“It is very vulgar to talk about one’s business. Only people like stockbrokers do that, and then merely at dinner parties.” – Oscar Wilde

As Volano closes out 2014 and looks ahead to the new year, we wanted to look back on some of the year’s highlights. 2014 was a big year for us on a lot of levels. We are eternally grateful for our clients, partners, friends and family and the countless contacts to whom we have relied. We’ve worked hard to develop and refine our brand promise of delivering transparency, efficiency, accountability and accuracy to our clients’ workflow management through custom software. Software as a competitive advantage was never more prevalent than in 2014. In a year crowded with accomplishments, here are a few milestones of which we are particularly proud.

New Product Launch

In February we launched Action Card, our software as a service mobile field management too. Volano’s sales team introduced the app at the International Franchise Association convention after several months of beta-testing and at the time of this writing, have nearly 1,600 active locations using it across the country and in Canada and a 1,000 in trial. Fueled by a grassroots sales and marketing campaign, we’ve received some great press and Q1 is looking very promising.

Getting Noticed

We launched a new website for Volano with branding and messaging that is more focused on what we do best: workflow. We also got behind a few of Omaha’s indispensable organizations by supporting Big Omaha, StraightShot, Omaha Young Professionals , Cystic Fibrosis, Business Ethics Alliance, Interface , Omaha Code School and many others. Recently the Omaha World Herald wrote an article featuring two software developers we hired from both code schools. Above all else we hire on attitude and aptitude and the model is paying off. Volano has always subscribed to the idea that businesses should be active participants in their community and supporting local technologists and aspiring entrepreneurs has had a positive impact on our brand and business. In January we are being honored by a prominent organization for small business of the month. More on that to come.

Growth

Volano hired four developers in 2014 and are going into 2015 with openings for a VP of Software Development, Sales Support and Customer Support. In November we made a great move to the Mastercraft Building and are working in 2015 on details for our next, more permanent, location. We also showed that we are able to diversify our project-based revenue stream through product sales and leverage Omaha’s extremely accessible and generous technology community to learn how to scale and grow product sales.

Where the Tire Meets the Track

Volano’s core beliefs and capabilities were tested on a particularly challenging software engagement this year. Those in software will understand. The project had a 5 month timeline involving thousands of hours, six of our own developers (more people leads to more complexity and requires more communication and coordination), integration with 3rd party custom applications and integration with legacy systems. We knew we could do the project but that it would be tough.

Our team successfully completed the project on time, within budget and without having to go back to the client to change order things. The client was very happy with the finished product. Success was attributed to the skill of our team, the direction provided on the engagement, the initial and ongoing communication with the client and the simple fact that we hire people that love challenges and step up when they’re taken a little outside their comfort level. We were extremely proud.

We’re looking forward to 2015 and building on the success of last year. Regardless of how we evolve, the darts will continue to fly, the kegerator will flow and the battle for control of Sonos will be fought in the trenches. Happy New Year everyone.