Markinson News

The latest news from Markinson Business Solutions

Markinson announces acquisition by international software group,
Constellation Software
December 2011

On 15 December 2011, Markinson announced its acquisition by international software and services group, Constellation Software.

The deal, for an undisclosed sum, provides Markinson with a strong corporate platform to support growth and expansion into new markets, and provides access to resources and expertise to strengthen its product portfolio and solutions available to local customers.

As part of the acquisition, Markinson will join the Constellation’s Friedman Operating Group, and operate as an independent division within Friedman.

Ian Whiting, chief executive officer of Markinson says while the deal significantly accelerates the company’s growth strategy, on an operational level it will be ‘business as usual’ with the company continuing to trade under its business name, and no management or staff changes.

“This is an exciting development for both Markinson and its customers. For the last two years, through a series of acquisitions and strong organic growth we have strengthened our position in the local business software solutions market. Our acquisition by Friedman now provides us with a stronger corporate platform to support our next phase of growth, while at the same time continuing to provide first-class service to our customers,” said Whiting.

Mark Robertson, chairman and founder of Markinson, adds; "After over 25 years of developing a world class business, it is pleasing to see the realisation of the next important stage in the evolution of Markinson.”

Read full Press Release.

5 CRM Trends to Seize on in 2012
December 2011

Next year will carry big expectations for Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs).

Firstly, the businesses who use them will be expecting them to do more (and for less). Secondly, end customers — increasingly aware of what CRM systems are capable of — will be even more insistent that businesses deal with them as they expect.

In short, businesses will be looking to their vendors for help with doing more with CRM, and we expect to see a combination of new and old capabilities receive more attention.

To find out more about the CRM trends CIOs should watch for in 2012 read our full article in the CIO.

Markinson Wins at Sage Business Partner Awards
November 2011

Markinson was recognised for its outstanding CRM growth and sales efforts at the 2011 Sage Business Partner Awards, an event which recognises top performing partners across Sage’s partner community in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.

This is the third year running that Markinson has accepted awards at the annual event, and is a significant achievement for a business that prides itself in fostering collaborative relationships with customers and partners.

Commenting on the awards, Markinson Chief Executive Officer Ian Whiting said, “Our goal is to be recognised as one of the top providers and advisors of CRM solutions in Australia and New Zealand. Winning this is a great achievement and the result of a strong three-way partnership; working hand-in-hand with our clients and Sage.”

Markinson has recently signed on two new clients to the Sage SalesLogix platform, Isuzu UTE Australia – importers and distributors of one of Australia’s newest and fastest growing automotive brands, and First 5 minutes – the industry leaders in fire safety and emergency response training and provider of compliance solutions.

Haigh Australia Talks Markinson Enterprise Mobility at Tablet Wars
November 2011

With media tablet sales exploding, AIMIA together with Oomph hosted their second sell out Tablet Wars event in Sydney this month. Aimed at investigating the remarkable growth of mobile technology, Tablet Wars promotes recent case studies of mobile solution success and identify future trends for mobile business technology.

After receiving some great press in The Australian last month for integrating Enterprise Mobile solutions within their sales and customer service processes, long time Markinson customer, Haigh Australia, was the perfect fit to present their experience.

Haigh Assistant Manager, Wendy La Macchia was the guest speaker and presented the audience with a real world account of how mobile technology has radically changed the way frontline sales staff do business.

"Traditionally, our sales staff has always travelled with product catalogues, price lists and printed material and relied on having a laptop and connecting to Wi-Fi to read their email maybe once a day," she says.

With such a dynamic product range, keeping abreast of accurate and up-to-date product and price details was a challenge and invoicing had to wait until a sales representative got back to the office or sent a fax to head office.

In collaboration with Markinson, Haigh sought to deliver the same functionality from their ERP Solution, MomentumPro, for a mobile environment. This led to the roll out of Markinson’s Enterprise Mobility, featuring a fast-entry screen and ensuring sales staff have anytime, anywhere access to the company's enterprise applications.

Today, sales staff have immediate visibility to product in stock, customer pricing and the ability to transfer this information on the road into simpler, faster and more efficient sales.

