Success Is the Journey, Not the Destination

Ed Stern, the Vice President at Canary Labs, gives us some insight on his past experiences and how they have effected his work ethic and productivity in starting Canary Labs, with his brother Gary. While travelling across the United States by bike, Ed learned some tremendous, yet simple lessons that would play into his future career. You can read the full article on Ed’s blog.  

“I had just graduated from College with a degree in business administration and decided that I wanted to see the USA up-close before starting my business career. I joined a group called 'Wandering Wheels' and signed up for a Coast to Coast trip on a bicycle... yes, a bicycle! The trip was to last 6 weeks. 

The trip started in the Pacific Ocean, by dipping the back tire of the bike in the water. There were 5 or 6 people in about 10 groups that traveled together at a group pace. We tried to average about 100 miles per day, except for Sundays which was a light day, typically 50-75 miles.   

I chose the 2^nd fastest group to travel with. The support team checked between the teams and provided two meals a day and found places for us to stay at night. We slept in community centers, gyms, churches, and in the open west, camping in several large tents. We were responsible for one meal a day. 

I remember riding through and stopping at several great landmarks in downtown Washington, DC. Our group of 50 bikers would draw a crowd when we stopped and many people would inquire about what we were doing. It was always a great opportunity to interact with the people of America, being an encouragement while finding that we were encouraged at the same time.    

What I learned from this trip was something that I would use for the rest of my life, the encouraging fact that big things and hard tasks can be accomplished. It took consistency to climb on the bike seat every morning, but soon it became routine. Likewise in business, when you keep doing the right things, be consistent and disciplined and soon enough, your goal will be accomplished. It was a reminder to not be overwhelmed by the weight of the task, but dividing it up daily to complete your goal. I have also learned that the important thing in life is the journey and experience, enjoy the moments and hard work that life demands instead of wishing life away to get to the end goal. Success is the journey, not the destination. It is nice looking back on the overall accomplishment for a little while, but then it’s time to move on to your next goal!"

How Canary Flies

In 1985, Gary and Ed Stern sought to create a product; software that would provide for the needs of a variety of different companies. In the beginning there was not a clear idea of what this software would be or look like. At the prompting of Canary’s first clients, we were lead down the path of historian and trending applications. This was the start of Canary Labs. Founded near the suburbs of Philadelphia, the vision of the company eventually grew as did the company itself. In 1991, Canary Labs moved its headquarters to its current location in Martinsburg, Pennsylvania. The foundation of this company was built on looking for the customer’s need and then fulfilling that need. This has led us to where Canary Labs stands today and has helped to create our philosophy. We are dedicated to providing for the customer’s needs, creating a superior product, and exceeding expectations in the world of business.

Canary Labs focuses on developing solutions

Over the last 29 years Canary Labs has worked to perfect our software to make it more user friendly to the customer. Companies were questioned, analyzed, and watched so that we could better get into the mind of the people using our Historian and Trending products. There were many instances where the software was redesigned to make it more usable and functional for the customer. Many companies have saved millions of dollars, all because Canary Labs made it a point to listen and meet the needs of the customer. One customer said, “I was really impressed with the ease of use and easy setup procedures. The performance and file management of the Canary Enterprise Historian helped us keep hardware costs down. The Canary Labs technical support team also provided first class service and help when needed." Canary Labs is not your average company. We are dedicated to satisfying the customer. If the customer has an issue or needs help in anyway, our team of experts will take them step by step through the issue until the customer is content with the outcome. 

Everyone has high expectations when you are looking to buy a product. There is often a major letdown when the product does not achieve these expectations. This is not the feeling that Canary wants their customers to have after they buy our software; which is why we look to accomplish more than the customer expects. Since our singular focus has always been to log and read data, it has given us the opportunity to become very knowledgeable in this area giving the customer a chance to take advantage of our excellent customer support. We seek to give you the most current and advanced software we can give you, at the best price. This is yet another reason customers can trust Canary Labs. 

So what is the Canary Philosophy? It is to create quality products for the needs of the customer in a way that makes sense and is simple to use. If the software is too complicated for the user, there is not as much that can be accomplished from it. Our experience gives us an advantage and allows companies to benefit from our Historian and Trending software’s capabilities; such as speed and an abundance of useful data. We do not want a customer to feel regret when they walk away with our product, this is why we have put so much effort into creating the best software we can and not taking the shortcuts that other companies might take when writing software. Making the customer a priority is what this company is all about. This is the way that this Canary flies.