Many companies talk about having to take business risks to keep ahead in their markets. Few actually take them. South African accounting software specialists Brilliant Business Systems is one of the exceptions. This time last year the company staked its future on changing the whole sales model for its best-selling accounting software suite, Brilliant Accounting. It worked.
"What we did was classic business text book," says Alan Osrin, Managing Director of Brilliant Business Systems. "We`re told top companies achieve because they are prepared to take risks, but we all know that few companies actually take major risks - the sort that really put your company on the line.
"Most organisations focus their businesses in a single direction because that`s what they`ve always done. We decided to change our direction in midstream and the result is that we`re a stronger company, experiencing sustained market growth, better products and a more satisfied customer base."
Osrin is referring to the fact that a year ago the company took what was seen then as a very controversial step. It introduced an annual licence fee for Brilliant Accounting. Previously, the software had been an off-the-shelf solution targeted primarily at small businesses, accustomed to the concept of a one-off purchase price with ongoing software upgrade purchase options, and so called "optional" support contracts.
"We wanted to break away from this predominantly entry level market and re-position Brilliant. It was evolving into a functionally rich, sophisticated accounting suite more suitable for the growing company and mid-size enterprise market. That`s a market where high level support is critical to on-going success," says Osrin.
In the past year, the company has focused heavily on enhancing its support infrastructure to ensure it can address this market successfully.
In addition to improved support levels, its licence holders get automatic software updates. This means virtually all Brilliant users, except those rapidly decreasing number of users still using the pre-licensed versions, are using the same version. The volumes and business growth are now more manageable. "This allows our support department to be more efficient, proactive and responsive to our customer needs", says Osrin.
"I think the fact that the majority of those customers who signed up a year ago have renewed their contracts is indicative of the success of this whole strategy. Licence fees are standard among the bigger enterprise software systems from companies such as SAP, Baan and Oracle, so we felt justified in introducing a licence system that is affordable for small and medium sized businesses," says Osrin.
"We`re only talking about R150 a month for a single user system. If companies don`t want to spend that for a proven, well-supported business solution, then we feel they can`t be really serious about their business. "By switching to a fee-based system we`ve been able to develop a much more sophisticated product to take our customers` businesses into the next millennium, as evidenced by the latest release - Version 9. And we`ve been able to build a larger, more knowledgeable support team."
Commenting on the new support levels delivered by Brilliant Business Systems, Pat Douglas, accountant at Blesston Printing, Johannesburg, says, "Their support has been outstanding. In particular, when we bought a new computer a few months ago, we had terrible problems. These turned out to be the operating system`s fault, but Brilliant spent a tremendous amount of time on site helping us sort everything out."
Danny de Wet, of D W Parker Chicken Farms, which market Henwil chickens, agrees that support is good and that the product is becoming more sophisticated. "Version 9`s database is much more reliable and robust and the add-on modules now available are a significant addition."
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