"The biggest benefit that they (sales staff) can see is that they have all the information there," Ms La Macchia says. "They can see what the customer has bought, they can see what their price is and they can see what their account status is, and use a sales diary to write notes."

She says having product catalogues, brochures and price lists available for customers to view on an iPad saved on printing and postage costs and that Haigh received Return On Investment out of profit in just six weeks.

PROBLEM: Used manual sales methods that made it difficult to keep pace with stock and price changes. It also needed to improve customer service and productivity.

PROCESS: Markinson Business Solutions' enterprise mobility product.

RESULT: Ensures anytime, anywhere access to the company's enterprise applications for sales staff. Improved customer service, productivity and efficiency as well as cut costs on printing and postage.

Opportunity for ERP Business Consultants to join Markinson
October 2011

Markinson is looking for two highly skilled and ambitious ERP consultants to deliver onsite implementations, consulting, training and workshops to wholesale distribution customers throughout Australia and the APAC region.

A solid understanding of accounting principles, experience working with inventory and wholesale companies and their processes, excellent customer communication and presentation skills are essential. Experience with MomentumPro would also be advantageous.

At Markinson, we are dedicated to empowering people to achieve exceptional results, therefore we are seeking an inspirational individual, who is passionate about our business, understands our core values of Customers, People, Collaboration and Performance, and instinctively knows how to use those values to deliver our business objectives.

Full details of the role can be found on Seek.com and persons interested in pursuing this exciting and challenging role are invited to forward their details to humanresources@markinson.com.au

Scaffad Australia Supporting Local Community
October 2011

At Markinson, we have the privilege of working with a lot of great companies that provide amazing support to local communities, charities and events. So we’re delighted to share that when Scaffad Australia heard about a Markinson staff member’s involvement with St Edmunds, they were quick to lend their support.

Based in Sydney’s Upper North Shore, St Edmunds is a Year 7-12 co-educational special high school for teenagers with a wide range of disabilities including sensory impairment, intellectual disability and autism. St Edmunds recently celebrated their 60th anniversary and needed some banners to highlight the event within the local community, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM customer Scaffad Australia were there to offer their creative flair and experience, by providing two outdoor banners at no charge.

The design was fantastic and the kids loved the colourful signs to celebrate the schools birthday party.

Markinson and St Eddies offer many thanks to the team at Scaffad for their time and support for this great event.

About Scaffad Australia

Pioneering a shift toward new and exciting communication channels, Scaffad Australia continues to cultivate innovative concepts / campaigns across outdoor media, providing companies across the globe with the technical ability and counsel to build and maintain an engaging visual identity.

Mekolec Rolls out MomentumPro On Time and Under Budget
October 2011

Melbourne-based electrical wholesaler, Mekolec, recently announced the roll out of MomentumPro across its business. Previously using a warehouse-based system, General Manager, John O'Neil, says that the previous system had restricted what Mekolec was able to do.

“We had an old system that was warehouse-based and had been passed down by one software company to another,” O’Neil said. “Every time we wanted to put a new module on it became obvious that we needed something different.”

The company, which has some 18 staff and one person that looks after IT, was pushed into upgrading its ERP system after its customers demanded the ability to integrate online catalogue functionality.

“It came by necessity because two of our biggest clients insisted on online ordering facility that includes a webpage where we show pictures of the products available,” he said.

After looking at a number of other options and speaking to other electrical wholesalers about what kinds of system they use, O’Neil said Mekolec chose to deploy Markinson’s MomentumPro.

“Six companies in our industry already had the MomentumPro system, so I did a bit of research and found that the support system was pretty good and easy to operate,” he said.

The system was rolled out over six months and implemented by July. The project installed on time and to budget.

“I was concerned about the cost of it because IT and software is an intangible thing and isn’t clearly defined,” O’Neil said. “It is just a better system and we’ve found it much easier to use than our previous system with the main facility is easier to operate."

Make Your Business Mobile
September 2011

In addition to being great toys, iPads and smartphones are proving themselves game-changers in the business world. Smart companies are using them to run mobile applications on the road – giving instant access to everything from pricelists to managing sales orders. That’s offering front-line staff the power to do business anywhere – whether they’re taking an order or creating a lead.

