"Case Study: Pronto Software, ERP Vendor"

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"TEC's solutions, which include research comparison reports selection tools consulting services are driven by its powerful analysis engine, eBestMatch^TM."
Source: Technology Evaluation Centers

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Case Study: Pronto Software, ERP Vendor

Pronto Software

Solution Offering:

PRONTO-Xi enterprise management system (EMS), with solutions and modules for the following business needs and industries:

• financials
• engineer-to-order (ETO), discrete, process, make-to-order, assemble-to-order, and configure-to-order manufacturing
• computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) and enterprise asset management (EAM)
• point of sale (POS) and Web commerce
• retail and customer relationship management (CRM)
• supply chain management (SCM), with warehouse and inventory management, sales orders, purchase orders, electronic data interchange (EDI), advanced forecasting, distribution, and other functionalities
• mining

Offices:

• Head office: Melbourne (Australia)
• Value-added resellers (VARs): in Canada, Mauritius, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India, Singapore, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States (US)

Company Goals:

• To continue its steady and profitable growth by consolidating its position in established markets and selectively expanding into new markets.
• To increase its number of VARs in North America, and to expand into Western Europe.
• To leverage its lean, value-based engagement model to grow against the trend during the global economic downturn.

Benefits of Using TEC:

• "TEC Certified" status helps Pronto create a credible brand in the minds of both VARs and end users.
• TEC helps Pronto acquire additional VARs around the world, but particularly in the North American market.
• TEC increases awareness of company brand and product via presence on Web sites, as well as in weekly and daily newsletters.
• Pronto solution data in ebestmatch^TM allow prospects to see how well the feature/function set compares with other solutions in the market; ebestmatch also helps decision makers to cement decisions, or helps them sell their decisions internally.

Leading the ERP Pack "Down Under"

Pronto's Web site describes the company as "Australia's most successful domestic enterprise resource planning (ERP) software vendor." In business for over 30 years and headquartered in Melbourne (Australia), Pronto offers solutions for manufacturing and distribution, as well as support for business intelligence (BI), customer relationship management (CRM), and more. Its flagship product, PRONTO-Xi, serves clients in a wide range of verticals, including automotive and aerospace, high tech and electronics, retail, building and industrial supply manufacturing, food and beverage, and professional services.

Having attained sales of $48,000,000 (AUD) last year, won multiple Dunn & Bradstreet "Business of the Year" awards, and continued annual revenue growth at 15 percent, the description "most successful" seems plausible. Although it may be hard to determine the precise reasons for a company's success, Terry Leister, Vice President North America, believes there are two main elements that have contributed greatly. The first is having a dedication to partnering with customers to solve real business problems. The other crucial element is the ability to create partnerships with value-added resellers (VARs), which generate and provide valuable leads. In both instances, the key is developing relationships: people like dealing with people with whom they have an affinity.

TEC has not only helped Pronto acquire VARs, but also works with those VARs in creating business opportunities (details below). But Pronto benefits from exposure on TEC's Web sites in several other ways too.

To Be Certified, or Not to Be Certified: The Benefits of TEC Certification

Visit the TEC Vendor Showcase site and search for Pronto. Beside each of its eight solution sets, you'll see a black, white, and red "TEC Certified" symbol (for example, on Pronto's page in the ERP – Distribution section). This means Pronto has requested TEC to certify its products- an impartial process in which TEC verifies that PRONTO-Xi does what Pronto says it does.

Hunkering over a TEC boardroom table during an interview in March 2009, Leister-his Blundstone-clad feet firmly planted on the floor-confirms that Pronto's status as TEC Certified is beneficial. "Being TEC Certified helps boost the credibility of our product, and our brand, in a market where we are not well known. Clients and prospects know that we can live up to our claims, because TEC has independently certified that what we say about our product's features and functionalities is true."

There are other benefits of going through the TEC certification process for vendors such as Pronto:

• Efficiency: Pronto can save time when responding to client requests for information (RFIs) because the TECcertified data gives Pronto a head start in responding to successive client projects.
• Increased exposure: products like PRONTO-Xi are more likely to be mentioned in select TEC publications written by TEC analysts, as they are assured the product data is accurate and reliable.
• Positive perception: the "TEC Certified" label prompts top-of-mind presence for the decision makers and consultants who regularly use TEC's services for evaluating and selecting enterprise software.

