Our Clients: E&M Solutions

When Drew Deslippe started his business, E&M Solutions, in January 2022, he had an idea to work with the automotive and manufacturing industry to provide an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software system to help companies run their business. The system, called ShopNav, would be a custom program that supported automation and processes such as quotes, jobs, invoices and project management.

While Drew says he “knew enough to be dangerous” as a junior developer dabbling with Claris FileMaker to create a database, he also knew he needed help with advanced development to make ShopNav come to life. A Google search led him to Oak Bay Softrends and Steven Barer. Steven assigned Marcus to the project as the senior developer who could take Drew’s business to the next level, and from that began a long-term, solid working relationship.

“Customizing a database is very complex, and we brainstormed a lot to make this work,” said Drew. “We really benefitted from Marcus’ experience and knowledge. It was nice to have someone to bounce ideas off, until we reached the final product.”

Drew has concerns that there would be no easy way to get the system to where he wanted it, but the Oak Bay team always found a way.

“We were trying to take a pre-developed ERP system and use it for multiple commodity sectors. Then, Steven’s team came up with the great idea of taking the system and shifting it toward a JavaScript approach. They basically redeveloped this thing so it could be set up for multiple commodities. That was huge and the real turning point for this database system.”

Oak Bay’s development mindset enabled the Filemaker system, and Drew’s business, to do more and to serve more types of clients.

“This system [before Oak Bay] was really only good for one commodity sector of the manufacturing environment, which was mold making,” said Drew. “Once we finalized getting it set up, it opened up my sellable platform to all manufacturing sectors, such as automation, dye shops, fixture shops, fabrication shops and production facilities. It made the system much more flexible and increased my marketing value to more suppliers.”

He said creating a whole new database wasn’t without a learning curve. “I needed to learn how to manage it,” Drew recalled. “A lot of developers I’ve worked with in the past just fix it and move on. But Steven’s team did a great job in actually training me and showing me along the way what they did and why so I understand the concept and the management of it.”

Not only was training crucial to Drew’s satisfaction, but he said the Oak Bay Softrends team felt like co-workers. “I worked with them day-in and day-out on all of the items that needed to be developed, created and modified accordingly. They were intimately involved and stayed dedicated through the entire process,” said Drew. “They were great. I don’t even look at them as a supplier anymore. We’ve really built a personal relationship.”

For anyone looking to have a solution created for their business, Drew says his number one advice is to invest in custom development. “There are a lot of out-of-the-box systems that you can buy. But then you have to tailor your company to the way the system works,” said Drew. “When you work with a company like Oak Bay Softrends, you get the luxury of making a system work the way you want to run your company, not the other way around.”