System automation helps vets herd cats

Veterinarians, hairdressers and day spas are businesses that don't generally have much in common - but they do when it comes to improving productivity.

A specialty in developing software packages to link the branch offices of these businesses has become a viable model for two "poor immigrant students" who met while studying engineering at Auckland University.

Devendra Patel, a Fijian Indian, and Indian-born Rohit Gupta founded Computer Fanatics in 1989 and now have 14 staff, with about 380 clients using their software packages to improve productivity across vet and beauty businesses with multiple clinics.

The software allows, for example, a Northland chain of six vet clinics to divert all calls to a call centre, from where an operator schedules appointments at the nearest branch.

This frees counter staff, who would otherwise be tied to the phone at each clinic, to carry out tasks such as assisting with surgery and dealing with walk-in customers.

Auckland chain Forme Skin & Body Spa uses the software to text clients with appointment confirmations, a task that would otherwise occupy a staff member for several hours each morning.

Computer Fanatics is Patel and Gupta's second business. Through their first company, a part-time venture formed after they both graduated with masters degrees in electronics engineering, they wrote a dispensing software application for retail pharmacists.

"A pharmaceutical company liked us so much they gave us a reasonable cheque and bought us out," Patel said.

That gave the pair the capital to quit their day jobs and launch Computer Fanatics.

Seeing a need for veterinary practice management software, they wrote an application called Vetlink. Hairlink, a similar package for hair salons, soon followed.

More recent enterprise versions of the software (Vetlink SQL 64 and Hairlink SQL 64) allow several clinics within a group, or even separate businesses, to share the same database server, meaning most administration can be carried out from one site.

Patel said he and Gupta spotted an emerging global trend towards consolidation within vet practices, which has now hit New Zealand.

A decline in the number of vets wanting the responsibility of running their own practices - a result of more vets wanting more time with their families - means it is harder for retiring vets to sell their businesses.

To overcome this, rather than trying to sell up, many senior vets merge their practices with others and put managers in charge. This has driven demand for systems able to run multi-site practices.

"We saw that coming and that's why we developed the software. It's a huge seller," Patel said.

"It allows a cost-effective means of combining practices through a central server so they can consolidate into one business with multiple branches. By consolidating call centres or having one administrator running, say, three businesses, it reduces costs significantly and is a lot more efficient."

According to the HiGrowth Project, software companies make up 52 per cent of New Zealand's ICT sector but account for only 7.5 per cent of IT spending, meaning the software sector is underperforming in comparison to other niches, such as telecommunications.

"It is a very tough and competitive industry, and while a lot of people who are in the industry write great software, they don't necessarily have very good business acumen," said Patel, who is on the executive of the New Zealand Software Association industry body.

To survive in a competitive demanding environment, Computer Fanatics' strategy has been to sell additional products and services to clients, including hardware, a text messaging platform, e-commerce facilities and a server monitoring service.

"Most companies sell software, have a help desk and then they move to the next client. But there's a lot more you can do for the same client, providing them with related services, and increasing your revenue that way," Patel said.

"As long as the pricing is competitive, a one-stop solution for a number of services can be very attractive to one's client base. Usually, dealing with one company is easier than dealing with several."

Patel also believes many software companies are too focused on expanding overseas too quickly, which can be a costly and risky exercise for a young business.

Computer Fanatics plans to step up its own export drive next year. Already, six clients in Australia and one veterinary group in Singapore use the software.

Computer fanatics

Who: Devendra Patel, founder and director.

Where: Takapuna.

What: Business management software for veterinary practices, hairdressers and beauty spas.

Why: "It allows a cost-effective means of combining practices through a central server so they can consolidate into one business."