Welcome to the Aspire News

Aspire will be deploying a new release Thursday evening, March 26. The updates included in this release are designed to help streamline operations and provide Aspire users with increased control. Major updates in Aspire v5.5 include construction- and payment-related enhancements to help users improve job costing through the use of General Conditions templates, improve flexibility and allow grouping capabilities within the Schedule of Values, and streamline communication with automatically emailed transaction receipts. Complete details of all improvements will be provided to Aspire customers in the Release Notes. **General Conditions Kits ** General Conditions kits can now be created to increase the overall price of the estimate's services by a fixed amount or proportionally by hour or quantity to account for items and services that are often missed in the estimating process. Users can setup templates for common General Conditions, such as design fees, loading hours, and porta-pottys, to apply to Work Order estimates. This functionality helps ensure that these frequently overlooked costs are incorporated into the estimate, improving profitability and margins. **Schedule of Values Adjustments ** The Schedule of Values (SOV) has been updated to increase flexibility by allowing adjustments. Now, users with permission can modify the SOV after an opportunity is won. Additionally, a new grouping UI allows users to create new groups, nest services, and alter the SOV to best fit their billing needs. With this change, once a Fixed Price Open Billing opportunity is won, the SOV now allows for adjustments as projects progress. **Electronic Transaction Receipts ** Instead of taking valuable time to send ‘paid’ invoices or manual receipts from CardConnect, Aspire’s new Digital Receipts function allows clients and customers to opt-in/-out of receiving automatic receipts when their electronic payment methods are used. Customers can log into the client portal and subscribe to electronic transaction receipts or Aspire users can opt customers into the receipt subscription. When the customer is opted in, they'll receive an emailed receipt anytime their electronic payment methods are used to process payment in Aspire as well as an automatic email each time they are subscribed or unsubscribed. **Signature Capture on Proposals ** With this release, users can now accept signatures right from the Opportunity screen on their tablet-device—a significant update for residential users. To accept a signature, users simply select “Sign and Win” from the Opportunity options menu and capture the customer’s signature. **Pay Code Overrides at the Opportunity Service Level ** If a pay code value needs to remain constant but the wage amount varies, users can now configure a flexible amount, by pay code or by service, to be applied as a Pay Code Override. Pay Code Overrides are assigned on an estimate's service detail screen to allow the use of variable wage amounts by service. This improvement unlocks payroll flexibility and enables the use of multiple pay codes. If you have any questions about these features, contact AspireCare for more information. If you are not an Aspire customer but want to learn more about our software, please contact us .

The Aspire Software Company, a leading provider of business management software for the lawn, landscape, and snow/ice industries, is proud to be named to Deloitte’s 2019 Technology Fast 500 list. The Fast 500 program, now in its 25th year, is a ranking of North America’s 500 fastest-growing technology companies, both public and private, which are transforming the industry. With Aspire’s revenue increasing 390 percent, the accolade recognizes the company’s substantial growth over the past three years.

For the second year in a row, The Aspire Software Company made the St. Louis Business Journal’s Fast 50, a list of the fastest growing businesses in the St. Louis area. Out of all privately held companies considered for this award, Aspire officially ranked #16 overall and we're keeping our eyes on making the list once again next year to continue our streak.

Blake's Technology Expertise to Support Aspire’s Growing Technology Footprint The Aspire Software Company welcomes Dan Blake as its Chief Technology Officer. Dan joins Aspire with over three decades of technology and senior executive experience in the design, development, and implementation of large-scale, operationally complex, and highly available systems. Mr. Blake has a history of growing technology products into more robust SaaS-based solution suites. “We’re excited to welcome Dan as our new CTO,” said Mark Tipton, CEO of Aspire. “Dan will make all executive decisions regarding the technological interests of the company, including our technological vision, strategies, and alignment of resources. This is a critically important role in supporting our mission to help landscaping and snow & ice companies transform their businesses through technology.” Dan joins the Aspire team from MedSpeed LLC where he served as the company’s senior technical executive. While there he oversaw all aspects of the replacements of the company’s core back-office and courier mobility solutions. Prior to MedSpeed he held the top technology position at Valence Health, a healthcare services provider, overseeing more than fifty engineers, architects, and support personnel. At Aspire Dan will be responsible for product management, software engineering, quality assurance, infrastructure, and the ongoing evolution of the current platform. Dan comments, “I’m excited to make the move to Aspire. It’s the leading business management software for landscapers and I intend to use my technology leadership experience to continue and enhance its value to the industry.”

Aspire and Weathermatic are pleased to announce that they have entered into a strategic partnership combining Aspire’s industry leading business management software with Weathermatic’s world-class software for water management. The integration of these two technology leaders will create valuable efficiencies for landscaping companies who focus on innovation and growth. With technology playing an increasingly critical role in every aspect of the landscaping business, companies recognize that they must implement reliable software tools quickly across their portfolios in order to keep a competitive advantage and to manage labor costs more efficiently. The Aspire-Weathermatic partnership brings together a first-of-its-kind integration of mobile business software with expert water management tools. “This new partnership is a tremendous game changer in the landscaping industry,” said Kevin Kehoe, a Founding Partner of Aspire Software. “The integration of Weathermatic’s SmartLink software into our Aspire platform brings one more critical business element literally into the hands of our users. Being able to inspect water zones, manage timer adjustments, and create system reports right from the Aspire login will allow us to drive far more efficiency and business impact. It is a win-win anda perfect solution for our landscaping clients.” “Water management is becoming a necessity for landscape maintenance contractors who want to grow significantly,” said Mike Mason, President and CEO of Weathermatic. “Since introducing our SmartLink technology we have seen over and over that those landscaping businesses who manage water with expertise are the ones seeing sustainable growth year to year. Bringing smart irrigation management into the business model reduces risk of losing contracts, it positions companies to win and manage larger RFPs, and it empowers them to unlock the full potential of irrigation labor efficiency.” As an indication of commitment to the partnership, Weathermatic has made available 15 million dollars of capital for Aspire clients who desire to fully transform their portfolios of outdated irrigation controllers and upgrade them to the efficient SmartLink platform connected with Aspire Software. “Weathermatic is the only smart controller manufacturer in the industry financing controller upgrades for landscaping companies,” said Brodie Bruner, Executive Vice President of Weathermatic. “This makes the integration of the new technology much more affordable and enables companies to realize ROI on the upgrades as early as the first year of implementation. After that, revenues and growth scale up year after year.” In addition to accessing capital for portfolio conversion, Aspire users can also gain training, marketing, and sales support from Weathermatic as they incorporate SmartLink into all contract renewals and new project bids. Weathermatic customers, in turn, gain access to the tools, services, and expertise of the Aspire business network. The combined business development support from both ends brings landscaping businesses into full integration with the power of the Aspire-Weathermatic partnership and positions these companies to lead the market in growth, technology, and water management. About Weathermatic Weathermatic delivers water management technologies in hardware and software that allow landscape business owners to maximize irrigation labor efficiency, to increase margins through portfolio upgrades, to save clients water, and to lead their markets in growth. Weathermatic has more smart connected devices in service than any other manufacturer. For more information visit www.weathermatic.com . Please contact Brodie Bruner at 888-484-3776 or brodie.bruner@weathermatic.com .

August 14, 2019 — Inc. magazine revealed that Aspire Software is No. 1134 on its Inc. 5000 list, an annual ranking of the fastest-growing private American companies. Aspire was the 129th fastest growing software company on the list. Well-known companies like Microsoft, Pandora, LinkedIn, Yelp, and Zillow have all previously been listed on the Inc. 5000.