation Industry)
• Repair and Exchange Tracking
• Customizable Warehouse and Bin locations
• Multiple Inventory locations and owner management
• Attach drawings for items that you routinely build for future reference
• Attach photos of completed items / Catalog type functionality
• Completely customizable security level functions by user / you decide what each person can do and see in your company
• 256bit encryption and HTTPS for Secure log in functionality
• LinkedIn and Outlook contact management and direct messaging capability through RHOBI Messenger
• Built in Daily Planner and Call Log functionality
• Banner Ad and Company Profile for marketing / advertising
• Built in Customer / Vendor management
• In-House or inter Office communication and messaging system

New Functionality Coming Soon

• Basket building capability  – build a basket with products or services  and  generate a Lot Sale, issue quote, Invoice, RFQ etc..
• Multiple Baskets can be built simultaneously and put on hold until you are finished building it and decide what to do with it.
• Manage Contacts, Groups and Daily planner right from Messenger
• Pull your data as you need it from our servers at RHOBI.
• Back up your data locally.
• Attach Excel or Word  docs and protect them with passwords (i.e. for Insurance data for HR people, copy of Inventory, drawings etc.)
• EDI interface to give RHOBI the ability to pull data from other sources or programs

Pricing

1-5 users $99 per user per month

6-10 users $85 per user per month

11 or more users  / Call for a quote, we will work with you to make it  suit your budget and needs.

(Semi Annual or Annual Billing, we make it easy for you!)

At RHOBI, our customers input and ideas help us build our system to fit everyone’s needs so please keep the ideas coming and flowing.

We’d be happy to talk with you about your inventory management needs. Call Tammy Brown (VP Sales) at 1-903-876-5448 or email tbrown@rhobi.com for a free, no-pressure discussion about how RHOBI can help with your current situation.

Aviation companies are generally pretty conservative. They don’t jump on the bandwagon of the “latest thing” without good reason.

That makes perfect sense.  We’ll let the kids and the technology people find the bugs and work out the kinks, and we’ll let other companies make all the mistakes and pioneer the best practices.

But once a tool has proven itself, aviation folks  can be very resourceful about using it. Aviation people are also innovative, and use whatever tools are appropriate to accomplish their objectives.   If not for these qualities, Orville and Wilbur would never have transformed bicycle parts into a contraption that gets off the ground.

So, what is LinkedIN, how can it help us?  Is it a tool that’s worth using?

LinkedIN is like Facebook for serious professionals.

As social media goes, LinkedIN has been around for awhile. It started in 2002, so it’s about 8 years old.  It’s used by ALL of the Fortune 500, many of the personal profiles you’ll find on LinkedIN are at the director level or above.  It allows for social interaction, but most of that is constructed around jobs, advice, projects, and consulting. Personal profiles are more like resumes.   You won’t find games, videos, or photos of pets and grandchildren; as you would on Facebook.

Here are some of the things that LinkedIN does well.  If you need to build a personal network, promote a product or service, obtain or share information, or do research or background checks, then LinkedIN is a tool that’s worth looking into.   There is no charge to use most of the features, you simply go to http://www.linkedin.com and sign up for a free account.

Build a Personal Network

We are all painfully aware that any job in any field is temporary.  We’re all looking for our next gig or our next client, whether we were the first or last one hired by our current company.  Having a network in place BEFORE you need to look for a job is very reassuring.  And you can be sure that the people you’ll be connecting with will be able to help you:

The average number of LinkedIn connections for people who work at Google is forty-seven.

The average number for Harvard Business School grads is fifty-eight, so you could skip the MBA, work at Google, and probably get most of the connections you need. Later, you can hire Harvard MBAs to prepare your income taxes.

People with more than twenty connections are thirty-four times more likely to be approached with a job opportunity than people with less than five.

All 500 of the Fortune 500 are represented in LinkedIn. In fact, 499 of them are represented by director-level and above employees.

