Tauranga technology firm partners Microsoft

Tauranga-based technology company Silicon Avenue is working 'in the cloud' and looking ahead to international sales for its unique project management software.
During the past two years, the firm - which operates on the top floor of the Nautilus Building at Sulphur Point - has developed an online business intelligence product, called procision+, which enables companies to complete projects on time and without cost over-runs.
Instead of companies replacing their existing software, procision+ adds value.
Silicon Avenue's customers will be able to access the product on the internet and pay a monthly fee for using it, instead of receiving a disc, adding a server, upgrading computer hardware, and training new staff.
The software is run on a remote server and the data is also stored elsewhere - similar to how Google, Facebook, Twitter and others operate. It is known as cloud computing which is reducing IT costs for businesses and revolutionising the computer industry.
The procision+ product is also likely to be available as an application for Android and iPhones.
Next month, Silicon Avenue's procision+ software is being added to the Microsoft Dynamics Marketplace, which promotes 70 different business products.
Seven of them offer separate time collection, time billing and project management services, but Silicon Avenue is the only one covering all three services and more.
"We are providing a complete management platform for the project's life cycle," said Silicon Avenue's Kevin Mann.
After the details, including planning and timing, are entered into the Microsoft Project programme, procision+ tracks the progress of the project, which could be building a bridge, for example, and produces real-time cost and productivity reports. Any issue can be sorted at a much earlier stage.
Silicon Avenue's software has built-in analytics and a smart dashboard, with the colours of traffic lights,which monitors every task.
If the tasks are going swimmingly, the dashboard colour stays green; if there's a potential problem with one or more of the tasks, the colour turns orange and if it's a serious issue, it turns red. The alerts are transmitted to other people within the project team and company.
"Too often, a project maybe hampered by a lack of communication and a team member sits on a problem; or there are too many meetings and time is wasted or some specification is overlooked. We can provide an up-to-date picture of what is happening to the project," said Mr Mann, chief executive of Silicon Avenue (NZ).
"Early detection reduces the risks of poor quality, liability and losing money. For instance, if there had been an early alert to more stakeholders that something wasn't quite right with the specification of the casing method [for the drilling rig], then the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could have been avoided," he said.
Mr Mann said in the United States construction industry alone, up to US$23 billion ($28.2billion) a year is wasted through "inefficiencies in projects."
The product - backed by Technology New Zealand (for funding) and Waikato Innovation Park - has been successfully trialled in-house by Zeacom, which provides communications solutions for call centres and businesses in New Zealand, Australia, United States and Britain.
Zeacom has been using the product for five months and it also switching to cloud computing.
Silicon Avenue, co-owned by Mr Mann and fellow engineer David Murray, is attending the Microsoft World Partner Conference in Los Angeles on July 10. The conference attracts 15,000 delegates including Microsoft staff and other innovative software developers. It is an opportunity for Silicon Avenue to sell its product.
Mr Mann began developing procision+ in London where he operated a technology consulting firm, Silicon Avenue Technologies (SAT), which employed 35 people, including eight in the Auckland satellite office.
SAT provided intellectual property and software solutions to customers mainly in the financial services sector, such as Bankers Trust, ABN Amro Bank, British-based hedge funds, and Fletcher Energy and Shell Oil trading.
Mr Mann's company, established in 1996, often had to manage the customer's staff after the new system was installed to make sure it functioned properly. He couldn't find a suitable project management product on the market and decided to develop his own software.
Mr Mann, educated at Otumoetai College, returned to Tauranga in 2009 and last year his company switched from consulting to product development.
After gaining a Bachelor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Canterbury University, Mr Mann worked for BP in Wellington in the oil trading and operations division.
He moved to London in 1991 to be a trader for BP Finance International and was seconded to PCEK (now Boston Consulting Group) to help with a major international restructure.
Mr Mann wanted more corporate planning experience and worked for Lloyds TSB Bank, Mitsubishi Finance International and NationsBank before setting up his own consulting company which specialised in risk management.
Fellow Otumoetai College old boy Dr Murray, who completed a PhD in Medical Physics and Computer Science, also pursued a successful career overseas.
He worked for GE Medical Systems (now GE Healthcare), first in London for one year and then in Paris for seven years.
He was the lead designer for developing oncology radiation therapy software, and became the chairman of the radiation therapy communication standards body.
Dr Murray came back to New Zealand in 1997, working as a contractor before heading to United States three years later as director of engineering for a start-up medical company, TomoTherapy, which is now listed on the sharemarket.
He was the 18th of 500 employees at TomoTherapy, which makes high-tech radiation therapy equipment and its US$3million imaging machines are located in 350 of the top cancer-treatment hospitals in the world.
Dr Murray returned to Tauranga in 2004 and continued to work, remotely, with TomoTherapy - until several meetings with Mr Mann led to a new opportunity.
"We were like-minded engineers and I was trying to validate the procision+ product. Dave identified with some issues that were generally widespread project challenges which procision+ solved, and we formally teamed up," said Mr Mann.
Dr Murray became the chief operating officer, and Silicon Avenue now employs eight skilled software developers in Tauranga - two are from England, two others from Romania and Sri Lanka, and the remainder are Kiwis.
The company is also taking on a quality assurance engineer, and it will be building a marketing team. "Creating a new product is a great challenge, but effectively promoting the company to the world is equally important," said Mr Mann.