In the automotive industry, Haigh Australia is one company that’s recently ‘gone mobile.’ As the nation’s biggest accessories supplier, Haigh’s assistant manager Wendy La Macchia says that the company saw mobility as a way to improve the productivity of sales staff while boosting customer service.

“Visiting customers with a chunky laptop and brochures just isn’t the best way to do things,” La Macchia observes. Instead, Haigh has worked with Markinson Business Solutions to bring their ERP to the iPad. Their new iPad application gives Haigh’s staff instant, anytime, anywhere access to the company’s enterprise systems.

“They can now confirm we have a product in stock and make a sale on the spot,” La Macchia says. Sales staff can get instant views of customer accounts and purchase histories. Customers can flip through brochures and product catalogues with sales staff on the iPad’s touchscreen. Staff are able to take notes and quickly update sales orders using a fast-entry screen. By creating invoices on the road, the company saves time by not having to re-enter them at the office.

“The solution has made our processes faster, simpler and more efficient,” says La Macchia.

La Macchia believes the company saw a return on their investment in less than eight weeks, with the application paying for itself through efficiency gains and improved sales.

Five tips for integrating BI and ERP
August 2011

The Global Financial Crisis put Business Intelligence (BI) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) integration in the spotlight. We needed to know urgently what was happening in our businesses and why.

But despite best intentions, many businesses have struggled to implement BI systems. Others who have successfully rolled it out are using it in unproductive ways, often by mistaking it for a reporting tool.

This is unfortunate because, when implemented correctly, BI is a powerful instrument. One company I deal with, for example, estimates that their BI trends analysis alone has fuelled growth of over 20%. (Which customer is that?)

In your own business, the key to implementing BI correctly is having a clear understanding of why you’re doing so.

1. Don’t implement BI – implement an end-goal

One of the reasons that BI is notoriously difficult to get right is the fact that businesses often undertake BI without a well-defined idea of what ‘right’ will mean.

ERP systems capture an incredible amount of transactions and business data, and the role of BI is to convert these records into information that can be used by decision makers.

It’s vital to remember that the purpose of BI is to produce information and insight. Thus, deciding what insight your business needs is the first step to implementing BI.

Good questions to ask are: which business areas are you going to analyse? What are the important Key Performance Indicators? How will decision makers react to the insight your solution produces and what specific outcomes will it achieve?

Understand that BI will not solve problems in its own right. To be successful, you need to know your business and where you want to take it, then make the turn to BI.

2. Don’t delegate success

The best BI integrations emerge from deep understandings of business operations.

While BI vendors will do their utmost, this is the main reason that you shouldn’t rely on your vendor to create project success.

Instead, have someone from your own organisation at the helm to drive the project – perhaps yourself and another member of the management team.

3. Don’t go it alone

BI is a complex arena, and multiple solution types, software packages and integration hurdles make implementation a difficult assignment.

In the same way that a maiden skipper wouldn’t sail for New Zealand without an experienced crew, those responsible for BI integrations can avoid disaster by having practiced help on deck.

Ideally, your BI vendor will be experienced not only in the particular product you’re going to implement, but also in your industry. Because BI is about business improvement, hunting for a vendor with previous exposure to your industry means that the project is more likely to be informed by relevant assumptions about business processes and KPIs from the start – making it that much more likely to succeed.

4. Avoid the ‘reporting’ pitfall

The most common error that businesses (and sadly even some BI vendors) make is using BI as a reporting tool.

Having BI to simply retrieve and report on records from ERP systems is like buying a Ferrari to keep in the garage. BI is much more powerful than that.

Whether it’s analysing historical, current or predicted sales, production costs or other forms of business data, BI provides up-to-date information on the state of the business – insights that allow decision makers to evaluate the effectiveness of processes and departments, to understand how the business is operating more broadly and to witness trends in sales as they occur.

To get the most from BI, make sure that your implementation is focused on strategic insights. It’s not about sales volumes or missed targets, but the reasons behind them.

5. Manage information security

BI is a potent instrument for analysing information about every aspect of a business. Unsurprisingly, however, the level of information it puts in the hands of users is a common concern for CIOs.

To this end, data security within BI solutions needs to be carefully managed, but remember that the benefits of improved information flow across the enterprise far exceed the risks.