-Guy Kawasaki

There are two steps to building your personal network in LinkedIN. The first is to create a profile, and the second is to make (and accept) connections from other people that you know, and that know you.

Create A Complete Profile

Your LinkedIN profile is like a resume, except that the LinkedIN system is built to recognize and search on certain parts of it.  It also allows people to interact with certain parts of it. People can write recommendations for you based on your work experience or education, for example.

LinkedIN Personal Profile

Make Connections

As soon as your profile is complete, LinkedIN will begin sending you messages about people that the system “thinks” that you may know, based on places you’ve worked and where you went to school.

• The best way to build your personal network is slowly, over time.
• As you meet people through work, at networking events, and other places, add them to your network on LinkedIN.
• Whenever someone gives you a business card, if you think it’s someone you may want to stay in touch with, look them up on LinkedIN and invite them to connect.
• The more people you add to your network, the more people the LinkedIN system will suggest to you.
• The LinkedIN system will try to match  you up with people who have worked at the same companies or gone to the same schools you’ve attended.

You’ll occasionally see posts on discussion groups and other places that say nothing but “Link to Me!” “Open Networker” or “LION” (Linked In Open Networker) – You’ll also see people who have 500+ connections.  We don’t advocate these tactics because the point of a social network is that you know at least something about all of these people.

Promote Your Product or Service

There are several opportunities in LinkedIN to promote your product or service.

• Add your link to your profile page.
• Describe your product or service in the Summary section of your profile.
• Add a Company page

LinkedIN Company Profile

Break the Ice With Potential Customers

Conversations on LinkedIN are a lot like networking parties. The atmosphere is different in each. In some groups, you’ll find people actively promoting their products and services. In others, they only post articles and information that is helpful and newsworthy about a product or service.

It’s best to offer information without making a direct pitch in any of the forums.

LinkedIn Company Profile

Get Questions Answered or Share Information

If you have a problem or a question, LinkedIN is a great place to ask for assistance.  You’re probably not the only one who has had that question, or run into that issue!

Question in a LinkedIN forum

Do Research/Background Checks

Before you go to a job interview, hire a person, hire a consultant, or take on a new client, you might want to look them up on LinkedIN. You can search people or search companies.

The information there should (obviously) match up with other information you’ve received about that person, and often you can find additional information in recommendations (or lack thereof) that might lead you to dig a little deeper to be sure that experience claimed really occurred.

A woman who called me for an interview said she liked the references on my LinkedIN profile because it meant she didn’t have to ask me for references and hunt people down on the telephone.

It’s also a great place to find some background information on a person before you meet them for the first time. If you know they went to the same college, read some of the same books, or that they enjoy hiking, you have something to fall back on if the conversation stalls out.

LinkedIN – Worth the time?

It’s very possible to waste a lot of time on social media channels, especially if you’re not clear about your objectives and if you’re not disciplined about your use of time.

I certainly spend about an hour a week on LinkedIN, usually this is “coffee break” time between heavier projects when I would be socializing around a water cooler anyway.  LinkedIN serves a lot of the same purposes.

It’s definitely worth it for me – I’ve been on LinkedIN since 2005.  During that time I have met some great contacts, met some future clients, and I’ve even been offered two separate interviews for full-time jobs based on my LinkedIN profile.

LinkedIN – Connecting with the RHOBI

If you use an Instant Message system like MSN or Google Messenger, you know how quickly you can connect with people, get questions answered, and get things done.

RHOBI has an instant messenger system that is connected with their inventory and business management system, and now it connects with LinkedIN as well.

You can import your LinkedIN connections with the RHOBI messenger import wizard.  You’ll be able to see which connections are from LinkedIN, and which are from Outlook and other sources.

LinkedIN Connection in RHOBI Messenger

This lets me connect with people I know. If I’m in the market for something or need an inventory item, I can search for that part # and see which of my contacts may have one available.

This is a service available inside the RHOBI network. There are currently more than 100 companies in the RHOBI network.

You can get connected with RHOBI in less than 10 minutes, and have a one-year, one-user license at no charge!

