Lone Wolf History

Lorne C. Wallace, the founder of Lone Wolf, began work for Ernst and Whinney, a chartered accounting firm, in July of 1984.  During the second week of his employment, staff unpacked the firm’s first IBM XT computer and Lorne realized that he would have to become involved with these “things”.  After staff spent the week installing Wordstar V1.0 and Lotus V1.0, among other programs, Lorne accidentally reformatted the hard drive late on a Friday afternoon.

A manager at the firm, Deryck Williams, had the idea that if the firm could get involved in developing software for clients to use that the firm would have clients wrapped up tightly.  Given that both their software and their accounting came from the same firm, it would be hard for a client to leave.  This became the genesis of the concept behind Lone Wolf (Lone Wolf Principle #1:  Engage your client from different directions and they can’t run away from you).  During the next three years, Lorne became in charge of computer training for the staff at the firm and became proficient on all of the programs in use at the firm.

After leaving the CA firm along with the managing partner who went to be CFO of a stock brokerage, Lorne began a new career as a roving controller for companies that the stock brokerage had invested in.  One of these, Seaborne Marketing, which was doing counter trade with China, had a customized order entry/inventory program that had been developed for them.  After realizing that the programmers had no concept of what the company needed to run their business with, (Lone Wolf Principle #2:  If you don’t see what your client sees, you don’t hear what your client is saying) Lorne hired a close friend, Peter Reilly, to write the order entry/inventory/accounts receivable system for him.  This code became the original version of Lone Wolf and went live April 15, 1987.

With the collapse of the stock market in October 1987, the investment climate changed and there was a change in priorities at the stock brokerage.  Lorne joined a customs brokerage house as their controller with the mandate to develop an in-house software solution for their needs.  During this period, the G/L module was developed.  By the end of the year, the Lone Wolf program consisted of modules for inventory, service, order entry, accounts receivable, accounts payable and general ledger.  Lone Wolf Corporation was incorporated to hold the assets that were being developed.

Lone Wolf Corporation began full time operations January 1, 1989.  The concept was that Lorne would develop his accounting practice in conjunction with the software company, using each facet of the operation to complement the other.  Lorne moved in with Clonetech Computers with the agreement that they would sell hardware to their clients and Lorne would sell software to his clients and they would then cross-market to each others’ clients.  The programming occurring at that point was continued development of the generic accounting modules, which now included payroll, along with customized programming for clients.  The accounting practice also began to grow as the symbiotic nature of the business began to show its’ potential.  Several clients who purchased Lone Wolf software in 1989 continue to run it to this day.

During that first month of 1989, Des O’Kelly and his partner arrived at the store to purchase a computer network for their real estate office that they were setting up.  Lorne and Des met and became friends immediately.  During the course of 1989, while Des’ office was growing from scratch to over 50 agents, Des and Lorne worked at developing the accounting tools that Des needed to operate his real estate office with.  By the end of 1989, that office, Countrywide Professionals, had a Novell Network installed a centralized modem pool and centralized laser printers.  Every agent had a desktop computer with a dot matrix printer.  They would come into to their office, turn on their computer, retrieve messages that the front desk had taken for them, exchange internal mail with other agents, prepare offers on their computer and print them on the laser printer, connect to the real estate board and have access to other software tools.  This office was so far beyond state of the art it was unbelievable.  Unfortunately, the real estate market collapsed in 1990 and the lack of capital caused the office to close.  Des then joined Lorne at Lone Wolf.   During the year, presentation packages had been created and distributed to the other brokers in the franchise system that Des belonged to.

Several brokers in the Countrywide system (subsequently purchased by Prudential in Canada) purchased the first commercially available packages of the Lone Wolf Real Estate Brokerage Management System.  Massive numbers of changes were being made to the system throughout the year and more clients purchased the system and their feedback was implemented into the system (Lone Wolf Principle #3:  Your clients will help you improve your product for free if you just listen to them).  With Des joining Lorne in a sales capacity, the ability to expand operations was created.  In December of 1990, with the collapse of Clonetech Computers, a new company was formed, Penderis International Inc.  The assets of the software company and the hardware were rolled into Penderis and the ability to offer a turn key solution to our clients was developed.  Now we could sell them their software, their hardware and perform their accounting services.

The Lone Wolf Front Desk System was developed which performed the following functions in a real estate office:  Taking messages at the front desk and paging to the agents; arranging showing appointments; managing listing activity.  This along with the offer writing program were the first attempts at creating a platform of products (Lone Wolf Principle #4:  Sell to them once, then sell to them again).

During this year, the first sale to a RE/MAX office was made.  With RE/MAX being the acknowledged leader in real estate in Canada, this provided Lone Wolf with more credibility in that system.  That first sale quickly translated into a number of others.  A reorganization of the corporate structure resulted in the departure of one shareholder from Penderis International Inc. and a new company being formed, Penderis Computers Inc.  with Lorne Wallace being the sole shareholder.  This is the corporate entity that exists to this day.  Lone Wolf Software is a trade name used by that company.