With ebestmatch, Pronto Can Show Clients How Its Solution Best Fits Their Needs

Leister also sees that presence in TEC's ebestmatch decision support system (DSS) is another benefit to Pronto during the sales process. Because ebestmatch can highlight a solution's features and functions, showing clients the profile in ebestmatch can be a good starting point for a sale: "We have had a couple of situations where we've pointed people in the direction of the TEC site, knowing what result they would get if they ran a comparison between our solution and another given vendor. It can help you take charge of the sale."

Leister observes that TEC's Discrete Manufacturing Evaluation Center has provided the most value to Pronto so far, but that he expects the Distribution and Point of Sale (POS) Evaluation Centers to soon surpass it. When asked why discrete manufacturing has come out ahead of others, Leister says it's because most of Pronto's competitors are also in discrete.

To explain further, Leister says that often, the other solutions in discrete manufacturing have "a disconnect between back-end and front-end functionality." Pronto, Leister claims, has solid functionality for both back and front end-a claim that can be backed up when Pronto's solution is evaluated online in TEC's Evaluation Centers.

It is also possible that ebestmatch can help vendors' clients move the decision-making process forward to implementation. Leister reports that Pronto's VAR, Business Solutions Alliance (BSA), "made a couple of sales where the comparison information in ebestmatch helped the decision maker sell his decision internally, or helped cement decisions that were essentially already made."

Leister is enthusiastic when asked about TEC's role in acquiring VARs. "TEC was instrumental in our acquiring a VAR partner in Vietnam," he declares, adding that the Vietnamese reseller simply found TEC's Web site, discovered Pronto's products in the Vendor Showcase, and then contacted Pronto. "TEC can continue to help us with acquiring North American VARs as well. When a VAR approaches us to find out how well our feature/functionality sets compared with other vendors, we can show them in ebestmatch how we stand up."

Leister says that Pronto's aim is to develop a relatively small, cooperative VAR network across North America, with a split between geographical and vertical markets. "If we can have 10 to 12 strategically placed VAR partners focusing on a geographical region or a specific industry segment, we think we can avoid channel conflict and foster a level of cooperation that allows our partners to leverage each others' resources." Using TEC, these VARs can find vital leads in regions or areas that haven't yet been explored, while VARs focusing on a vertical can provide leads in that particular industry. As an example, Pronto has two VARs in the city of Perth (Australia), and Leister says that the leads they provide are usually different enough that it is as though one VAR were focused on mining and the other on manufacturing and distribution.

Pronto has established relationships with four VARs in North America-BSA, Business Computer Technologies (BCT), SHS, and Xonitek. Each of these VARs works closely with TEC to provide those vital leads. The VARs access TEC's VAR Zone and are able to choose from amongst the high-quality leads generated by TEC's white paper programs and other methods. Then the VARs, such as the Whitby, Ontario (Canada)-based BSA, use those leads to promote PRONTO-Xi in new markets-and ultimately, to make sales.

Maximizing Exposure to Prospects with TEC

Leister concedes that Pronto could be doing much more to take advantage of TEC's services to vendors. For example, Pronto has participated in only one of TEC's popular Vendor Showdowns, in which two or three vendors are analyzed in ebestmatch to determine the solution that offers the best functionality in a module or grouping of modules.

Leister also says that the company is thinking about running white papers in TEC's newsletters, another valuable method of leads generation. The weekly newsletter, as well as the white paper newsletters, can help provide a company such as Pronto with visibility-at the crucial point when prospects are "thinking about buying software," when Leister believes it's best to get to know prospects and their requirements.

For more information about Pronto and PRONTO-Xi, visit TEC's Vendor Showcase pages for these categories:

• discrete manufacturing
• engineer-to-order
• ERP - distribution
• mining industry (ERP and CMMS)
• mixed-mode manufacturing
• process manufacturing
• point of sale
• CMMS - EAM

For more information about TEC's services for vendors and VARs, visit www.tecinsights.com/.

Contact Information

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Technology Evaluation Centers
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Canada, H3C 1L5
Phone: +1 514-954-3665, ext. 254
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Fax: +1 514-954-9739
E-mail: analyst_services@technologyevaluation.com
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