This is a great way to use social media to save you time and buy and sell your inventory more effectively. Click here to get started.

We’d be happy to talk with you about your inventory management needs. Call Tammy Brown (VP Sales) at 1-903-876-5448 or email tbrown@rhobi.com for a free, no-pressure discussion about how RHOBI can help with your current situation.

Dick and Margaret Moorhead of Resources Unlimited Inc.  used to manage all of their inventory  and quotes from QuickBooks.   They’ve managed their business the same way for over 10 years, so it took some pretty significant advantages to convince them to add RHOBI to their inventory management strategy.

Part of their concern was with the learning curve.  Implementing a new system in a business that has to meet its daily operations can be a challenge.

“It’s not a hard system to learn,” said Margaret.  “It’s pretty simple and straightforward.”

Margaret and Dick pointed out a few of their favorite features:

• RHOBI allows a vendor to also be a customer. Many of Resources Unlimited’s vendors are also customers – in QuickBooks, it was necessary to create separate entries for a company – such as “V ABC Company” for the vendor function and “C ABC Company” for the customer functions. This also created some problems with disjointed reporting.   In RHOBI, however,  “ABC Company” can be listed as both a vendor and a customer and use all the functionality of both record types.

• RHOBI allows several listings per part number, and has a more robust “notes” function. QuickBooks allows only one record for each part number.   Resources Unlimited often had several  items of a particular part number, sometimes in different conditions, since they sell new and used parts,  the only way to designate this was with a detailed note (3 new, 1 used, 1 as-removed)   and the notes would need to be revised each time one of the items was sold.

• RHOBI doesn’t require them to ensure everyone was logged out of the system before making changes.  When they were using Quickbooks, it was sometimes necessary to talk to everyone in the company to make sure they were logged out of QuickBooks before they were able to make certain changes.

• The QuickQuotes feature in RHOBI allows them to send quotes out faster. The  system retrieves information automatically for a quote, and does not have to be re-entered.

• RHOBI can be used from anywhere. You can log in securely from any computer that’s connected to the Internet, and some functions can even be done from a web-enabled cell phone!

• RHOBI integrates really well with QuickBooks, so the accounting functions can be handled using the features that QuickBooks does best.

About customer service from the RHOBI company, Margaret says:

“RHOBI has been really responsive. They’ve been really good about making sure it will do whatever we need.”

_________________________

About Resources Unlimited

Dick  Moorhead owns Resources Unlimited, Inc.  It is a sales and brokerage company dealing primarily in Eurocopter / Aerospatiale helicopters and parts. They have been in business since 1989, and the employees  have a combined experience of over 50 years in this industry.  Resources Unlimited will be glad to assist you in buying or selling aircraft, supplying you with needed components or other parts, or selling any surplus inventory that you might have.

www.ruitexas.com

Resources Unlimited Inc.

660 Anderson Co. Rd. 308
Frankston, TX 75763
Phone: (903) 876-5445
Fax:  (903) 876-5446

dick@ruitexas.com
margaret@ruitexas.com

Data loss often leads to business failure.

These facts were brought to our attention by our friends at AviaSphere.  Information security and remote backups are integral to both of our businesses.

Business data is safer backed up in a remote location than locally. Boston Computing Network did a study and published these statistics on their website.

• 6% of all PC’s will suffer an episode of data loss within one year.
• 30% of all businesses that have a major fire go out of business within one year.
• 31% of PC users have lost all their files due to events beyond their control
• 34% of companies fail to test their tape backups, and of those that do, 7o % fail within five years.
• 60% of companies that lose their data will shut down within 6 months of the disaster.
• 93% of companies that lost their data center for 10 days or more due to a disaster filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster.
• 50% of businesses that found themselves without data management for this same time period filed for bankruptcy immediately.
• Simple drive recovery can cost as much as $7500.00 and success is not guaranteed.

Not sure whether your company’s data is backed up?   Have questions about how to go about protecting your business by ensuring information security?

