In his old job, Frank Coates worked with corporate sales, marketing and accounts teams. He was struck by the outdated use of pencil and paper for recording employee and client meetings.
West Chester-based
Wheelhouse Analytics, cofounded by Coates and Todd Buck, looks to solve that problem, capturing the critical data that happens off-line.
Admiral, the company’s flagship product, is a tablet app that allows firms to translate meetings and events into stored data points.
"There’s tons of information out there about how we communicate digitally, whether it’s on LinkedIn, use of websites or even cell phones," says Coates. "Companies have tremendous detail about who’s doing what and what people are interested in. But if you ask the sales force, 'How many minutes did you talk in that meeting about a particular product?,' they can’t do it."
Wheelhouse was formed in 2010, three years after Coates and Buck sold their former company, Coates Analytics, to PNC Bank. They have a full-time staff of nine and are looking to hire PHP and web service developers.
Admiral enables users to upload presentation materials, including slides and videos. During a meeting, the app tracks time spent on each presented subject and allows users to record the audience’s immediate response. The platform also creates a record of the meeting’s outcomes. All data links directly to the company’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and is backed up in "The Bridge," Wheelhouse's cloud-based hub.
Although Admiral has only been on the market since November, the product is already gaining Fortune 100 financial service clients with sales teams as large as 500 associates. The company plans to launch a customizable phone-based app for task management in the next few months.
"Ultimately it’s about what works and what doesn't," says Coates. "Our hope is to get rid of paper."
Source: Frank Coates, Wheelhouse Analytics
Writer: Dana Henry