From account
to install.
Let’s connect it.
We know the work behind every machine. Together, we can connect the handoffs, create more operating capacity, and build a product shaped by real vending experience.
Vending experience.
Built into software.
The opportunity starts with the work we already know.
SPG knows the details between a sold account and a machine ready to earn its place. Fiction Factory brings a software factory to turn that knowledge into a connected system. We can improve the business and use what we prove to build an industry product together.
Every asset. Every handoff. Every install.
SPG brings the operating reality: accounts, refurbishment, machine readiness, VMS, modems, routes, and verified installs.
A software factory.
Fiction Factory brings reusable tools, software development, simulation, and the ability to turn a working idea into a product.
Something we build together.
A stronger operation today, with a path to an industry-specific business tomorrow.
Start inside the business. Learn from the people doing the work. Let the product grow out of evidence.
PARTNERS, BUILDING TOGETHERThe handoff
is the opportunity.
The next step should arrive with everything it needs.
Our existing workflow work covers accounts, assets, refurbishment, VMS and modem readiness, and installation verification. Bringing those pieces together makes it easier to see what is ready, what is missing, and who needs to act next.
Context moves with the work.
A conceptual view of the connected workflow, not a live software screen.
Account
An approved customer requirement
Asset & refurb
The right machine, prepared
VMS & modem
Readiness before dispatch
Verified install
A complete installation record
A useful reporting step is working
On October 9, Taylor successfully used the experimental read-only Parlevel reporting assistant. Its Excel output was checked positively. That is a concrete reporting milestone we can build on.
Still building
- The full cross-system handoff application
- Price push remains unresolved
- Simulation is the next step
Prove the handoff.
Before the rollout.
Useful automation needs an operating model and a way to stop.
Simulation is next. We can exercise readiness checks, missing modem details, refurbishment exceptions, and installation verification before expanding live automation. Digital employees should earn trust through tested behavior and clear human control.
Read the work
Use permitted data and a clear task. Keep the evidence attached to the proposed action.
Test the response
Exercise ordinary work and exceptions in simulation. Compare the result to what the team expects.
Respect the boundary
Ask for approval where required. Escalate uncertainty, exceptions, and consequential decisions to a person.
Validate in real work
Start within an agreed scope, record outcomes, and improve with employee feedback.
Readiness coordinator
Flag missing asset, refurb, VMS, or modem details before dispatch.
Reporting assistant
Turn permitted operating data into a clear report and explain the evidence.
Install verifier
Check completeness, prepare the record, and escalate exceptions.
Ready machines.
Ready teams.
Room to grow.
The goal is usable capacity: fewer repeated checks, fewer lost handoffs, and a clearer view of the work we can take on. We should measure those improvements in the operation.
Then Tommy can help fill that capacity through sales and marketing, matching new accounts to our ability to refurbish, prepare, install, and support the machines.
Conceptual sequence · not a forecast or measured result
Improve our business.
Build a new one.
The business opportunity is bigger than a custom application.
What works for us can become the foundation of a focused industry product. The aim is to combine proven workflows with repeatable software, while keeping the industry-specific opportunity distinct from Fiction Factory’s underlying tools.
A vending-industry product
The vending-specific workflow and product we shape around SPG’s operating knowledge form a distinct industry opportunity. We can build that business proposition together.
Industry-specific knowledge, workflows & IPFiction Factory’s reusable foundation
The software factory, reusable components, and general-purpose tools sit underneath. They can support multiple industries while we keep this product focused on our own.
Underlying reusable tools & technologyThis is a direction for our collaboration. Ownership, licensing, commercial terms, and responsibilities need a separate agreement; no percentages or executed terms are assumed here.
Ready for a world
where agents do business.
An interoperable future, with a reason to participate.
Imagine a business customer’s agent requesting vending service and coordinating requirements with a supplier’s agent through a shared interface. This is a future direction for the network we could help create.
Agent-to-agent commerce
Help customer and supplier agents exchange useful, structured information and coordinate work with clear authority and human oversight.
Free on the supplier side
The network vision is an interoperable supplier-side connection intended to be free, making participation easier across different tools and platforms.
A free nonprofit edition
Apply the same useful foundation to nonprofit work through a planned free edition. This is a future commitment to explore, not a live offer.
Separate people,
machines, and software.
A 20-person example with an adjustable device reference.
Office seats and connected machines are different billing units. This example shows the known office subscriptions while leaving the VMS, connectivity, and payment contract as quote-required. It is not SPG’s actual spend or an industry average.
Illustrative, adjustable, role-based. U.S. dollars, before tax. Regular public prices checked October 10, 2026. Change licensed seats or plan choices below; headcount does not multiply every subscription.