Give me a call. I’d be happy to have a  no-pressure, low key, informative conversation.

Call Tammy Brown (VP Sales) at 1-903-876-5448 or email tbrown@rhobi.com for a free, no-pressure discussion about how RHOBI can help with your current situation. I look forward to talking with you!

For Immediate Release

This Instant Messenger (IM) software is a component of a complete inventory management system, and now interacts with LinkedIN and MS Outlook.

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January 21, 2009 – RHOBI Releases Version 2.2 of its powerful Messenger Software, which is now available for download free of charge.

RHOBI Messenger is one of four parts of the RHOBI software suite.  The RHOBI system allows companies to manage their inventory, connect with a network of buyers, and transact sales using a single integrated system.

The Messenger software is an instant messenger (IM) program, similar to Yahoo Messenger or Google Chat.

The RHOBI messenger also is a component of a complete software system that includes inventory management (comparable to ILS or StockMarket), and business management (comparable to SAP or NetSuite.) The system also enables participation in a network of suppliers and buyers of aviation and related parts and components.  There are currently more than 60 companies in the RHOBI network.

The software system was designed by an aviation company to streamline its own inventory management.  First released as PartMotion, the system has evolved to include several other features required by small to medium-sized companies that need to manage inventories and act as part of a supply chain.

The RHOBI system is based on the Software As a Service (SAAS) model, which is based on a software company providing specific functionality centrally and licensing companies and individuals to use it remotely.  This business model allows companies to take advantage of centralized services, such as support, backup facilities, and powerful computers without having those functions in-house.

New Features of RHOBI Messenger 2.2

The features included with this release save time and save work.  Recognizing that most companies need to get more done with fewer people, the focus has been on interacting more easily with other applications and online networks.

RHOBI Messenger 2.2 allows users to import and refresh their contact lists from MS Outlook and LinkedIN.   Contacts from either of those sources will appear with the MS Outlook or LinkedIN logo next to their name in the contact list.  This way you can see where contacts are imported from.

Contact list, showing LinkedIN or MS Outlook logo to indicate the source of the contact.

A Setup Interview Wizard enables someone to simply download RHOBI messenger, completely set up their individual and company information, and list their inventory on the RHOBI network in minutes.

Other upgrades allow for easy access from one part of the system to another.

As an example, Inventory Search allows a user to double click on a line item to retrieve details about a specific part or component. Then the user can click on an individual in the vendor’s company that he wants to talk to. The system opens up a chat window with that person and automatically tells the contact the part number of the component the user is interested in.

After selecting a component from the inventory list, you can click on a contact and open a chat window which will be populated automatically with the the component information.

After the user has discussed the part with the vendor, he can click on a button in the chat window to generate a “New PO” or a “New RFQ”. This will open RHOBI Advantage webpage, and automatically retrieve all the part and vendor information into the new order. All the user then has to do is to simply confirm the information and send it.

Available for Instant Download, Free of Charge

RHOBI Messenger 2.2 is available for download, free of charge, from the RHOBI web site at http://www.RHOBI.com.

Support and Training

Full-service support and training are provided for RHOBI Messenger 2.2, as with all RHOBI products.  Training videos are available on the RHOBI website located at  http://www.RHOBI.com/Help.aspx, or support is available through the RHOBI support department  support@RHOBI.com which is available during business hours Eastern Standard Time.

About RHOBI.

RHOBI, or Reinventing How Online Businesses Integrate, is a 100% web-based social supply chain network. Services offered include RHOBI Advantage, Blast, Click, and Mail. RHOBI Advantage was founded originally in 2007 under the product name PartMotion and was publically introduced at the 2009 Aviation MRO show in Grapevine, Texas. Blast, Click, and Mail are RHOBI’s social networking services which tightly integrate with Advantage. Together, RHOBI services provide a completely integrated solution for business professionals to build their contacts, maintain their supply chain, operate their company, and market their saleable goods.

