Software For Small Business

October 26, 2021

Auto-Star Compusystems was founded over 40 years ago when two brothers developed software to assist with inventory at their car dealership.

Word of mouth helped the software gain popularity, and the two sold the dealership and officially incorporated as Auto-Star Compusystems in Medicine Hat in 1982.

Today, the software is used in all Canadian provinces, all American states except for Hawaii, and the Caribbean.

Robert Symmonds, CEO of Auto-Stars Compusystems, says the company’s most recent software launch, ClearTEQ, was designed for small and mid-sized businesses who need easy-to-use software that maximizes every dollar and helps operations run smoothly.

“As an executive team, we wanted to develop very affordable retail software that includes just the essential tools. Using the experience and knowledge gained with our current customers, we took the features of our current software, brought it into a smaller toolset and let it live in the cloud, which allows the software to run anywhere with an internet connection,” says Symmonds.

The all-in-one point of sale and payment processing software allows business owners to set up the equipment themselves and create products and promotions immediately.  Other design decisions were made to effectively change the way small business owners do business.

“Traditionally, everything must be done in-store – reports, analytics, ordering, promotions. By making ClearTEQ able to connect to any web browser, business owners can do all those tasks from anywhere.”

The company has two other software programs, Star-Plus and Star-Lite, which are best suited for grocery, pharmacy and natural health stores.

Over the years, the team at Auto-Star Compusystems has grown from three to 30, with staff continuing their careers with the company for much longer than the industry average. Most employees have been with the company for over 10 years, and nearly half celebrating over 15 years.

“We support thousands of businesses, 80,000 unique users and process billions of dollars worth of transactions through our software. It was all created here in Medicine Hat, and it’s stayed here,” says Symmonds.

The CEO says the company was faced with the decision to move to Ontario in the late 90’s, but because Medicine Hat is a favoured home to their team members, the decision to stay in the city was easy.

Not only is the employee turn overrate low, but Symmonds says Auto-Star Compusystems (pre-covid) has had less than a 5 per cent annual customer turnover rate which is a fraction of the industry average.

“I’ve been with the company for about 25 years, and we have customers who are well over 20 years old and signing new contracts,” says Symmonds.

Auto-Star Compusystems is located at 636 11 Ave. S.W. and can be found online at https://www.auto-star.com/ and more information on ClearTEQ can be found at https://www.clearteqpos.com