Several strategic decisions were made during this time period.  First was to get out of the offer writing business.  A number of programs had come on the market that printed the offer on blank paper, a superior method to our fill in the blank version which required alignment of the forms.  Second was to get out of the front desk business which involved a technology, paging, that the company was not proficient in.  This also allowed us to stop competing with another company in Ontario which then allowed that company to get out of the accounting field and stop competing with us.  Consequently, both companies became the largest in their respective fields, the front office and back office.  Third was the decision to stop selling computer hardware.  While being able to provide a complete turn-key solution had been useful in prior years, the continuing commoditization of the hardware industry meant that profit margins did not make this a worthwhile (Lone Wolf Principle #5:  Take one small step back to take one giant leap forward!)

With the addition of our first large real estate office, one of the RE/MAX top twenty multi-branch operations, the program needed a complete re-write of the code.  Learning from what our clients had difficulty understanding, what we had difficulty explaining, and the limitations that had developed in the system over the last five years; a dramatically enhanced version was developed.  By investing time and funds into this endeavour, we were able to make a leap in the distance between us and our competitors.

Sales continued along steadily with Lone Wolf focusing more and more on the real estate industry.  Lorne became the accountant for several RE/MAX brokers and this allowed him to start attending RE/MAX broker/owner meetings.  While going as a software developer might have been frowned upon, attending under the accountant umbrella was perfectly acceptable and this is where the relationship with the RE/MAX regional office in Ontario first began.  By attending the same meetings that the brokers were attending, Lorne was able to determine what direction the franchise was going in and make sure that the software followed if not led.  For example, when RE/MAX wanted to separate residential and commercial transaction information, brokers called in that February in a panic.  But the Lone Wolf system already supported this since the update that January had this breakdown built into it.  This arose from attending a meeting the previous fall where RE/MAX announced it for the New Year (Lone Wolf Principle #6:  If you know more about your client’s business than they do, they will look to you for guidance).

At this point, Lone Wolf had been developed into the premier accounting software program for real estate brokers in Canada.  Through judicious use of marketing, continued program feature development and customer support, Lone Wolf had surpassed all competitors in the Canadian marketplace.  The decision was made to expand operations to the United States.  Through a fortuitous meeting between the regional director from the Ontario region and associates of the largest RE/MAX office, which was based in Atlanta, Lone Wolf was introduced to the United States.  Subsequently, the product was introduced to the Mega Broker group in RE/MAX and sales were made in Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Denver, etc.  RE/MAX International was made aware of our presence in the marketplace but we focused on getting as many of their large brokers signed up onto our system before approaching them for approved supplier status.

During the summer of 1999, the development of the Windows version of Lone Wolf began.  After attempting to have the work performed through outside developers, staff was hired internally and total control over the project was brought in-house.  While Lone Wolf was probably the last developer to bring out a Windows version of their program, we were able to learn from the mistakes of our competitors.  The last DOS version of the program was sold in the summer of 2001 and the Windows program was launched.

Concentrating on building the infrastructure of the company, several important changes were made during this year.  An OPE (Opportunity for Product Enhancement) system was implemented whereby suggestions from clients for product changes are gathered by staff, both internally and in the field, categorized into the system and reviewed, and then authorized for development.  This system has been spectacularly successful in enhancing the program and showing to clients our willingness to work with them (Lone Wolf Principle #7:  We sell a relationship, not a product). The company also invested in Webex technology as a means of extending its reach to current customers and potential customers.  As opposed to the old PCAnywhere program that the support department was using previously, the Webex internet based program allowed the department to become more efficient and reach client’s computers easier.  This lead to increased customer satisfaction. 

Sales passed $1 million for the first time.

In March of this year, Lone Wolf completed our first acquisition when we purchased the RealEasy/BOS product line from a competitor. 

On the sales side, Salesnet was implemented, a web-based contact management and process monitoring tool.  By having all of the salesperson’s leads on the internet, Des O’Kelly is better able to manage the sales force and monitor their activities, as well as making sales forecasts.  The process monitoring has also been implemented for the installation and training of the software, allowing for monitoring of what stage a client is at in their implementation.  This contributes to a better experience for the client. 

Sales passed $2 million for the first time.

The company reviewed several internet based programs for the customer support department.  By summer, a decision had been made to internally develop a program that allowed for the web-based monitoring of service with the goal being to have better turnaround time on client enquiries and more consistent information flow between the field reps and the office staff.  This program was named Wolf Link.  The company continued to grow with the addition of a number of new employees.  Sales passed $3 million of the first time.

