TEXAS COMPUTER SECURITY AND SMALL BUSINESS Star-Telegram 02/06/2006 Small-business focus sends software around the world

Small-business focus sends software around the world
By J.G. DOMKE
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-TELEGRAM

When a sales clerk has to tell a customer that the store is out of an item, it's not only a loss of sales and profit but sometimes of the customer as well.

When Chuck Atkinson owned the Sailing Center on Benbrook Lake from 1969 to 1985, he spent hours struggling to keep track of thousands of parts, from deck cleaner to screws. His tracking methods were tied to labor-intensive inventories that weren't done often enough to ensure that stock was current.

But in 1977, RadioShack introduced the Tandy TRS-80, and Atkinson sought to find out whether the computer could help him run the business. (Ironically, RadioShack underestimated sales and ordered only one TRS-80 for each store. Atkinson had to wait several months for the store to restock.)

One of the first personal computers on the market, it had only 4 kilobytes of memory and no hard drive.

Even the modest memory allowed Atkinson to list his inventory and track sales and orders. So he started looking for other uses for the computer.

Seeing how it could also handle the bookkeeping and billing, Atkinson set out in 1978 to create CAP Automation (Charles Atkinson Programs) to capitalize on the new desktop PCs and to give retailers more time to focus on customers. Now the company is selling software to small businesses around the world.

"It was like preaching in the wilderness," he said. But publications started reviewing the Quick Check program and publicizing how it saved time. Atkinson said he was the first to use the work Quick in a program name.

Without the computer, retailers couldn't gather information and save it.

"When you finished the day, the information is gone," Atkinson said. "It took us years to get them over to the idea that you could save that information and it was like gold."

Today, son Will Atkinson is president of CAP Software, and the products are being used around the world. He recently returned from Trinidad in the Caribbean, where 15 businesses are using company software.

"It may look like a Third World country: There are goats running around on the road," he said. But he wouldn't be surprised if "they might have computers tracking those goats."

Much of the company's work includes program security. CAP Software has updated its programs to fit new rules set by Visa and MasterCard to prevent hackers from stealing customer information.

Many people may assume that the security problems are unique to online sales. But in some cases, store employees copy a customer's credit card numbers or other data, then try to sell it on the Internet. In other cases, thieves have stolen store computers during break-ins, carrying the data with them.

With these changes in tactics and a shifting security environment, stores must constantly update their software, Will Atkinson said. That required a program utility to go back and delete customer information that stores already had on file.

"We've had to make our software compliant, we do not store the data, and all transactions are encrypted," he said. Many retailers are unhappy that they now have to re-enter all the data if the customer brings an item back for a refund or an exchange, he said.

Now focused on specialty retailers, CAP Software costs less than $1,000 to start and is almost strictly for small retailers. The software wouldn't be practical for restaurants, grocery stores or large corporations, the Atkinsons said.

They have been working to link online and in-store sales so stores don't have to manually enter purchases from the Internet into another program that tracks the inventory. And they see new possibilities for tying remote security cameras into the program, enabling the owner to log onto the computer from anywhere in the world and see what's happening in the store. For Verna Pedigo, manager at Parkhill's Jewelry & Gifts in Fort Worth, it was a bit nerve-racking to switch to digital after using paper for more than 25 years.

But CAP Software came to the store to install the system and has been training employees.

Charles Atkinson, 71, said he once thought the company would have a finished product. With technology constantly changing, that hasn't happened.

"Every customer is different, and there is no end to the variety," he said