Summing up

BI is a difficult area, but it’s also one that offers enormous potential for delivering insights that can boost profits, cut costs and provide an ongoing picture of a business and its market.

With a clear set of aims and expert help where necessary, it can harness the data that resides in ERP systems and turn that latent information into valuable competitive awareness.

Taking your CRM mobile
July 2011

About 41% of Australian consumers have now installed a mobile application on their phone, and, given their incredible popularity, it’s no surprise that businesses, and their employees, are crying out for mobile apps.

Microsoft says that mobile solutions are currently one of the top ten IT investment priorities of SMBs, and – according to iPass – 38% of businesses will have deployed a mobility solution in 2010.

These solutions will include everything from voice, messaging and collaboration applications, to mobile data and intranet access solutions.

However, at Markinson, we want to focus on creating competitive advantage through business capability enablement – that is, through mobile business applications, in particular CRM.

CRM everywhere

It’s no secret that businesses who deal with their customers well retain their business. From good value to good service, customer relationships can have many foundations, but what’s common to all of them is that they do not take place at head office.

Mobile CRM software takes the power of CRM software and delivers it anywhere – including straight to the customer. It allows staff to check inventory and price lists, act on leads and opportunities, deliver quotes and invoices, see customer accounts, histories and dashboards – all while on the road, on site or at home.

The business benefits of this are numerous. Faster access to information means faster responses to customer emails, calls and enquiries - improving customer satisfaction and increasing sales.

Reduced ‘dead time’ – when employees are either away from the office or in transit – means greater productivity. (Indeed, in an iPass survey 93% of employees with mobile solutions believed that they made them more productive, delivering an extra hour’s work per day).

Using mobile CRM, information flow across the business is also greatly improved. Mistakes that are the result of inconsistent data, such as out-of-date pricelists, catalogs and stock lists, are removed. The business can respond to customers in ‘real-time’, and not ‘real-time’ plus ‘as long it takes to return to the office’.

Low-cost mobile Point of Sale devices which integrates a magnetic strip reader and barcode scanner with devices such as iPads and iPhones – also offer reps the ability to complete sales on the spot, improving the bottom line.

Implementation

If your business is considering mobile CRM, make sure that your strategy keeps in mind the following:

Security and identity – There are few better ways to fail your customers than by failing to protect their data. As with any mobile solution, an adequate security regime is a must. Procedures should be in place for mobile handsets that are lost or stolen, including remote wipe, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), device and application passwords are a necessity.

Scalability and performance – Mobile applications are popular because they’re fast. Ideally, it should be just as easy to find and execute complex functions in the mobile app as on the desktop. Some smart phones provide more processing power than others.

User experience – Remember that your mobile app will often be used while staff who are directly engaging with customers. Thus, how intuitive and speedy it is will reflect on the business itself. Also, the more ‘natural’ the experience, the less training staff will need.

Many popular CRM solutions now come with mobile application extensions, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Sage SalesLogix.

If your current CRM has an extension, it should be your first port of call. The biggest advantage in this case is rapid deployment. Using pre-defined templates, for example, your mobile CRM solution can be active within days, not weeks. There’s also the added benefit of multi-platform compatibility, with most CRM providers offering applications for iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry and Android. While some lack the full feature set, this should improve over time.

If your CRM system does not yet provide a mobility solution, you might consider easy work-arounds with fast ROI. If your current platform offers a web interface, for example, adapting it to a tablet-driven solution using a web browser may deliver a quick solution. Indeed, in place of native mobile applications, some CRM providers are offering mobile formatted versions of their systems with simplified layouts and small screen sizes.

In the mobile space, more so than in the desktop world, a key step is to ensure that your application’s design is driven by your users and their workflows. This can mean creating several options for different roles within your business.

More with less

Whichever way you implement mobile CRM, its essential attraction is that it allows your staff to do more with less using smart devices with which they are becoming increasingly familiar – whether that’s creating new customer contacts and leads in the field, logging calls and emails, or downloading the latest sales collateral.

By providing a business-wide, up-to-the-moment view of your customers and their needs, mobile CRM makes your staff more effective, both in the office and in the field.

