The following answers were given by David Haber, CEO/Co-founder of cieTrade® Systems Inc., in response to questions from Scrap News.
What are the essentials people should know about cieTrade Systems (history/parentage, focus, facilities, leadership, customers)?
cieTrade is an information technology company that specializes in providing innovative and effective business management software to the scrap recycling industry. Our platform provides a seamless, end-to-end solution that supports the many facets of the recycling business from public trade and compliance to yard operations, material processing, inventory control, brokerage, risk management and more.
Our company was founded by David Haber and Richard Hamilton whose prior experience in trading and investment banking was instrumental in the original development of our product. Our namesake “cieTrade” software was initially created to address the unique financial reporting needs and business dynamics of brokers primarily in the forest products industry. Proving highly effective, it was widely adopted by secondary fiber brokers and scrap trading houses worldwide. Building on our success, we soon introduced support for recycling plant and scrap yard operations, offering a solution to manage all business activity, common workflows and industry requirements from one scalable platform, as well as eliminating the need for manual spreadsheets, standalone scale apps and risky customized software.
Today, cieTrade serves a wide range of companies throughout the circular economy: from regional recyclers and waste brokers to international trading houses and enterprise customers. Our support team has deep experience serving the industry and understands the challenges and expectations of scrap recyclers, offering guidance and best practices to help them realize business objectives and attain maximum value from their investment. As a company, our focus remains on creating new solutions and introducing products that can help our clients run their businesses more effectively, remain competitive, and improve overall business performance.
Tell us more about your latest developments, especially product launches/refreshes.
The launch of our cloud (SaaS) software is one of the most exciting new developments at cieTrade and has actually served a catalyst to advance our support for scrap metal recycling operations and trading. When we set out to develop this platform, we chose to start completely from scratch instead of simply creating a new front end on top of an existing product. Leveraging our industry knowledge and customer experience, we introduced many new functions and capabilities that have already generated significant interest from scrap recyclers, especially those using legacy or discontinued systems and looking for cost effective cloud-based alternatives.
cieTrade has always offered a “best of breed” approach to accounting integration, allowing clients to choose whatever platform best meets their needs. Additionally, we’ve recently introduced support for several new cloud-based ERP platforms including NetSuite and Intact.com among others.
We recently expanded our offering of mobile device apps, including one to manage warehouse inventory that simplifies the tracking of production and management of available material from any mobile device. We also recently introduced cross platform support for our cieTrade mobile reporting app and upgraded our tablet app to streamline warehouse operations and material grading.
Increasingly, clients have also expressed interest in using custom web portals to meet the demands of their supply chain partners including on demand access to data and metrics, documentation workflow and even ESG reporting. In response, we released an updated portal platform using a new technology base and GUI that’s better adapted to respond to the needs of our clients, allowing us to deliver solutions more quickly and cost effectively.
Lastly, we’re also in the process of publishing several new software APIs to improve cieTrade’s inter-operability with popular cloud CRM platforms, BI tools, container monitoring platforms and more.
How did you hear about ISRI?
Having worked with customers in the recycling business for many years, as well as actively participated and even sponsored many industry functions, we’ve been aware of ISRI and its role as an advocate and medium to promote the interests of the scrap industry. Many ISRI members have shared their experience networking with others through events and conferences and expressed the value of the connections they’ve made and opportunities they’ve found.
What made you decide to join the trade association?
There’s a lot of disruption occurring in the recycling software space with many companies reevaluating their current applications and looking for cost effective alternatives. While cieTrade hasn’t always had a reputation as a solutions provider for scrap metal recyclers, we believe that’s starting to change with the introduction our cloud platform and the growing interest we’ve received from scrap companies who’ve recently evaluated or switched to our service. Becoming an ISRI Member offers us an opportunity to re-introduce ourselves to the community, better communicate the value and advantages we offer, and help us build authority as a trusted service provider in this important segment.
Now that cieTrade is an ISRI member, what are you looking forward to most about being part of ISRI?
We’re looking forward to learning more about the challenges and business conditions that scrap recyclers face today such as price volatility, supply chain and logistics constraints, and customer demands. We’re also hoping to better understand how business software like cieTrade might mitigate some of these concerns and what expectations stakeholders have in the evolving role of business software in the industry. Lastly, we also look forward to attending ISRI sponsored conferences and the connections we can establish there.
Photos courtesy of cieTrade. Featured image caption: Warehouse operations using cieTrade. Body image caption: David Haber, CEO/Co-founder of cieTrade Systems Inc.
