Mainebiz

W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 17 A U G U S T 2 4 , 2 0 1 5 from the Portland Fish Exchange and who is farm-raising Maine seafood. e website aims to integrate Maine's seafood industry into food distribution systems in the Northeast and tap the trend of consumers wanting more locally sourced food. e website, however, is meant for businesses that would like to source Maine seafood, not for consumers seeking a good restaurant, he says. e two-year project was funded with $75,000 in grants. Cowperthwaite is now preparing a new proposal for a $10,000 grant that would add individual fi shermen to the site as well as more web analytics. He says that since the site went live in January, it has had 1,696 page views and 1,454 unique users, with an average time a user spends on a page of 4-1/2 minutes. Cutting paperwork Jared Auerbach, CEO and owner of Red's Best in Boston, is on his own crusade to cut paperwork, as he caters to smaller sellers. He delivers fi sh using 20 trucks that run from Rhode Island to Maine, and gives his proprietary soft- ware to dealers and others who have to enter fi sh catch and sales data. Auerbach, who fi shed on commer- cial vessels in Alaska and Cape Cod, Mass., says it's diffi cult to manage data in the seafood industry. Whether it's one pound or 1,000 pounds of fi sh, a multi-part form has been part of the fi shing life. at's the part Red's Best has automated. "Our technology decreases data entry. We realize data we have to col- lect is valuable as well to the end user who can trace the story of the catch in a QR code," he says. What had been diffi cult was getting the truck drivers, who also had to load and unload thousands of pounds of fi sh by hand, to do the paperwork. Now they can use a wireless, covered tablet at the dock. "It increases the value of the prod- uct with real-time marketing and decreases the cost per transaction," he says. "My software reduces redundant data entry." e system's inventory can be used to handle settlements, govern- ment paperwork and other business. " is data has tremendous value," he says. "I sell wholesale to restaurants. We have a traceability label with all information in a QR code about every fi sh on every day." P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y D OW N E A S T DAY BO AT S C A L L O P S P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y D OW N E A S T DAY BO AT S C A L L O P S Togue Brawn, of Downeast Dayboat Scallops, onboard the "Bossy Lady." www.ceimaine.org 207-882-7552 Flexible Financing LOANS INVESTMENTS PATIENT CAPITAL capital for opportunity and change Business Development Services @ceimaine 36 WATER STREET P.O. BOX 268 WISCASSET ME 04578 207.882.7552 fax 207.882.7308 info@ceimaine.org www.ceimaine.org Impact and Expertise creating economically and environmentally healthy communities Financing and business development services Did you hire an IT staff to put out fires or to build your business? 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What projects is your IT staff working on this very minute? Are they fixing? Or are they building? Is your IT staff playing offense or defense? What's the last innovation your IT Did you hire an IT staff to put out fires or to build your business? Is your IT staff the last to leave every day? What is your IT staff's bandwidth to handle projects? How badly do you want to shorten lead times on IT projects? Rate your confidence in your hacker security from 1 – 10, with 10 being "bring it on!" What if everything on your server was deleted right now? Wish you could double your IT staff? Does your IT staff wish they were twice as big? Your IT might be secure, but is it strategic? Does your IT department give you a competitive advantage? How do you measure project efficiency? What projects is your IT staff working on this very minute? Are they fixing? Or are they building? Is your IT staff playing offense or defense? What's the last innovation your IT staff came up with? What is your IT team's keep to build project ratio? Fast. Talented. Inexpensive. Pick two. I don't know if these are the right 3 choices? Would you hire out your IT staff as You Have Dozens of IT Questions. We Have An Answer for Every Single One of Them. 207.772.3199 syseng.com/mebiz C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E »

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