In December of this year, the acquisition of Global Realty Office was closed.  Global Realty Office, originated by John Short whose parents also owned a real estate office, was working with a number of Lone Wolf clients and it was felt that the best solution was to amalgamate the operations.  Thus Global Realty Office became the Global Wolf internet division.  From these beginnings, the Global Wolf office and agent web Site products and the Wolf EX extranet component have grown into key aspects of the complete real estate brokerage infrastructure offering from Lone Wolf.

A new division, Wolf Watch, was launched in January of this year.  Recognizing the management gap that exists in the industry, Wolf Watch was designed to provide the expertise to deal with this.  Years ago, the agent splits were much lower and the funds that brokers retained helped to pay for management.  Over the last 20 years this has changed and the management costs have been squeezed out of the system.  The reason for this was that management was mostly labour and labour is a large marginal cost.  For example, you either pay $50K for a manager or you don’t.  Since then, technology has made great strides and software like the Lone Wolf RMS system provide powerful reports and management information.  With the labour gone though, no one is looking at them.  Wolf Watch was envisioned to perform this role, checking financial records, analysing results and provide the management that is lacking.  During the year, annualized sales passed $4 million for the first time.

The exciting news in May of 2006 was the move of corporate headquarters to a brand new office building in the Can-Amera Corporate Centre.  This 11,000 square foot facility was a great release from the tight quarters that the company’s growth had created in the old location.   Twenty-five employees transferred to the new building, with space designed for 46.  Development of additional products continued with the major one being Wolf Tracks, a membership management, data collection and billing program.  Wolf Tracks is envisioned as suitable for real estate franchisors as well as real estate boards.  In both cases, the monthly billing that occurs can be seamlessly integrated into the Lone Wolf RMS system, eliminating duplicate entry for clients and ensuring timelier sharing of data.

Sales passed $6 million for the first time

With the hiring of a new Marketing Director, we prepared for the market slowdown by increasing operations.  Advertising, trade show presence and direct sales efforts were increased as getting our message out became even more important.  In a true contrarian fashion, management decided that if everyone was going in one direction, we would go in the other.  There is always business to be done and we decided we would be the ones to do it. 

In the fall of 2007, BrokerBackOffice Pro, a competitive product was purchased.  While the Lone Wolf RMS was focused on truly integrated accounting with the G/L as part of the system, BrokerBackOffice Pro integrated to generic accounting programs like QuickBooks.   Recognizing that while some clients would always want this feature, regardless of the limitations inherent with a generic product, we acquiesced and rolled out Lone Wolf Quick, our version that allows for QuickBooks integration.  Lone Wolf Quick became the conversion choice as clients were transitioned from their old system onto Lone Wolf.

With a market contraction in full swing, the focus of the sales team was changed from “you can afford to invest in Lone Wolf” to “you can’t afford not to invest in Lone Wolf”.  The focus of broker/owners shifted to their infrastructure and the efficiency of their operations.  A VP of Operations, Dave Furness, was hired in May.  Coming from outside the software industry, Dave brought a fresh way of looking at the industry.  In late September, Lone Wolf acquired DPN, a major competitor in the marketplace.  Of the RealTrends Top 100 brokerages, DPN provides the accounting back end for 35 of them, which along with the 17 that Lone Wolf provides, gives us a market share of over 50% for the first time.  Jonathan Peterson was transferred over to the DPN division as Vice-President and General Manager.

The Lone Wolf RMS division grew with the addition of a Mortgage Management System for mortgage brokers.  This specialized offering fills a need for a number of our clients who also operate mortgage operations in conjunction to their real estate operations.

Wolf Tracks continued to grow with its implementation for our own internal accounting on the DPN purchase.  Lone Wolf is truly a membership system for its customers and Wolf Tracks, in addition to the real estate franchise and real estate board usages, is perfectly suited to this purpose.

In total, the number of brokerage offices that the Lone Wolf group of products oversees grew to beyond 5,000.  Sales continued to grow and passed $7 million for the first time. 

The complete transition of Lone Wolf to the Wolf Tracks billing system will continue, eliminating paper invoices for our clients and helping to move our company forward in an environmentally friendly fashion.

This year will also mark a couple of important milestones.  It is both the 20th anniversary of Lone Wolf and the year that sales, post acquisition, will pass $10 million for the first time.  The vision of a truly integrated industry will be realized with the release of Agent Wolf, a real estate agent accounting program, in the spring.  Charges at the real estate board level will be tracked on Wolf Tracks, electronically transmitted to the brokerage’s Lone Wolf RMS system and then disseminated to Agent Wolf for the agent’s personal income taxes.  One point of entry, shared by all constituents!

The current divisional structure of the organization consists of the following
1.         Lone Wolf RMS
2.         Global Wolf
3.         Wolf Watch
4.         Wolf Tracks
5.         DPN Wolf
6.         Agent Wolf