Long term, mobile CRM solutions won’t be a trend but a given. But for the moment, those who equip their business to engage with customers when and wherever their staff happen to be will enjoy a significant edge.

Ramelec Future-Proof their Investment with MomentumPro Version 2.4
June 2011

A number of MomentumPro customers have been quick to adopt Version 2.4 as a way of future-proofing their investment and already we’ve been hearing great results with our average Version 2.4 upgrade being completed overnight.

After nearly ten years of using MomentumPro to streamline and consolidate key business functions, Electrical Wholesaler, Ramelec, upgraded its system last month and is already seeing a positive ROI.

Markinson Win Partnering Of The Year at Microsoft Awards 2010
August 2010

Markinson were recognised for their CRM achievements at the Microsoft 2010 Awards in Auckland, New Zealand last night, 18th August 2010.

Markinson received the award in recognition of its work for Orb Communications, New Zealand’s largest independent telecommunications retailer. Working in partnership with Appserv, the award winning solution includes custom entities to capture customer, service contract and customer/product relationships. This capability allows Orb to obtain an instant, 360-degree view of any customer at any time in any location and enhances customer service. The solution is hosted with Appserv, which ensures excellent country-wide performance via both web browser and Outlook interfaces.

According to Matt Evans, general manager sales & marketing at Orb, the solution has improved the company’s ability to cross-sell and has already delivered measurable sales wins. “We are thrilled with the results and are already seeing a return on our investment with improved retention rates, reduced call to sale times and faster customer support. Markinson and Appserv’s approach has been very professional, dedicated and honest. In our book they are worthy winners of the award,” said Evans.

Commenting on the win, Ian Whiting, chief executive officer at Markinson said, “We’re extremely proud of our success and value our strong working partnership with Appserv. We look forward to building upon our relationship with them in future proposals.”

To read the press release click here. To view the case study click here.

Markinson sponsors Australia and New Zealand Insurance Industry Awards
August 2010

Markinson is proud to sponsor the Service Provider to the Insurance Industry cartegory at the Australia and New Zealand Insurance Industry Awards being held in Sydney on Thursday 12th August 2010.

Ian Whiting, comments “we’ve used our knowledge to help some of the leading providers of insurance services to grow. Our membership management capability provides a solution backbone to the ANZIIF business and we’re proud to be a part of their success by sponsoring this event”.

To find out more, click here.

Markinson finalist in two Microsoft Partner Awards 2010
July 2010

Markinson have today been confirmed as a finalist within two categories at the Microsoft NZ Partner Awards 2010 – CRM Solution of the Year and Partnering of the Year with Appserv. Ian Whiting comments “we’re extremely proud to be a finalist in two categories in the Microsoft Partner awards. Our entries provide real life examples of best practice in CRM that continue to bring unprecedented benefits to the customer”.

Winners will be announced at an award ceremony to be held at the Langham Hotel on the 18th August 2010

Markinson and Orb Communications, taking communication to the next level.
June 2010

Orb Communications is New Zealand’s leading network of independently owned and operated telecommunications retailers, with more than 40 stores independently owned by 24 shareholders nationwide. A dealer for the Telecom network, Orb delivers expert mobile, broadband and fixed-line services to a diverse range of clients, including retail customers, SMEs and some of New Zealand’s largest corporations.

To deliver the levels of service that customers were expecting, Orb needed a comprehensive CRM system that could provide an instant, at-a-glance picture of a customer and their services. Armed with a detailed list of requirements, Orb began to investigate potential vendors, selecting Markinson. “Whomever we partnered with needed to be able to understand our business practices and create a CRM solution to fit,” says Evans. “We chose Markinson for their CRM specific experience and proven customisation expertise across a wide range of industries.”

Now live and running nationally across Orb’s operations, Evans says that the CRM solution provided by Markinson has been a unqualified success, providing the company with instantly accessible information and insight into its customers while ramping up its ability to serve them. About his experience with Markinson, Evans says that the company has been fantastic.

“Throughout the project Markinson have delivered on what they’ve promised,” he declares. “Their approach has been professional, dedicated and honest. He adds, “They’ve really invested time in getting to understand our end-to-end business requirements and delivered a solution that is tailored to our needs”...

To read the case study, click here.

