The ComputerAid Story

Innovators:

The need for solutions and data access regardless of the industry is becoming more prevalent throughout the world.  Since 1986 ComputerAid has had a history of creating successful solutions and successfully implementing them into the agricultural industry. 

In 2007 our company received Nokia Intellisync Mobile Suite Certification.  Our team of experts has just successfully tested an application in a joint agreement with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada which synchronizes data from a handheld mobile device to the National Database and back.  This technology is the building block of the future for mobile data access for the mobility worker and in 2008 we successfully implemented our first mobile application with the launch of Ranchers Mobility. 

Constantly looking ahead to the future needs of our clients resulted in the development of new products and recognition in 2006/07.  

• Rancher's Advantage was created to assist cow/calf producers with tracking their herds;

• Age Verification was released to allow producers, packers and feedlots to verify their animals against the CCIA database to meet emerging marketing opportunities;

• We took our feedlot software solutions to a new level with the release of an animal management module.  This module gave us the first completely integrated solution for animal health, significantly reducing the amount of duplicate data entry our clients had to do.

• In response to the need for additional flexibility in our Age Verification and Export Program we combined these into a single product, AV.Export. 

• Alberta Venture Magazine named Yvonne Tollens to their list of Alberta's 50 Most Influential People in 2007

• Yvonne Tollens won the 2006 Royal Bank of Canada Women's Entrepreneur Intel Innovation Award

The ComputerAid story began in 1986 when Ralph and Yvonne Tollens opened ComputerAid as a part-time venture to assist family and friends with cow calf operations who were looking for ways to collect and manage data.  With Yvonne’s agriculture background and her strong desire to get back to her roots combined with Ralph’s technology skills they felt there was a unique business opportunity. They developed there first software package for cow calf operations and worked through the various issues associated with implementing some of the first personal computers into an agricultural environment.  

In1994 ComputerAid was approached by four major feedlots to investigate commercial feedlot software available and recommend a solution.  The requirements were that the software be easy to use, provide access to all historical data, not restrict the operations of the feedlot and be expandable for future developments.  After review it was determined there was no software available that would fulfill all of these requirements so we proposed developing new software.

By 1996 ComputerAid’s flagship product, DG Professional, was released.  Microsoft recognized DG Professional in 1996 and awarded the Microsoft Most Effective 32-Bit Solution Award.  Then in 2001 CattleBytes^TM was released to address a need for an administration program for small to medium sized feeding operations.  

The development of Ranchers Mobility, Animal Management, Ranchers Advantage, Age Verification, Export System, Cattle Investment, and AV.Export came in anticipation of the needs of our clients when facing new challenges to meet new industry standards and marketing niches.

The next chapter in innovation and development will see ComputerAid expand into mobility solutions.  For more information please go to http://www.poweringmobility.com/

 'Developing New Horizons, Implementing New Solutions and Achieving Bigger Results'