'Robust and flexible' software stands out in static market

By ADAM GIFFORD

Danish "enterprise business solution" Navision Financials is fast grabbing market share among the mid-sized companies it targets.

While the performance of many other vendors selling business financial and management software was static last year or fell because of the Y2K spending slowdown, Navision's revenue of 470 million Danish kroner ($123 million) between June and December was almost double that for the same period in 1998.

Greg Simmons, managing director of Auckland-based Navision integrator Avanti Solutions, said the product's robustness and flexibility had a lot to do with its increasing popularity.

"Out of the box, most products will do the same job. The difference comes from how it fits your business," he said.

"We use Navision as a tool kit. We are a services company, not a software company. What we are about is helping people maximise their competitive advantage."

Ian Whiting, Navision's commercial operations manager for Australasia, said that Navision had won more than 200 sites since entering the Australasian market in late 1998, including 30 in New Zealand. Avanti accounted for 11 of those.

Other New Zealand implementers are Madison Systems and Ernst & Young.

Mr Simmons came across Navision Financials when he worked for another integrator, Softlink Technologies, which was "burned" by a local product that had proved to be "a pile of junk."

It evaluated mid-range offerings such as Great Plains, Solomon, Exchequer and Platinum, and settled on Great Plains just as Mr Whiting, then its Australasian contact, was shifting to Navision. He persuaded Softlink to go with the Danish product instead.

Softlink's Navision integration business was bought last June by Avanti Solutions, which wanted to replace One, an Australian solution that runs on the increasingly unfashionable Digital VMS platform.

Mr Simmons said that because the tier-one market in New Zealand was oversaturated, ERP (enterprise resource planning) vendors and their implementation partners were pushing unnecessarily powerful products on to mid-range companies. This left 20 or 30 user sites with $800,000 bills for systems.

"It's out of control. The consultants have a lot to answer for."

Avanti targeted mid-range companies, those needing 10 to 100-seat systems, which had unique business problems.

The average Avanti implementation is from $50,000 to $300,000 for licences. Mr Simmons said a 30-seat implementation was likely to involve about 200 hours of services, including project management, analysis, design and training, and a similar period for customisation.

While a version that ran on a Microsoft SQL Server database was available, most sites opted for Navision's own C/Side database.

"Everyone wants SQL, but when push comes to shove there is so much administration around it. Most people, even with a 30-user site, do not want a fulltime IT person."

Avanti managed most of its sites remotely, and Mr Simmons said there were few support issues.

"About 1 per cent of the calls to the help desk are software issues, the rest are requests for customisation and enhancement."