Markinson extends NZ presence with new buy
May 2010

Markinson has once again stepped up its regional expansion plans, announcing today its acquisition of New Zealand IT services provider, Zeron. Specialising in Sage SalesLogix, Zeron strengthens Markinson’s position in the New Zealand CRM reseller market, bringing to the company an impressive deployment history with leading NZ customers such as Fletcher Aluminium, Healthlink, Nuplex and Woosh Wireless.

“Our business drivers are really focused around building brand presence and extending our customer landscape within Australia and New Zealand. This acquisition clearly assists with building our footprint in New Zealand, whilst enabling us to increase scale and broaden our skill sets.” Zeron’s customers and staff will be transitioning to Markinson, with Chris Trabing, founder of Zeron taking up a role effective immediately.

“New Zealand is an important market for us and we’re committed to investing in high quality people, solutions, services and infrastructure to deliver against the evolving needs of our clients and ultimately achieve long term success,” said Whiting.

To read the full press release, click here.

Markinson extends CRM play with second acquisition
March 2010

Markinson has once again stepped up its expansions plans with its acquisition of the CRM arm of sales training business Acuere. This is the second CRM acquisition the company has made this financial year as it looks to rapidly increase scale and presence in the SMB business software market across Australia and New Zealand.

The deal, for an undisclosed sum, extends Markinson’s geographical reach into South Australia, with the addition of an office in Adelaide, and bolsters the company’s CRM capabilities, in particular within Sage SalesLogix and Microsoft CRM.

Commenting on the deal, Ian Whiting, Markinson’s Chief Executive Officer said, “Building out the CRM side of our business is a key focus as we look to extend our position in the SMB business software market. Acuere’s CRM arm provides a natural fit with our business, adding critical mass to our CRM capability and building upon our recent acquisition of Adexio.”

To read the full press release, click here.

Markinson steps up growth with regional sales appointments
February 2010

After a strong 12 months of business growth and subsequent expansion into New Zealand, business software provider Markinson, announced today a strengthening of its team with two key sales appointments.

Peter Moore, who previously held the position of Australian country manager at global ERP provider HansaWorld, has been appointed to the newly created role of Australasian sales manager. With over ten years experience managing international sales teams and strategic vendor partnerships, Moore will play a pivotal role in building Markinson's sales strategy and overseeing sales and account management functions.

Also joining the team is Matt Tohill who has been appointed to the position of senior account executive, New Zealand. Tohill will be responsible for growing Markinson's position within the New Zealand business software market. He joins the company from Avanti Solutions where he was business development manager.

To read the full press release, click here.

Markinson wins Sage Business Partner Award
November 2009

Markinson, a specialist business software provider to small and mid sized businesses (SMBs), was recognised for its outstanding sales efforts at the 2009 Sage Business Partner Awards, winning Highest Revenue for Sage SalesLogix CRM in Australasia. Sage Business Partner Awards recognise top performing partners across Sage’s partner community in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands.
 
Commenting on the award, CEO Ian Whiting said: “Winning this is a great achievement and the result of a strong three-way partnership; working hand-in-hand with our clients and Sage.”  The Award caps a big year for Markinson with the company ramping up growth with its acquisition of CRM specialist, Adexio, earlier this month, as well as building out its partner network with leading vendors such as Sage, to further extend its solutions suite.
 
Whiting attributes the company’s strong sales results to a growing demand, especially in the SMB market, for business management systems. He names Surecom, MLRSA, Tattersall Group (Lotteries division) and Pharmatel Fresenius Kabi (PFK), who implemented SalesLogix CRM to manage the largest single rollout of Medical Infusion Pumps in Australia, as new clients that have deployed SalesLogix CRM. “Our job is to work with our clients to ensure the delivery of a complete business solution, using CRM as an engine and starting point for further development work as their needs and business evolves,” said Whiting

To read the full press release, click here.

Markinson expands operations with CRM / BPM acquisition and signals more acquisitions in the near future
November 2009

Markinson today signalled the start of aggressive expansion plans with the acquisition of Australian and New Zealand CRM / BPM Specialist Adexio. Markinson is now considering further acquisitions this financial year to rapidly increase scale and extend its reach into new markets and countries.

