Kevin: Hello everybody, and welcome to Trigger Point, the FFL Business Podcast. Excited to have Mr. Jake Newbold and Daniel Peterson back with me today. How are you boys doing?

Jake: Great, Kevin. Thanks for having us, man.

Kevin: Alrighty, man. We’re going to jump into something that I’m sure Daniel probably just eats, breathes, and sleeps, and that’s cloud versus server-based software today. So I know that’s probably one of his favorite topics to talk about beyond deer hunting.

Daniel: It is.

Kevin: Alright, Daniel. So you’re first up in the batting order. Let me ask a question, and this is something that I know a lot of our customers and prospective clients are asking. They want to know why cloud-based FFL software is the future of gun store operations. Take it away.

Daniel: Well, what an interesting question. It’s funny because I was just thinking on this topic, Kevin. When you start doing these assessments as businesses, opening a business is not cheap. There are a lot of considerations between the location of your business, personnel, the inventory itself, and then you get down to the centralized hub of operations and what is going to run that and what the cost to the business will be.

A lot of times, many factors go into trying to get a business set up, and unfortunately, many businesses overlook the software side even though it’s such a big part of the operation. More and more, though, people are considering it sooner rather than later.

When you’re talking specifically about on-premise solutions, what does that cost? An on-premise solution is a localized server-based hardware solution provided as a proprietary setup from that service provider. Right out of the gate, before you even see what the program or software does or how it works within your business, you’re going to be faced with twenty to thirty thousand dollars in equipment costs. You’re talking about server stacks, networking capabilities, proprietary equipment that can only be purchased through that provider.

So before you even know if the solution works best for you, you’re already committed to it with a huge upfront cost. Most of the time, those solutions are very limiting because whatever you buy is the most up-to-date version available at that moment.

When you compare that to a cloud-based solution, you’re already paying for internet access for your business. Internet is a staple in today’s world. You already have access through your phone and computers to run your email and other operations. So with a cloud solution, you’re basically logging into a website customized to fit your business operation.

It’s not limiting in the same way. You don’t need special circumstances to access your information. A lot of times we’ve seen businesses start with an on-premise solution, but once the business grows, they outgrow the system. That twenty- or thirty-thousand-dollar investment—or sometimes even over a hundred thousand dollars for multi-location shops—has to be duplicated at every location because they need the same proprietary equipment everywhere.

Once the business outgrows that solution, upgrading means writing another big check. The advantage with cloud-based software is that as your business grows, you don’t outgrow your operational hub. You can add locations easily, and adding another terminal can be as simple as getting a new laptop.

A lot of people in this industry come from the IT world, surprisingly, so they can source equipment themselves more efficiently. It puts ownership of the business strategy back into the business owner’s hands instead of holding them hostage to a service provider.

Kevin: That’s an outstanding explanation. So I’m going to shift the fire over here to the CEO who’s always looking at P&Ls and balance sheets, Mr. Jake.

Jake, if I were to ask you what the real cost of server-based FFL software is—from a business owner’s perspective, kind of top line to bottom line—what would you say?

Jake: Great question, and it’s one we get often: server-based FFL software versus cloud-based FFL software.

Daniel hit on a lot of the major points. The capital expenditure is obviously much higher when you have to bring in a server-based software platform and all the infrastructure that comes with it. Then you need personnel to manage it—IT personnel—which is another cost. The infrastructure alone may require upgraded internet, wiring, and landline-type setups.

It’s also very immobile. It hinders your ability to access your system from anywhere with internet access.

Some of our competitors, like Rapid Gun Systems, Celerant, and AXIS, are largely server-based platforms. We made the decision early on that we didn’t want to go down that road. We wanted a cloud-based platform for all the reasons Daniel mentioned: system advantages, mobility, and security.

Contrary to what some people believe, cloud systems are actually extremely secure. Some people think that if the system is physically on-site, it’s safer, but then you’re vulnerable to theft, fire, and other disasters. If something happens and you don’t have backups, your data is gone.

Cloud-based systems are what most of the world uses today, including, largely, the Department of Defense. You have disaster recovery plans and multiple backup regions. If one region goes down due to something like an earthquake, there are backups running elsewhere in the country.

With server-based systems, you don’t really have that level of redundancy.

A lot of competitors also charge per seat or per user license. That’s an additional cost. With Trident One, everything is included under one price. We don’t care if you have one user or a thousand users. You can control permissions internally so different employees only access what they need, but we don’t charge extra for more users.

We just didn’t see any advantage in nickel-and-diming customers over that.

Kevin: So there are a lot of great things I’m hearing: backups, disaster recovery, hardware savings. Let’s break this down so even a simple crayon eater like myself can understand—and for a lot of our gun store owners listening.

What does this actually look like in terms of dollars and cents?

Jake: Obviously every business is different, but in real-world scenarios we’ve had multi-location FFL dealers switch from server-based systems to Trident One and eliminate over forty thousand dollars in costs and hardware refreshes.

People forget that servers and hardware have to be replaced every few years. That’s a real expense.

We designed Trident One to run on almost any equipment you already have. A one- or two-hundred-dollar laptop runs the system just fine. Tablets work too. You don’t need expensive hardware or huge upfront capital expenditures.

You can easily save somewhere between twenty to fifty thousand dollars upfront depending on the size of the business, and then continue saving on long-term maintenance costs.

Daniel: Sorry to interrupt, but you mentioned P&Ls earlier. Think about having a hundred-thousand-dollar line item on your operating expenses and trying to measure the value you’re getting from it.

Now compare that to your light bill. Do you sit around evaluating the value you get from electricity? That’s kind of what we’re talking about here. Compared to a server-based investment, the ongoing cost of cloud software is fractional, and the value added far outweighs the expense.

Kevin: That leads me into one of my last questions here, Daniel. Let’s see if he’s on his game today.

What would you say are the top three advantages of using Trident One’s cloud-based FFL software versus traditional server software?

Daniel: Number one would be speed of access.

As soon as you’re in the Trident One ecosystem, you have access to your store almost immediately—basically as fast as receiving an email with your login link. There’s no waiting for specialized equipment, no installation. It’s virtually instant.

In today’s world, when people spend money, they want immediate access to what they purchased. With this system, you can access it before you’ve even paid anything.

Second would be ease of use. It doesn’t require a background in IT, networking, or software. It’s very user-friendly.

And third would definitely be cost. We’ve all had experiences where somebody hands us an instruction manual and we immediately throw it away and figure it out ourselves. We built the software with that same philosophy. If it’s not intuitive right away, then what are we doing?

So the speed, ease of use, and lower cost to the business are my top three.

Kevin: So to summarize, according to Daniel Peterson, the top three advantages to using Trident One cloud-based FFL software are speed of access, ease of use, and lower business costs. Is that correct?

Daniel: That’s it, man. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Kevin: Outstanding. Hey, you did say it—I just summarized it.

That’s some great information. A lot of people are asking questions about server versus cloud-based software, and there are still some misconceptions out there. So it’s great bringing two of the industry’s leading experts in to answer these questions.

I appreciate you guys taking the time today. We’ll call that one a wrap, and I look forward to seeing you gentlemen again in a week or two.

Jake: Yes, sir. Thanks, Kevin.

Kevin: Alright. Have a great one. Take care, guys.

Daniel: You too. Thanks, Kevin.