Cloud Computing PSA Leader Enables Asia Pacific Businesses to Manage Projects and Resources in the Cloud for Unprecedented Cost Savings and Productivity Gains
SAN MATEO, Calif.—August 18, 2009—OpenAir, Inc., a NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N) company and a leading provider of cloud computing professional services automation (PSA) and services resource planning (SRP) software, today announced the latest customers from the Asia Pacific region to choose OpenAir to automate key processes for project management, resource management, time and expense tracking, and project accounting. AIPEX, Waugh Infrastructure Management, Fronde, and Matsco Solutions join a growing list of businesses in the Asia Pacific region that have signed on with OpenAir to reduce IT costs and improve productivity by adopting OpenAir's Software as a Service (SaaS) Solution. Through cloud-based product upgrades and product offerings, OpenAir provides a low total cost-of-ownership (TCO) by eliminating the need for support staff and on-site server maintenance.
When it comes to managing services organisations, businesses are often faced with challenges such as manual and inaccurate time and expense tracking, disconnected Sales Force Automation (SFA) and financial point solutions, restricted transparency into key performance metrics, lengthy and inefficient billing cycles, and limited visibility into resource utilization and skills profiles. OpenAir helps address these challenges by streamlining critical business processes and eliminating siloed, disjointed data sources. As the cornerstone of an SRP strategy, OpenAir connects time tracking and utilization management with SFA and back-end financial data, accelerating the quote-to-cash process.
"The services industry is truly thriving in Asia Pacific," said Morris Panner, CEO of OpenAir. "As project-based organisations in the region continue to grow, we strive to provide them with the business tools necessary to deliver their services quickly and effectively to the marketplace."
The new customer wins announced today include:
AIPEX
AIPEX, a business and technology consulting firm based in Melbourne, Australia, uses OpenAir to manage its services operations, from project management to time and expense capture and invoicing. Prior to using OpenAir, AIPEX had no faith in their forecasting capabilities and had limited visibility into the key metrics of the business. Upon implementing OpenAir and integrating it with NetSuite for financials and Customer Relationship Management (CRM), AIPEX greatly reduced its overhead due to the widespread user adoption of OpenAir's time and expense tracking tools, benefited from powerful revenue and utilization reports, and simplified its billing cycle, reducing month-end closing days from 17 to 3 days. By integrating OpenAir with NetSuite Financials, AIPEX has realized more than an 80% reduction in month end closing days.
"OpenAir has the most robust integration capabilities in the industry. They have built a seamless flow that streamlines our entire business," said Trevor Townsend, Managing Director of AIPEX. "Our desire was to reduce overhead work, not create more. With consultants constantly out of the office at client sites, it was also critical that they could enter time, claim work related expenses, and update project information from any internet connection. We had no desire to constantly maintain and keep operational a new system."
Waugh Infrastructure Management
After signing with OpenAir, Waugh Infrastructure Management, a Timaru, New Zealand-based provider of infrastructure management services, experienced an immediate improvement in timesheet submission and approval due to OpenAir's SaaS model, which gives Waugh's employees access to the system from any internet connection regardless of location. Waugh also benefited from deeper insight into key operating metrics through OpenAir reporting, and improved project management and task and cost management. Additionally, Waugh Infrastructure Management leverages the OpenAir Opportunities Application to track and manage CRM initiatives, that when coupled with its OpenAir integration with MYOB on the back end, ensures data integrity and that all employees are operating with the most up-to-date information.
"OpenAir has provided us with a scalable and easily customizable system that has met our PSA requirements, and allowed us to report to clients in a transparent and timely manner, enhancing our trusted advisor relationships with them," said Ross Waugh, Managing Director for Waugh Infrastructure Management. "We believe OpenAir has significantly enhanced our competitive advantage through its ease-of-use and the real benefits we are getting from real-time management and reporting. With accurate time and expense tracking and project management we have been able to optimise our performance and service delivery to clients. The time savings in reporting alone have given us an ROI on the initial implementation of about 6 months. We continue to be very happy with our decision to implement OpenAir."
Fronde
Fronde (www.fronde.com), a Wellington, New Zealand-based software development and integration firm, specializes in mobile and online channels, agile project management, and Software as a Service.
After signing with OpenAir, Fronde experienced an immediate reduction in its billing cycle due to a streamlined timesheet submission and OpenAir's SaaS model, which gives its employees access to the system from any internet connection. Additionally, Fronde has integrated OpenAir with salesforce.com on the front end and Navision on the back end, which eliminates errors, guarantees data security and creates a seamless business flow from initial lead generation to revenue recognition.
"OpenAir has solved our need for an easy-to-use, customizable system to automate our business," said Hazel Renn, Business Systems Support Manager for Fronde. "Additionally, we use OpenAir for projection reporting. With accurate time and expense figures as a base, we are now able to build accurate and detailed reports on project performance and profitability."
Matsco Solutions
Matsco Solutions (www.matscosolutions.com), with offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, and Singapore, is a leading IT services and support company specializing in the small and medium financial services market with a heavy concentration of clients who are hedge funds and private equity firms. Matsco Solutions uses OpenAir's PSA solution to manage its global workforce across several time zones, track key metrics such as utilization, and automate its time tracking, expense management and invoicing processes.
"When the time came to open our Hong Kong and Singapore offices, we were confident that OpenAir would continue to be a perfect fit for us," said Jim Serpi, Director of Global Operations, Matsco Solutions. "As we are a client-focused business, it was clear that no other PSA system would allow us to integrate seamlessly into our existing systems, including our original London account, and enable us to provide the level of service our clients expect. Additionally, OpenAir has also provided us with the best way to track resources and utilization in all of our offices."
About OpenAir
OpenAir, Inc., a NetSuite Inc. company, is a leading provider of Software as a Service (SaaS) services automation software. With offices in Boston, MA, London and Sydney, Australia, OpenAir offers both professional services automation (PSA) and project portfolio management (PPM) solutions, providing project-based organisations and firms the tools they need to grow their businesses quickly and profitably. Providing enterprise-level functionality for businesses of all sizes, OpenAir has more than 80,000 active users at over 650 world-class firms using the software to better capture billable time, manage projects and resources and bill customers. Coupled with a team of highly experienced consultants from some of the world's leading services firms, OpenAir's services automation solutions drive higher profits through improved utilization, visibility and data collection. To learn more, please visit www.openair.com