The deal, for an undisclosed sum, adds over 200 business customers and offices in New Zealand. All Adexio staff and management will take up roles at Markinson. Commenting on the deal, Markinson CEO, Ian Whiting said “the acquisition of Adexio supports our desire to increase market share in the SMB business software market by rapidly boosting scale through a combination of acquisition and organic growth”.

Whiting points to Adexio’s product portfolio and team ethic as being key factors influencing their decision to acquire the business, adding that after a careful review of a number of companies, Adexio provided the best fit. Extending our range of solutions in accordance with market trends is a fundamental element of our growth strategy. It also ensures our customers benefit from software innovations that help to maximise the potential in their own business” said Whiting.

To read the full press release, click here.

Reaching for the clouds with Brennan
November 2009

Markinson have partnered with leading business-technology solutions provider to the mid-market, Brennan IT.

As businesses seek to identify new ways of reducing cost and improving efficiency, the addition of this latest partnership will provide customers with the flexibility and cost efficiencies they need to grow their business. Ian Whiting, CEO of Markinson says “it was an easy decision partnering with Brennan. They have invested in building a proven, commercially-ready solution, have a strong book of clients already using the service and a channel programme that is well priced, with above industry standard service level agreements in place. From a security and risk perspective, it was also important for us to partner with a company that hosted their own servers in Australia…”

To read the full press release, click here.

A clear Phocas on sales targets
September 2009

Ian Whiting, CEO of Markinson said he is delighted to announce the partnership with PHOCAS, as it “provides customers with the flexibility they need to deploy Business Intelligence quickly, easily and cost effectively within their business operations”.

“Markinson chose to partner with PHOCAS because of the natural synergies between our businesses and their markets,” he adds, “this level of sector expertise ensures customers will benefit from a sales focused solution which is quick and easy to install, is structured for their business, offers a lower total cost of ownership and provides a rapid return on investment”.

The Phocas solution is available to Markinson customers now.

www.phocas.biz

Download Press Release

Business intelligence just got smarter
September 2009

Delivering simple decision making capabilities, Markinson and QlikView are working together to provide visual analysis, dashboards and reporting that deliver measurable value for businesses in weeks.  Ian Whiting, CEO said he is “looking forward to the opportunities that this partnership will bring”, he adds “our retail management solution, Shopkeeper has provided integrated retail reporting powered by QlikView for many years and we’re looking to extend that capability into other areas.”

QlikView has been designed to provide Markinson customers with the insight they need to make smarter, faster and more informed decisions at the touch of a button.

“We’re very excited to have Markinson on board as part of the local QlikView partner program.  QlikView is about having 1-click access to visually rich, interactive dashboards that can be built and modified quickly, ideally suited to distributors and retailers which form the core of Markinson’s customer base.  QlikView takes just minutes to learn and delivers industrial strength analytic capability to meet the requirements of both SME and large enterprise for Markinson without the cost and complexity of traditional BI approaches,” explained Stuart Barnard, Managing Director of Australian QlikView Master Reseller, Inside Info.

www.insideinfo.com.au

Download Press Release

Markinson launch their new website
September 2009

Business solution specialists Markinson today unveiled their newly branded and re-designed website to customers and prospects globally. The new website has been thoroughly updated to provide a fresh look in line with the new brand, as well as a comprehensive overview of the company and its extensive range of business solutions.

Markinson's website has been designed to simplify the company proposition. The site also provides access to the refreshed Customer Community; an extranet facility which enables the automated logging of service calls and a wealth of support materials and downloads, available to customers who choose to subscribe to the service.

Ian Whiting, CEO of Markinson comments "We've come a long way from the days of offering a single product to every customer and are proud to offer and display an extending range of solutions and services which will continue to grow in line with our customer needs".

Supporting MontroseAccess
September 2009

Markinson Business Solutions today announced its continued support of the Queensland based MontroseAccess charity through the sponsorship of their Charity Race Day.

Speaking about the opportunity, Ian Whiting, CEO at Markinson said that “Markinson are proud to support MontroseAccess again this year to help them continue the great work they undertake providing respite and therapy services to children and young adults with physical disabilities throughout our local community” 

www.montroseaccess.org.au