All other company and product names and logos are trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

We’d be happy to talk with you about your inventory management needs. Call Tammy Brown (VP Sales) at 1-903-876-5448 or email tbrown@rhobi.com for a free, no-pressure discussion about how RHOBI can help with your current situation.

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Appendix  Detailed List of New Features in RHOBI Messenger 2.2

Setup Interview Wizard

The new setup functionality makes it quicker and easier to get registered on the system.

• The wizard walks a user through creating a new account, linking your RHOBI account to an existing LinkedIN account.
• It automatically retrieves profile information from LinkedIN.
• It allows the user to import contacts from LinkedIn and Outlook.
• It walks the user through registering his company information on RHOBI, including job position/title.
• It activates a free 1 year, 1 user RHOBI Advantage account.
• The final step of the interview allows the user to upload his inventory to the RHOBI system.
• The wizard enables anyone to simply download RHOBI Messenger, completely set up their individual and company information, and list their inventory on the RHOBI network in minutes.

Usability Upgrades

• Users are able to set up or update your company details
• Users are able to update both your personal and your online profile
• Users are able to upload LinkedIN contacts for direct messaging. These contacts will include the LinkedIN logo next to the contact’s name.
• Users are able to upload MS Outlook contacts for direct messaging. These contacts will include the MS Outlook logo next to their name.
• Update (refresh) LinkedIN or Outlook Contacts when needed
• Hovering mouse over any of a user’s contacts will open that contact’s job title and company name, if he clicks on a name in the details window,  it will retrieve contact details, including phone, fax, email, etc.

Inventory Search Functionality

• Inventory Search allows a user to view a vendor’s company profile as before, but now users can choose an individual associated with that vendor and initiate an  Instant Communication with.
• Inventory Search, allows a user to double click on a line item to retrieve details about a part #. Then the user can click on an individual in the company he wants to talk to. The system opens up a chat window with that person and automatically tells them what part # the user is interested in. Then, after the user has discussed the part with the vendor, he can click on a button in the chat window to generate a “New PO” or a “New RFQ”. This will open RHOBI Advantage webpage, and automatically retrieve all the part and vendor information into your new order. All the user has to do is confirm the information and send it.

One of the effects of the current sluggish economy is that many suppliers are left with surplus inventories.

Some of their customers have gone out of business, others are simply buying less.

These suppliers need to find new outlets for their surplus inventory.

When supply exceeds demand companies need to unload their surplus inventory. The Web, it turns out, has become one of the greatest liquidators of all–whether it’s a truckload of running shoes or a Martian meteorite. The sites that stand out from the rest are those that provide multiple options: auctions, consignment and instant outright sales.

– Drew Limsky, Forbes.com

One very economical way to move your excess inventory is to get listed on an online system that connects suppliers with companies that need these supplies.  This used to be done by “word of mouth, ” but  many salespeople and company leaders  are finding that the people they currently know is too small of a pool.

If many of your contacts are in an industry or a geographical area that has been hit hard by the current economic situation, you may need to venture further and wider to find new contacts.

Online marketing, including social media, is a very cost-effective way to fill this gap.  By listing your company profile and listing your inventory by  using a system like RHOBI, you can let many companies know what you have and find new buyers.

RHOBI provides many of the features of a traditional inventory management system, while it also provides the means allows users to make certain portions of that information “public” to other companies that are also using the system.  It even includes some features like instant messaging (to allow members to answer one another’s questions quickly.)

You don’t have to be a web technology engineer (or even a rocket scientist!) to make this work for your company. We’ll be happy to help you every step of the way.

RHOBI is a new system and we are actively building our network at an exciting pace. More than 60 companies of all sizes are already using RHOBI. Here are a few of them.  (You can see the whole list at our Members page.)

If you’re in the market for an inventory management solution, doesn’t it make sense to use something that costs less and offers more?

We’d be happy to talk with you about your inventory management needs. Call Tammy Brown (VP Sales) at 1-903-876-5448 or email tbrown@rhobi.com for a free, no-pressure discussion about how RHOBI can help with your current situation.