Awardo

Interview with Dan Stefan CEO – Simplio3D

On Awardo, we will continue to bring new types of useful resources to read, including interviews with CEOs, founders, co-founders, investors, etc. to learn directly from them, information about their businesses. In this interview, we have Dan Stefan, founder of Simplio3D, answering 5 questions about his 3d product configurator solution and its impact on the e-commerce industry:

What is Simplio3D and when was it founded?

Simplio3D is a visual-based product configurator platform allowing companies to showcase their customizable products online and increase their interaction between products/services and customers. All key features are found in one package, ready for deployment and scalability working in synergy with third-party solutions like ERPs, ecommerce platforms and many other software solutions. Simplio3D was founded in 2013, being at the time one of the first standardized web-based product configurators with a ready-to-install solution available. Today, the solution is much more complex, having behind it a library ready to satisfy any requirement based on the experience of many years of implementations.

What are the key factors that differentiate from other similar solutions?

By implementing 3D product configurators for many years, we have been able to perfect some of our key features, such as: the 3D visualization part, where we come with unique lighting, shadows and shaders, Simplio3D having one of the highest quality in-browser renderers on the market. Not only this, but we optimized the 3D loader to make the product configurator run faster on most devices and internet connections. The platform is integrated with major ERP systems, SMTP email services, ecommerce platforms and Autodesk Forge to generate CAD drawings directly utilized in the manufacturing process. Simplio3D is one of the early testers and adopters of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies with great potential. 

3d product configurator

For what type of businesses Simplio3D is suitable and why?

Simplio3D is suitable for almost any type of business in most industries. Obviously, I think the solution is very important to have for companies that sell customizable products and services and want to offer a 3d visualization option to customers. From the simplest to the most complex configurators, Simplio3D has options for any type of business and budget from small to enterprise level. We take every inquiry carefully and offer a free consultation to find out the best options to suit their business needs.

Can you elaborate a typical impact on a business once they start using Simplio3D?

Usually, businesses who want to deploy a configurator also want to integrate with an ecommerce platform to finalize orders or integrate with their internal operations like an ERP system. Therefore, the whole sales process is automated, no more need to draw the sketch during the quote, reduce customer support, decrease the return rate because the customers already know exactly through the 3d configurator what they bought, after submitting a quote all the information is pushed into the ERP or finalized by an e-commerce platform using an API call. Thousands, millions of product variants are kept in the configurator database and only queried when the customer configures their product. This ends reducing costs in almost every department of a company: manufacturing, marketing, human resources and operations.

What are the plans for next year?

Our plan is to constantly improve Simplio3D, some key areas we want to focus on in the next year are the immersive part of the solution, such as: Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality capabilities, better user experience and more integrations with third-party software solutions.

Why think about hunting startups?

Awardo has recently activated the "Startups" filter for buyers looking for new companies, offering alternatives to various solutions and services. By default, each category filters vendors by number of reviews and uses profile information to rank companies. Buyers can change the filter to hunt new companies and search for better prices and new technologies more easily.

Key Advantages

Sometimes, the first criterion in which a buyer chooses a vendor is the lower prices. The first place to look for better prices is to search for new startups, and Awardo regularly updates the database with new listings every month. Another key advantage is that, most of the time, startups come with innovation, new / better ways to solve a problem and in the case of agencies with new energy and motivation to provide good services.

How to Search for Startups

In both the Software and the Services directory for each category, you can filter a list by sorting according to specific rules. You can sort by number of reviews, review rating, by newest or oldest but also starting first with newest startups approved on Awardo.

To list the most recently added startups, you need to change the filter to “Startups”.

Here, at Awardo, we evaluate each startup before approving them in the related categories and making them visible for 12 months by enabling the special filter. 

Meet Awardo

Awardo is a directory that ranks software solutions and service providers. The platform comes with a methodology that Awardo will work with to list the best business technologies.

Profile evaluation

Each company that lists a software solution or service will go through an extensive evaluation by our team before approval, taking into account a few criteria. In order for a profile to be approved it is important to verify the author and have a portfolio. The verification of the author is done via email or phone call. Please note that if the company is listed as a startup, then the portfolio criteria is no longer a condition for the listing to be approved.

In addition to the above, we have other additional criteria that will be considered in the initial score when publishing the business. Our team will seek domain authority and reviews on other platforms to have an overall idea about the impact the company has on its market. Again, please note that if the company is listed as a startup, then domain authority and reviews on other platforms are no longer considered to mark an initial listing score.

Once the business is published on Awardo, the automatic evaluation takes over and with time the listings are ranked in their categories taking into account review ratings and profile information. For more information on company scoring methodology, visit this page.

Well ranked companies are eligible for recognition/performance badges, regular “best of” and insight articles and more.

Evaluating a review

Another important component of the way we work is receiving reviews as honestly as possible. We evaluate each review very carefully, encouraging reviews that are relevant to a particular solution or agency and that come from real people who have had experience with the company.

We do not allow fake reviews, as other platforms do. Sometimes, users offer reviews just to get as many gift cards as possible. False reviews are to the detriment of the buyer who is looking for the most authentic reviews to get the best idea about a solution or service.

Startup Filter

The start-up ecosystem is the source of many innovations and accessible solutions, which are sometimes not visible enough for interested early adopters. Therefore Awardo wants to provide a special filter for buyers that want to prospect also startups that are coming with competitive prices, fresh energy and innovation.

During the evaluation, our team will check if the company that wants to be listed as a startup is eligible. If the company is not older than 12 months, can benefit from the special Awardo filter. Buyers are often looking for new companies for better prices. Please note that this option is enabled for 1 year from the date of approval.