Software Service Takes Company Into Finals

Software Service Takes Company Into Finals

Auckland-based company ActionStep has stepped into the finals of the 2010 Vero Excellence in Business Support awards by providing NZ, Australian, and UK companies with software that helps them manage, market and network.

The Vero Excellence in Business Support Awards are held annually to celebrate the best on offer to business in New Zealand. The awards are sponsored by Vero and BDO, and are a key event leading up to the annual Bizzone Business Expo, New Zealand's largest event for business. The winners will be announced at a Black Tie Gala Dinner in the Auckland Town Hall on 20 May.

ActionStep is a New Zealand leader in the growing Software as Service (SaaS) model for delivering software designed to achieve business goals as well as managing data. Its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tool is a fully-integrated and comprehensive solution consisting of marketing and sales, workflow, accounting, payroll and Intranet modules marketed under a ‘pay-as-you-go’ subscription model. ActionStep won the 2009 Best of SaaS Showplace Enabling Technology Supplier award. While there are plenty of SaaS models around, ActionStep CEO Ted Jordan says there are few competitors in the global market delivering the integrated solution that ActionStep offers at an affordable price. “Globally, in the very competitive software solutions market, ActionStep is one of the few ERP solutions aimed at the SME segment and to do so at an affordable price point,” he says. “ActionStep is also the only ERP that is owned and developed locally, a strong selling point for our customers and prospects alike.”

ActionStep provides ongoing operational business and system support including online and classroom training, application help desk, back office accounting and payroll bureau services, Twitter feeds, online WebEx meetings, a discussion board for customer feedback; and in 2010 ActionStep is launching a new Webinar series to engage customers in relevant peripheral topics such as online marketing.

One of the company’s biggest successes has been with LumberLink, a New Zealand-based company exporting and trading lumber worldwide. ActionStep was chosen as their software solution because it allowed LumberLink to capture its essential functions in a flexible workflow while a central database stores all information from initial inquiry through to multi-currency accounting. Efficiencies and improvements since using ActionStep have resulting in LumberLink doubling turnover.

Roger Bell, Chief Executive of Vero Insurance, the Foundation Sponsor of the Vero Excellence in Business Support awards, says, “It is inspiring to see the impressive range of finalists that demonstrate international levels of best practice in their businesses and quality support as a key part of their business. This year there has been a resounding 163 nominations and entries which shows the growing commitment of New Zealand’s business support organisations to excellence.”

The 37 finalists were selected by The New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation which provides an independent and robust evaluation process for the awards’ 10 categories.

“Excellent business support assists New Zealand businesses to build capability and capacity and in doing so they become more competitive and sustainable,” says Mike Watson, chief executive of the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation.

ENDS

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