news Australian software vendor TechnologyOne this week revealed it had landed five major local deals in the last quarter for its customer relationship management (CRM) software. The vendor’s solution is set to replace a rival Microsoft platform at one of these sites, and believes its CRM solution be in use by over 10,000 people in the near future.

Among the customers signing up for the latest release of the TechnologyOne software are Mission Australia; the New Zealand Ministry for the Environment; TePou, through Wise Management Services; Tasrail; the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services; and other Australian government organisations.

TechnologyOne credits the deals – two of which are its largest CRM deals ever – to its work over the preceding year with partners in the government, education and not-for-profit sectors. Adrian Di Marco, executive chairman of the company, said in a statement this week that he saw considerable potential for the company’s CRM platform as the ‘middle ground’ in a fast maturing market of “niche, point and generic solutions”. According to Di Marco, the company has invested heavily in researching and developing the software over the past year to make it even more competitive in meeting the needs of various sectors.

Those customers who went live in the previous quarter are currently benefiting from the company’s upgraded Grants Management software, online fundraising tool, and Community Engagement solution. Meanwhile, TechnologyOne is developing and carrying out trials of various prototype applications such as Funding Acquisition and Membership Management.

Nick Davey, TechnologyOne general manager – CRM, disclosed that the company was in negotiations with two more customers which would represent organisations managing grants of hundreds of millions of dollars per year.

TechnologyOne has also adapted its CRM software to assist charities in engaging more effectively with donors by raising funds online. With the new solution going live in time for Jeans for Genes Day in August, the Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) website, which uses the software, saw 10,000 online registrations, a 10 percent upsurge in site visitors, and savings of over 600 man-hours.

The new Community Engagement tool will go live on a New Zealand local government site and assist local councils in managing public participation. The tool has further potential to gather quantitative and qualitative data and reach out to citizens on a range of forums such as specialist sites like Bang the Table, social media, and the more traditional emails and letters. This wide outreach has the potential to increase access to information and participation in public policy for more demographic groups.

Another application expected to be released in the next year is a Funding Acquisition tool that enables education providers and local government, among others, to identify, apply for and track funding sources. TechnologyOne says its Tender Management application streamlines the tendering process to enable procurement vendor assessment, scoring and other selection criteria to meet stringent audit requirements.

opinion/analysis
TechnologyOne is still a bit player in the CRM space, but it’s nice to see the Australian company sticking it to the sector’s giants Oracle, Microsoft, SAP and Salesforce.com. TechnologyOne has a particular strength in Government, where the larger players have occasionally struggled in Australia to adapt their solutions to the local market, and we’d like to see the company continue to do well and expand its operations.

Despite the maturity of the CRM market, there’s plenty of room for new players. TechnologyOne is just the latest example, but we continue to see new companies, particularly using software as a service models, enter the sector with niche solutions which are awesome in their specific vertical. This is the true definition of competition, and that can only be good in the long run for customers. Of course, it’s not so great if you’re one of the large vendors … but they have enough resources and expertise to continue to do well ;)

Opinion/analysis by Renai LeMay

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