Pipedrive Growth
$39 per seat/month equivalent, paid annually upfront. Two sellers, operations manager, and owner in this example.
Official pricingQuickBooks Online Plus
One company plan at the regular monthly rate. Up to 5 users; example uses 3 internal finance users.
Official pricingGusto Plus
$80 base + $12 per active employee/month. Includes employee time tracking and scheduling.
Official pricingMicrosoft 365 Business Basic
$7 per user/month equivalent, paid yearly; annual auto-renewing subscription. Web/mobile apps, including Excel, not desktop Office.
Official pricingTeam, licensing, and scope assumptions
The 20-person example allocates 1 owner, 1 operations manager, 2 account sellers, 2 finance/office staff, 3 service/refurb/install staff, 3 warehouse staff, and 8 route drivers. Four CRM seats and eight office seats are role-based; three finance users fit one company plan. Twenty active employees are on payroll. The 200-device reference is an independent assumption, not a fleet size inferred from headcount.
Pipedrive covers a sales-pipeline requirement in this example; confirm that need alongside existing SPG account records. Gusto Plus includes time tracking and scheduling. Microsoft Basic includes web and mobile apps, not installed desktop Excel. Three existing Basic seats could be upgraded to Standard for $21/month extra on annual billing, if needed.
Vendor-native AI already exists, including Cantaloupe Seed Copilot and Nayax MoMa AI. Our opportunity is the broader account-to-asset-to-readiness-to-install handoff across systems. No new hardware rollout, full VMS replacement, autonomous price push, or quantified savings is claimed.
Device-price references: different packages, kept separate
These are alternative commercial references, not additions to Parlevel or directly equivalent VMS offers. The fleet assumption is independent of the 20-person team.
For 200 devices:
- Cantaloupe One starter: from /month. $19.95/device/month, including provider-owned hardware and Cashless+ software. 36-month contract, shipping and processing extra; this is not Seed Pro. Source
- Nayax service reference: /month. $9.99/device/month for cashless, operations, and inventory service. Hardware is purchased separately; volume pricing and terms require confirmation. Processing, setup, and full-scope parity also need confirmation. Source
These amounts never enter the office subtotal. The relevant full VMS and payment scope still needs matched quotes.
What the subtotal leaves out
Annualized means twelve times the modeled monthly equivalent; it does not mean every plan is month-to-month or has an annual discount. Annual commitments and billing bases are shown beside each product. Introductory promotions are excluded.
Excluded unless separately stated: tax, payment processing, wages and payroll taxes, benefits, equipment and hardware, phones and data, postage, messaging, maps, API/connector charges, hosting, custom development, migration, training, support upgrades, and parallel-running costs. Any required quoted or unpriced item remains unknown, not zero.
Better workflow is the hypothesis. Real value is what we measure.
Public prices help us understand the landscape. They do not establish our current spend or what our product can replace. Before making a savings claim, we need actual invoices, a matched scope, the Fiction Factory proposal, retained subscriptions, and implementation and usage costs. Then we can measure re-entry, delays, exceptions, and usable capacity in real work.
Official sources & price notes · checked October 10, 2026
- Parlevel VMS Vendor product page; prices not published in reviewed material. Checked October 10, 2026.
- Understanding your Parlevel bill Vendor guide originally published February 20, 2020; useful billing structure, not a current rate card. Confirm current contract. Checked October 10, 2026.
- Cantaloupe One Current U.S./Canada vendor price page; starting prices and subscription terms. Checked October 10, 2026.
- Cantaloupe Seed Pro Vendor scope comparison; enterprise capabilities differ from Cashless+. Checked October 10, 2026.
- Nayax U.S. VPOS Touch shop U.S. public device tiers and monthly package; processing calculated from product prices. Checked October 10, 2026.
- Pipedrive U.S. pricing USD annual-paid prices; monthly-billed Growth price not verified. Checked October 10, 2026.
- QuickBooks U.S. pricing Regular ongoing prices used; excludes advertised initial 50% discount. Checked October 10, 2026.
- Gusto pricing Monthly base plus active-person pricing; Plus includes time tracking and scheduling. Checked October 10, 2026.
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic U.S. With Teams SKU; paid-yearly and monthly-subscription rates. Checked October 10, 2026.
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard U.S. Optional desktop-app upgrade; With Teams SKU. Checked October 10, 2026.
- Cantaloupe Seed Copilot Official description of AI answers in Seed Pro. Checked October 10, 2026.
- Nayax MoMa AI layer Official article dated June 22, 2026. Checked October 10, 2026.
Connect the work behind
every machine.
Improve the operation we know. Validate each new capability. Turn the experience into a product we build together.