Innovation: Rolling those multiple systems into one

Roll founders (from left) Tristan Marris, Candice Rae Hindriksen and Mark Osborne.

Business software company is looking to raise $750,000 as it eyes expansion into the British market.

Business management software company Roll has completed the latest accelerator programme through Lightning Lab and is looking to raise $750,000 as it turns its focus to the UK market.

Auckland based Roll has built an integrated business application which the company said covered all of the basic functions needed by creative businesses in one tool, meaning companies could run the one system instead of needing individual applications.

Co-founder and sales and marketing director Tristan Marris said 70 per cent of more than 100 firms surveyed by Roll said they were using four or more software-as-a-service products with a third using more than six.

These included applications for aspects such as customer relations, project management, time tracking and accounting, but Marris said the efficiency and cost savings of such products was undermined by the fact companies had no way to link the information together in one clear overview.

"The products don't talk to each other and because of that the business owner doesn't get that overall visibility of what's going on," Marris said.

"They're all paying monthly fees for each application but still not getting a system in the business that's really cohesive and works well."

Marris said this often meant a lot more time and money was spent creating systems and spreadsheets to try and manage the problem, as well as replicating information.

The idea for Roll was developed through Marris and co-founder and chief executive Mark Osborne's creative agency 96 Black where they found using numerous different applications was a problem.

"A lot of companies create these custom spreadsheets and integration tools to try and suck this data out of each application and put it into one place because that's ultimately what they want - they want to be able to see who their good customers are or what the good projects might be," Marris said.

"There are a lot of other products that have tried to become that dashboard interface that sucks all the data in but then it's just another thing on top of all of these apps and you still have all of the monthly fees and you're still using tools that give you a bunch of extra features that you're not using but paying for."

Roll has a number of customers and is looking to raise $750,000 in capital to help with growth and expansion through selling equity shares in the business.

Osborne said the company would be looking to break into the UK market before expanding into the United States.

Roll's product integrates with software made by accounting firm Xero which already has a significant presence in the UK market - something Osborne said was likely to help their market entry. Osborne and Marris said the Lightning Lab process - a three month digital accelerator that helped companies to fast track ideas and growth as well as providing mentoring - had been invaluable.

"It's been a fantastic process, as an accelerator it has really worked for us," Marris said. "In the last three months I've probably learnt more around business than I've learnt in the last three years."

Roll

• Business management software that provides all of the basic tools for SME's.
• Also provides a dashboard overview of the business across the integrated areas.
• Looking to raise $750,000 in capital to help fund growth and expansion.
• Has just finished the Lightning Lab accelerator programme.