Pronto Software pips NetSuite, Epicor in ERP contract with SYPAQ

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 06 October 2010 13:11

IT Industry - Deals

Australian ERP developer Pronto Software, an Australian developer has beaten Epicor and NetSuite to ink a deal with federal government specialist consulting firm, SYPAQ.

Having outgrown its incumbent solution, SYPAQ selected Pronto Software's flagship solution PRONTO-Xi, for its scalability and integration of key business processes, according to SYPAQ.

'We have three parts to the business - sales, service delivery and financials - that work perfectly on their own but were not well connected,' said SYPAQ Managing Director George Vicino. 'We needed a solution that would integrate at the front end but also allow us to optimise our backend processes and performance.'

SYPAQ, which plays in the technology consulting, systems integration and business process optimisation markets, has major government and defence clients including Department of Defence and Department of Justice.

SYPAQ will roll out a range of PRONTO-Xi tools including distribution, financials, project costing, CRM and payroll. Implementation will commence in October and go live four months later, in February 2011.

Keen to save on a substantial upfront investment and eliminate the need to train suitably qualified support staff, SYPAQ also investigated the possibility of deploying a SaaS model.

'We looked at NetSuite OpenAir, but I wasn't comfortable with having our server hosted on the other side of the world or that all contact was made via phone and email,' said Vicino.

SYPAQ reviewed Pronto's SaaS solution, Pronto Hosted Services (PHS), which offers the option for companies to host its server offsite.

'We were a lot more at ease with having our server hosted here in Melbourne,' said Vicino. 'What's more, Pronto's headquarters and R&D centre is just down the road and we can visit them for a face-to-face meeting at any time.'

With plans to expand into other sectors and offshore opportunities, Vicino sited scalability as another critical factor in his decision. 'We wanted to remove the strain that clunky business software can impose and also needed something scalable that would allow us to take our business to the next level.

'Previous systems weren't scalable and we didn't want our business software to restrain our growth in the next three to five years. PRONTO-Xi allows you to scale up; not just vertically but horizontally across sectors,' added Vicino.

According to Vicino, key benefits anticipated from PRONTO-Xi include data integrity and improved staff productivity.

'The beauty of PRONTO-Xi is that it provides a common point of truth, which means everyone refers to the same set of information and it reduces the propensity for human error,' explained Vicino.

'Information is easily traceable if something goes wrong, which means we're able to be more responsive to issues. For us, the real value is in being able to improve the front end of our business - our customer relationships and sales,' added Vicino. 'Being able to pay a monthly fee to host our server offsite rather than invest in a server upfront is an added bonus.'