What is world-class?
<< Tell us what local software suppliers you recommend and win>> Our "Sunny Skies and Software - Local is Lekker" conference was well attended and well received. So I guess we'll do it again next year. As software advocates, we wanted to shine the spotlight on local software to show that there is plenty of world-class tech being built locally by smart and talented people. Thanks to all who attended and participated for a day of fun in the sun! << See Programme>>  << More Photos>>
To me, the common thread that emerged from the conference is that the local software industry is still struggling rather than thriving. One reason may be that, while we may know something about technology and software, we still have a lot to learn about marketing and business. Another reason may be that we are still struggling to overcome the stigma that was once attached to being South African. Perhaps we need to first believe we can be, and then strive to become world-class software companies. I was recently chatting to Estelle Trengrove, a lecturer from Wits' JCSE, who is doing research on the adoption of standards like CMM by the local software industry. JCSE encourages companies who do software engineering to adopt international standards as a benchmark against which they can compare their quality to the rest of the world. But it occured to me that customers do not yet expect software companies to put a mark of quality on their products. One of the software companies who spoke at our conference has joined the "Proudly South African" campaign, which certainly aspires to raise expectations about the quality of local products and services - or at least enforces a code of conduct. Still, the company has found it difficult to overcome perceptions by local companies that local software is of an inferior quality to international software. For me, the acid test of software quality and marketing success will be whether customers who compare local software to international software choose to buy local. This is a question we always ask in our enterprise software survey. About 23% of survey respondents buy locally developed software. We have a long way to go. CRM Disasters
A friend asked me a few weeks ago to share the most spectacular CRM disaster in my experience. The most interesting CRM lesson I learned (as in the Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times"), was with a company who had grown from 50 to 500 people in less than 5 years; and from a handful to a thousand customers. The mistake they made was not to have a single name - or identifier - for a customer across different systems. So the same customer appeared many times in their accounting system as XYZ001 and ABC002, with different company or division names and no consistency in spelling. Then in their operations system, used for helpdesk and technical support, the same customer was N000007, and A999000. And in the customer database, although there was slightly more consistency, there was no link to either of the other systems. So when they wanted to enable customers to log in to their website and check current invoices outstanding or the status of helpdesk enquiries or simply to update their contact details, there was a major problem. They had to embark on a major data cleansing and linking exercise that took several months and lots of money before they could even think about implementing a CRM system. The lesson I learned was not only to build for the long-term from the word go, but also that there are obstacles to seamlessly integrated systems across the extended enterprise. Other obstacles I have come across in my experience include not only data integrity and data integration issues, but also security constraints and the lack of pervasive connectivity. For example, your partners might not be willing to let your systems talk to their systems and not all your customers communicate with you using the Internet as a channel. << More Knowledge>> | | Software Spotlight |
Pastelizer
This is a world-class utility that was built locally to synchronize the Maximizer CRM system with Pastel Accounting. Client details are transferred from Maximizer to Pastel, while a wealth of financial information can be brought back from Pastel to Maximizer. You can get started with a base model from about R4,500. more » Key Survey
Sign up for the 30 day trial of this online survey system. A range of survey templates get you started quickly. And you can request email responses. The online analysis and reporting features seem comprehensive, but you can also export your data. About R6,000 buys you 2,000 completed surveys. more » Trend Micro
If you're annoyed with your anti-virus software and want to consider a credible alternative, look at Trend Micro's suite of security products. Updates are frequent and apparently not too invasive. It costs about R345 per user, so you will save about R40 or $5 per user. more » |
<< More Spotlights >> Please note that prices may be based on prevailing exchange rates and should be taken as ballpark estimates only. For updated pricing, contact the relevant supplier. Appearance in this table does not constitute an endorsement. nFold does not take responsibility for the accuracy of this information and will not be held liable for any losses arising from the use of this information. | nFold News Corner |
Accolades
nFold is proud to announce that the company has been selected as one of three finalists for the "Most Innovative ICT Company" awards arranged by Forge Ahead. Our MD, Sandy Pullinger is also a finalist for "Top ICT Businesswoman of the Year" along with Dr. Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane of Sentech, who was also recognized by CSSA at their banquet last week. Customers
We welcome Gestetner, Deloitte, Chisa Technologies and 3D Marketing to our growing community of customers. To all existing customers as the year draws to a close, we thank you for your support during the year. Your business is important to us. If you are not yet a customer, how can we help you today? Interactive Profile
At nFold's "Sunny Skies and Software - Local is Lekker" conference recently, we gave each attendee a copy of our new company CD. For those of you with the patience and bandwidth to download about 50 MB and explore our world, click here » |
<< More News>> |
