HTECH rising
Judd Jones, president of Hagadone Technologies, is joined by Cat Soto, business development manager, left, and Ashley Tangen, director of software development, at the lobby of their front office.
COEUR d’ALENE — In 2018, Hagadone Technologies had one software product.
A small start that led to big things.
Since 2019, HTECH has developed over 13 different software solutions that are used throughout the Hagadone family of companies.
“The key to our growth and our success is we only build what we do as an overall company,” said Judd Jones, recently promoted to president of Hagadone Technologies. "This way we ensure we completely understand the needs and requirements for our software builds."
There is more to come.
“We are currently bringing one new product out every quarter. This progress is not slowing down,” Jones said. “Our software solution and technology stack is growing rapidly every quarter.”
Hagadone Technologies employs about 15 people who are among the brightest minds in the country, Jones said. Collectively, they have more than 250 years of technology experience.
"We have diverse backgrounds and skill sets on the team at Hagadone Technologies. Our staff is from around the country with a number of our teams having worked for large corporations and other notable technology companies," he said.
The Hagadone Corp. owns numerous businesses in different industries, including hospitality, boating, golfing and media. Each will benefit from HTECH, whether that be in marketing, planning, services or products.
“We understand building web solutions and software for food and beverage using our food beverage staff and operations to research and develop the solutions,” Jones said. “The same can be stated for newspapers and magazines. We know what it takes to have comprehensive software solutions for both those publishing types.”
There is work to do.
“Our next big development is a guest-focused kiosk experience at their fingertips featuring our businesses, our local businesses that support tourism and visitors as well as our communities,” he said.
For example, Jones said The Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course is known around the world and has an outstanding reputation.
“It only makes sense for HTECH to develop a comprehensive state of the art software solution for their tee time scheduling, caddy management and point of sale in their pro shop," Jones said.
Hagadone Technologies is branching out. It is launching a full software development company which includes two distinct product lines.
The first is Software as a Service, or "SaaS.” This group of programmers is developing newspaper and magazine advertising software, which is a unique development since no one in the U.S. has built new tech and software around this industry, Jones said.
The second area is Ordino, which was developed in 2013 for Lake Coeur d'Alene Cruises. Blue 541 helped HTECH rebrand the Ordino ticketing system into Ticket Goat and they have added features and marketing to the system so it can be sold nationally.
Jones said Ticket Goat is a powerful enterprise smart ticketing system with an affordable price of $1 per ticket.
“There are no hidden fees and expensive formulas for our clients,” Jones said.
The software was developed for simplicity and ease of use for Lake Coeur d’Alene Cruises’ guests and ticket agents as well as The Resort concierge group.
“Those features and simplicity in an enterprise software system are hard to find,” Jones said.
Another exciting project is the SaaS for the publishing industry, Jones said.
Hagadone newspapers, including The Coeur d'Alene Press, have been using HTECH’s publishing systems since October 2022.
“We currently have three large newspaper groups looking at software,” Jones said.
The third area, still in the works, is the Floating Green Golf System software. This SaaS for golf will include tee time management, tournament management and caddy management with a robust point of sale interface.
Jones said of the roughly 18,000 public and private courses in the U.S., only a third have limited software in use at the courses.
“Our golf software development is extremely exciting,” Jones said. “ The golf industry is underserved with technology.”
Jones said when they finish those software systems they will start developing management software for The Coeur d’Alene Resort Spa.
The third area HTECH covers is web services, which covers website development, hosting and advanced AI and other technology “to drive augmented reality within websites, text push technology and ecommerce features.”
"This group is doing integrative solution architecture to tie websites to business needs," Jones said.
HTECH’s web services side include:
• Transit program for resorts and casinos for guests to book transportation to and from airports, events, conferences.
• Moorage and storage rental management software that allows tenants to pay fees, contracts and order things from a marina store.
• Tip management software for restaurant and bar servers.
• Intranet management system for daily operations.
• Kiosk integrated software for maps, shopping, guest services, ticket sales.
• Software for managing event logistics, volunteers, setup, marketing.
• Texting and email push management systems to allow for real time client or customer communications.
“We are turning what we do best across all the Hagadone business types into actual applied technology solutions,” Jones said. “If one of our companies has the expertise and a need we then use them for our research and development."
