Inside ASI-AP

I am always interested in looking at the total market size each year. The total market size is the total spend of customers in our sector - the non-profit sector - each year. I only consider the spend of non-profit customers that purchase (or already own) a package system like iMIS (basically membership or fundraising management); I don't count custom developed systems since these are rarely purchased today and I have no knowledge of who and how much.

The spend of customers in the sector translates directly to revenue to the vendors that are competing within that sector. The revenue numbers below are my own best guesses. I am only including Australia at this stage; and for the 2007 calendar year.

First appeared at INCE conference in November 2007.

www.aptsolutions.co.uk

Little known about them at this stage. Copy of their ad in the NPFN 'Not-for-Profit Management' magazine Nov 07 is attached here (includes story on NSWTF): APT-Stratum-ad-Nov07.pdf

Sector - Unions

Known Customers

NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) www.nswtf.org.au

Wins Against

Losses Against

NSW Teachers Federation - 2006

Other Information

Known for their highly successful 'EventsPro' software for professional conference organisers (PCO's) and other event managers.

www.amlinkevents.com

Originally started in Brisbane by Trevor Gardiner. Now have sales and customers internationally and have done very well at events software. They have merged with both US and UK organisations to provide an international presence.

Around 2003 they entered into the membership management segment with their product called MemberConnect. This has not done so well in Australia and we have only heard of 2-3 customers so far.

Known Customers of MemberConnect

Oracle/Siebel on Demand - growing in Aust/NZ region
- http://www.oracle.com/global/hk/corporate/press_070717.html
- Jigsaw Services a local partner www.jigsawservices.com.au - Adelaide
- Brabham Consulting www.brabhamconsulting.com.au - Adelaide

Wins Against

Losses Against

Cancer Council SA - Oracle/Siebel on Demand with Jigsaw Services - vs. iMIS upgrade - $70k for upgrade (4 years of SUP catch up) - potentially a $300k project over 2-3 years

Known Customers

Cancer SA - Oracle/Siebel on Demand - see losses above
Life Saving NZ - Oracle/Siebel on Demand

Bob has just launched his first blog at www.theuncloudedview.com.

A select group of staff, partners and customers have been invited to comment on his first post. An excerpt of his email is below:

"I created this blog as a forum to provide an informed point of view to decision makers of non-profits about system selection and retention. It is my hope this blog facilitates a healthy discussion about business and technology issues relevant to executives of both non-profits and companies that service non-profits. I would appreciate it if you would take a moment to read my first post, "Software selection Tips for C-level Managers of Not-for-Profit Organizations", and add your own comment Pro or Con. You have been selected as part of the first group invited to contribute to this blog. Your continued contributions will make this blog an on-going success!"

I have posted before about wasting our customers money when consultants are used in the selection process for new software. I was reminded of this again in the last week, where we lost 2 different accounts to competitors. In both cases, consultants were in charge of the process. I was reminded of this because of the large cost involved in us responding to these bids - including airfares, travel costs, and staff time - and how these costs that we have already incurred in a losing bid, are rolled on into winning bids. It is crazy, but we continue to support it because we continue to participate in the process without question! We need to find the courage, and the right words, to tell customers the truth upfront. I know it is harder than it sounds.

Although not really viewed as competitors, it is useful to have a page with resources on client management systems.

NSW government home page - http://bsdp.hsnet.nsw.gov.au/news.aspx?docID=164

Also some other info on the MS CRM competitor wiki page

The Care Manager - from Database Consultants Australia, Melbourne - www.thecaremanager.com.au

For a complete, categorised list of what's on the market, check out http://www.crmmastery.com/crmsolution/index.cfm. You will need to register to get the list

UK-based organisation ESiT now setup in Australia selling fundraising systems
www.esit.co.uk
www.esit.biz
Sydney

Brian Davids who left ASI in 2006 is the Victorian sales manager. Otherwise they are Sydney based.

Wins Against

Losses Against

Known Customers

Other Information

There were originally the 2 key owners in UK. One of them left and came to Sydney and setup here. Our UK team suggested there may have been some suspicious activity regarding this split.

SDG - Software Design Group
www.sdgtechnology.com.au
Sydney

Product used to be called SDG Members 2000. Had some strength in unions at one stage.

New product names seem to be MembersToday (membership) and FundsUp (fundraising).

Sector - Members, unions, fundraising (small to mid)

Wins Against

None

Losses Against

None

Known Customers

Other Information

While I realise we currently record win/loss data and known customer lists in our iMIS client system (Opportunity Management), and that we have global level competitive information in our sales portal, I think we are missing out on capturing some of the less structured, more localised and granular competitive information.

So I have created a set of wiki pages on our www.insideasiap.com/wiki site for your use, and more importantly, your updating. Other than being structured around specific competitors, there really is no structure to the pages so go ahead and record notes as you need them.

Created by the former owner/managers of TASS software in Australia - Steve and Laura.

www.vitallinks.com.au
Melbourne

After getting out of TASS before it imploded, Steve and Laura took a year off and sailed around Australia. They returned with their new company - Vital Links - which is a fully hosted software-as-a-service offering long term (5 years?) contracts and full browser based functionality. It was launched around 2005.

The known customers so far as those that moved from TASS. AmCham, Master Builders Vic and ALIA (Aust Library and Information Assoc). We bid against all 3 of those customers and lost.

National Seniors - went live with both Aptify and GP Jun 07. Had issues with both systems. I spoke to David mid July and they were still working out how to recover; he wasn't happy but they had come too far. Sounded like he was paying for some of the over-run as well.
Update 2/Aug - an email from David appeared to indicate everything was perfect now?

Searching for Aptify customers that are using the e-business suite - search Google with *.org/ebusiness/*.aspx - note this finds only those with .org domain names; change to .com.au or others as needed. I assume this is only for their latest .net versions, not the old CGI stuff.

Wins Against

Losses Against

National Seniors - mid 2006 - $150k licenses - plus Great Plains as well ($50-100k?)

Switched from iMIS

National Seniors Foundation - status not known - assuming they will switch based on the purchase of Aptify by the main office

Other Known Customers

Breast Cancer Network - looks like they are using Aptify for their online shop - www.bcna.org.au - and donations are handled using the shopping cart.

Enterprise Care - commercial providers of salary surveys and governance consulting to non-profits - Damien Smith's company - have a sponsor deal with Aptify, so probably put in for free? www.enterprisecare.com.au

Wiki pages for competitive information on Aptify.

Quick summary:
US company, traditionally tools based solution selling to high end associations ($1m+ deals)
www.aptify.com

Sector - Membership Associations

Represented in Australia by James Manche's company - Karman Group
www.karmangroup.com
They provide Aptify, Great Plains, a venue CAD system and document management solution
Melbourne based

Wins Against

Losses Against

Switched from iMIS

Other Known Customers