The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Wednesday September 13, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER C3 Business To reach this section call 845-3824 Fax:337-5567 ProCure.com putting high-tech face on Oakville Software firm making it easier for companies to order goods B y M a ry -L o u ise L a n g lo is SPECIAL TO T H E BEAVER T his is the story o f the little e-business that cou ld .........and did. Less than a year ago ProC ure.com was a sm all O a k v ille-b ased com pany w ith 12 em ployees. It now em ploys alm ost 50 people. It is grow ing at such a rate that by the end of this year, 100 people will likely be em ployed at the new W yecroft Road offices. Com pany officials project that at the current rate of grow th, and with new custom ers using their serv ices, P roC ure w ill be hom e to 200 em ployees by the end o f next year. "W e're grow ing trem en d o u sly and C yberplex are g reat new o w n e rs," said ProCure President, N eil Barran. ProCure was originally incorporated as a w holly-ow ned subsidiary o f Livingston G roup Inc., one o f N orth A m erica's prem ier providers o third-party custom ized logistics solutions. In M arch o f 2000, C yberplex, a top Internet p ro fessio n al serv ices com pany, acquired ProC ure.com . ProC ure designs, builds and operates integrated order m anagem ent solu tions for their clients. At the recent official opening o f their new offices, C h ie f T ech n o lo g y O fficer P eter Devenyi explained, "We build softw are as a service, as opposed to as a product. As a result, we d o n 't license our softw are to any individual or com pany. We allow them essen tially to rent it. We have a couple o f facilities where we run our applications through the Internet. O ur custom ers then access the appli- Investment fraud seminar Sept. 27th CARP, C anada' s Association For The FiftyPlusTM is joining forces with the Ontario Securities Commission to inform consumers of the fundamentals of investor protection and steps investors can take to protect themselves. To that end, a series of seminars has been planned throughout Ontario, including one in Halton, to be held on Wed. Sept. 27th from 7:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. at the Burlington Holiday Inn, 3063 South Service Road east of Guelph Line at Harvester Road. Speakers will include Frank Switzer, Manager of Corporate Relations and Michael Hubley, Sr. Investigator of the OSC Enforcement Branch. There will also be a presentation from Halton Regional Police. Question and answer sessions are scheduled and free refreshments will be served. For reservations, call 847-7938. cations and pay by the transaction." From the moment an order is submitted online by the custom er to the point o f final delivery, ProCure m anages the entire fulfill m ent cycle. By early 1999 ProCure was created as a separate com pany with the original inventors and the program m ers, who had worked on the softw are at Livingston. Bob Fletcher, Vice President o f Technology Strategy at ProCure, was the inventor. Neil M cPhedran, ProCure Vice President, Client Services, was the archi te c t o f the original softw are design. M cPhedran took F letcher's vision and ideas and brought them to reality. "O ur whole thrust is to bridge the supply chain ," said M cPhedran. President Neil Barran recalled ProCure's infancy. "The applications that we are running today were originally conceived and thought up as early as 1997. The first application was to help the pharm acists and hospitals in Canada to be able to order drugs and narcotics direct ly from the m anufacturers through the C anadian P harm aceutical D istribution N etw ork," said Barran. "That was a break through application. Today our understanding is that we are the only software solution that's been approved by Health Canada for the order ing o f controlled substances. It is som ething we are very proud of and clearly dem onstrates we are offering a very secure service." In addition to net ordering m anagement solutions, Procure offers track and trace solu tions. ProCure has developed and provides an Internet-based returns managem ent solution that is designed to assist clients by enabling their custom ers to obtain credits for goods pur chased on the Internet in an easy manner. "W e're solving a very real problem for businesses in how to go about order fulfill m ent," said Barran. Although raised in Etobicoke, Barran spent a num ber o f years working in the United Kingdom. He was drawn back to Ontario -- as opposed to California and the Silicon Valley -- by the business and high-tech opportunities offered by ProCure. He also liked what he saw of Oakville as a com m unity for he and his wife to raise their family. "O akville is a fantastic com m unity and w e're using that as a com petitive edge to attract and retain people. It is a showcase com m unity that has managed growth very well and has allowed for expansion while m aintain ing a town atm osphere," said Barran. "Our am bition would be to put Oakville on the map in term s of being a high-tech centre of excel lence." Photo by Barrie Erskine Neil Barran, president o f ProCure.com with his website in background: Oakville the perfect place for high-tech business -V Comfcrt Rrfcworfor urn & women W E S E L L C O M F O R T NOW OPEN THE SHERIDAN CENTRE PAMPER YOUR FEET WITH ecco R®HDE neker Easy Spirit Comfort Shoes WALKING S h e rid a n C e n tre E rin M ills P arkw ay ON A C L O U D 9 0 5 8 2 3 -9 6 0 0 - It would save even more lives if it responded to second-hand smoke, FREE Second-hand tobacco smoke causes heart disease and lung cancer. Second-hand smoke is the third leading preventable cause of death. Ask a smoker to take it outside. · Balloons · Clowns · Face Painting · Race Cars · and much much more. M eet Hockey Legend Johnny Bower In support of D.A.R.E Hot dogs & Refreshments Every ten minutes PR IZES ,,,· 7 ,, i b re a th in g I i-- space > = § = > AllianceHealthcareProfessionals Dr. Arnold Roper For m ore inform ation, please contact your public health departm ent. Funding for this progrom hos been provided in port by the Ontario Tobacco Strategy, Ministry of Health and Long Term Core No endorsement by the Ministry is intended or should be inferred Dr. Brian D. Huggins i (Comer of Argus and South Service Rd.) 845-2291 2 3 2 South Service Rd. E a s t -------- -- ----------------- 1----------------------------------------