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B2B Shades is a roller shade manufacturer based in NJ, supplying wholesale offices and schools across the U.S.
As order volume grew, working in spreadsheets became fragile: too many files, files grew larger and started to corrupt, manual entry errors increased, and key processes depended heavily on the owner’s know-how.
Cyber Pioneers Inc. eliminated order processing bottlenecks by migrating the client from Excel to a system designed to streamline order intake and order validation workflows, mimicking a familiar spreadsheet interface.
In the first version, it increased order shipment capacity by 30% and reduced the owner’s day-to-day operational involvement by 50%.
“Even the first rough version productivity increased by 30%. What used to be our best month in 2023 is now just an average month.” - Paul, the CEO.
“..files nobody had even touched, yet the numbers inside changed on their own. I felt like this was the end” - Paul, the CEO.
Why off-the-shelf ERPs didn’t fit
“I need freedom and customization. I don’t want to be locked into their logic, their limits, and their vision…you depend on them, …we started building our own solution, so all mission-critical stuff is in-house…and I know I can make it better.” - Paul, the CEO.
Vitalii Buga, the founder of Cyber Pioneers Inc., originally from Ukraine, brings a decade of experience in Software Engineering and Management, running complex back-office projects for cloud providers in the U.S. and Australia.
WHO WE ARE Cyber Pioneers is now an 11-person team focused on serving clients in industries such as manufacturing, agriculture, and construction.
Given the criticality of the prospective software to manufacturing, Vitalii would commute to the production facility to better grasp the business and learn how the owner envisions interacting with the system.
Metrics set to improve:
Vitalii would brainstorm the user interfaces on-site with the owner and operators, so
A software system was developed to streamline Order Intake and Validation workflows for window-shade fabrication. The order registry was moved from spreadsheets to a database governed by production business rules. The user interface was designed to mimic spreadsheets, ensuring operators work in the way they’re used to.
The first production-ready version of the system delivered an 8× ROI in the first year by preventing faulty orders from entering production.
“No, I’m not home earlier, but I’m now less of a hands-on operator and more of an owner who runs things.” - Paul, the CEO.
“Every goal we set has been nailed. Now we’re onto the next level: inventory, dashboards, analytics, reports.” - Paul, the CEO.
After three years of adding workflows and features, the client decided to productize the system as a SaaS offering for other roller-shade fabricators.
“Ultimately, I see it as a vertically integrated solution for fabricators.” - Paul, the CEO.
