Workflow software poised to take on the world
Article Date: August 4, 2003
Website: www.marketnewzealand.com
Article: www.marketnewzealand.com/articleLink
Written By: New Zealand Trade and Enterprise
An innovative Christchurch company is today launching version 2.0 of its highly successful workflow management software.
ProWorkflow, the brain-child of Julian and Sarah Stone, and developed with business partner Alan Barlow, is already selling 98% of its software product offshore, less than a year after launching version 1.0.
Version 2.0 has many new features, and versions have been developed for Macintosh compatibility and SQL 2000 users. By the end of this year Julian Stone plans to have Chinese, German, French and Spanish releases available, as well as additional modules and services.
Mr Stone says they developed version 2.0 in response to feedback and suggestions from the clients from around the world.
“We have a very communal approach with our software. It is one of very few software solutions where you can purchase 100% of the code as open source so it is infinitely customisable.”
ProWorkflow is planning to take on the giants of the industry, currently all US products with hundreds of thousands of users, and already has a global partner network in place.
“We have 3 or 4 resellers active now, and have 30 resellers from all round the world ready to come on board with version 2.0. We also have strategic alliances with two large American ISPs to offer our software as a hosted solution.”
Mr Stone describes ProWorkflow as a little bit of software that can create big changes in a business. Tracking workflow efficiently plays a big part in ‘getting it right’ in the kind of businesses buying ProWorkflow, he says. The software is designed to reflect the roles of individual staff members within the organisation.
"We have really done our market research and we found that people don't like software that is not really made for them but is made to carry out certain functions regardless of who is using it," he says.
"By designing ProWorkflow to be a user friendly application, and basing it on roles, we have addressed that issue. For example, the receptionist can call up the tea or coffee preferences of visiting clients and find out whether they take milk or sugar."
Web-based ProWorkflow has multiple job and client tracking options and a log-in facility enables clients and contractors to view progress on jobs. Time recording against different jobs is made easy. Prospective buyers are offered a comprehensive trial/demo at the www.ProWorkflow.com web site.
Mr Stone teamed with an Auckland-based developer Alan Barlow to develop the software, and ProWorkflow was launched in November 2002, and there are now more than 150 users from around the world. American companies in many states have embraced ProWorkflow, and Mr Stone says the client list includes big names such as AT&T, Disney and the US military.
However, the target market was small businesses, especially small software development houses, where he finds people are "really open to change".
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise account manager Cate Hlavac says ProWorkflow went about the development of their product in a very smart way.
“When they started developing the software, they went out to the global development community and asked for advise and feedback. What this means now is they have buy-in from the development community, and their product has already been accepted by the people who make decisions about software in big corporations.”
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