Greentree eBusiness revolutionizes business interaction
21 October 2010

Iconic ERP developer Greentree is revolutionizing the way businesses interact with their customers and suppliers with the dynamic eBusiness suite.

While electronic trading and online interaction isn’t new, it’s generally been regarded as the preserve of major corporates. However, with Greentree’s eBusiness suite, any business can now enjoy the benefits of opening up their systems, not just to remote staff but also to business partners.

Paramount Services, a leading New Zealand cleaning and property maintenance franchisor, use Greentree’s eService module to allow customers to book and review service requests themselves. “We started offering clients web access last year and it has been a great success. Now our clients can see the benefits of the system for themselves,” says Paramount’s Finance Director, Bill Wu.

The eBusiness suite encompasses an extensive range of tools to empower staff, management, customers and suppliers to spend more time managing the possibilities.

To make getting started easy Greentree has launched a three month promotion offering up to 50% off the purchase of any eBusiness modules. Up until December 23rd customers can enjoy:

• 30% off the purchase of any Greentree eBusiness module
• 40% off the purchase of any Greentree eBusiness module when they include a testimonial
• 50% off the purchase of any Greentree eBusiness module when they include a testimonial and refer 3 contacts

Read the full press release>>

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Retirement village operator takes charge with Greentree
August 2008

Sanctuary Residences Limited, retirement village owners/operators, have just gone live with their Greentree business management solution, including the financial management and job cost suites. They selected Verde Group to provide the Greentree software, but this 4-user site is unique, as the company decided to do all the project management and implementation work themselves.

With relatively tight deadlines (they purchased Greentree in July and went live this month) Sanctuary Residences was able to implement their new Greentree system in just eight weeks, a process which they described as “very smooth”.

“We worked closely with the Verde consultant assigned to our company and she expertly guided us in the implementation of the software. We believe that by implementing the software ourselves, we have a better understanding of how the system works, and as a result we are able to maintain and adjust the system as necessary.”

Sanctuary Residences Limited owns and operates a retirement village on Waiheke Island and has a number of additional retirement village projects currently underway in Auckland, Queenstown, Sydney and Melbourne.

For more information on Sanctuary Residences
visit their website>>

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Integrated Marine Group selects Greentree to maintain high service standards
December 2007

Integrated Marine Group (IMG), servicing the luxury superyacht industry, recently chose Verde Group and Greentree business management software to replace their existing IT solution.

Due to the nature of the industry, IMG’s customers require a high standard of service, so IMG wanted both a software solution and implementation partner that efficiently supported their business in every way.

IMG’s new 8-user Greentree solution will be implemented by Verde Group and is due to go live in March 2008. The software solution will include Greentree’s Financial Management suite, Job Cost and Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

Based at Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour, IMG offers a comprehensive range of services available to superyachts travelling in the South Pacific region, from refits and repairs through to yacht support services such as provisioning and customs/immigration assistance.

For more information on IMG
visit their website>>

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Verde get the green light for new retirement village development
December 2007

Property development company The Neil Group has just selected Verde to implement a new financial management solution for the Group’s first retirement village development.

The Neil Group will be implementing Greentree’s financial management and job cost suites, to efficiently monitor and manage the construction costs for the development of Lauriston Park Retirement Village in Cambridge.

This 4-user Greentree solution is due to go live when the construction starts in April 2008, with the retirement village scheduled to open in early 2009.

The Neil Group is one of the longest established property development companies in New Zealand, having been in business for over 50 years. The Neil Group is involved in both land subdivision and building development projects predominantly in the Auckland region.

For more information on The Neil Group visit their website>>

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Global brand management company SellAgence gains a world of efficiency with Greentree
iStart Magazine & Website - 26 November 2007

The Auckland-based FMCG brand services business found switching to Greentree reduced cost of ownership and improved its responsiveness to customers’ needs...

Global brand marketing management company SellAgence partners with client companies to design and apply the service elements required to maximise their category and brand growth in the New Zealand operating environment.

SellAgence has more than 95 full-time and part-time employees to service the New Zealand market and provides market management services for global brands, such as Procter & Gamble, Ferrero and Kodak, managing around $250 million in retail sales for clients.

It had been running a tier-one ERP system but needed to trim IT costs without reducing functionality.

Mark Emirali, SellAgence’s IT systems manager, explains that with a staff of only around 100 “we needed an implementation partner that exactly understood our business. Greentree partner Verde worked really closely with us and ensured there was no disruption to our business.”

Basically, SellAgence needed a system flexible enough to accommodate the business rules and processes of several business models within one business system. The business also needed to reduce IT infrastructure costs by right-sizing IT systems and support with as little disruption to the business as possible.

Greentree’s solution was able to be scaled to meet those requirements with no trade-off in functionality and an attractive total cost of ownership.

"We had a tough job ahead of us with going live with Greentree followed hard on its heals by an introduction of a new client into the business. Fortunately we managed to do both successfully, due to the simplicity and speed that the Greentree implementation process allowed for" says Jenny Peploe, Chief Executive Officer at SellAgence”

Click here to read full article (1.2Mb PDF)

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Aquatica comes on stream with Verde
9 November 2007

After more than 8 years in the bathroom and tapware industry, Aquatica was finding that the software that had served them so well initially was struggling to keep up with the pace of change within the business. After a vigorous selection process, Aquatica selected Verde and Greentree to provide the platform for future growth.

Aquatica purchased the Greentree Financials, Distribution and CRM modules along with the Verde Distribution Extensions for Greentree. Christina Box, Finance Director, said “Implementing Greentree was a big change for our business as it was the first time we had used a full business management system. Up till then, we had only had basic financial and stock management. It was a pretty smooth change-over and a successful step forward largely because of the commitment by our consultant at Verde, who learned all about our business and worked with us to create something really workable”.

Aquatica is a supplier of tapware, showers, sinks and vanities to New Zealand businesses from around the world, tailored especially for the New Zealand market. From humble beginnings a little over 8 years ago, Aquatica has grown rapidly into a multi-million dollar business and is now number 2 in the New Zealand tapware market.

Like Verde and Greentree, Aquatica operates a “very, very responsive” business and sets high standards of customer service, flexibility, delivery and accuracy. The Verde consultants, both business and technical, were challenged to produce a system that would be flexible enough to cope with the responsive nature of Aquatica’s business but at the same time maintain the standards of accuracy required.

“The key thing for us was ensuring that the system would suit our business, rather than changing our business to suit the system”, says Box. “This meant a large investment in planning, scoping and custom programming, but the result was worthwhile. I believe the benefits to the business will continue to grow as we utilise more and more capabilities of the system.”

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Verde helps launch Manukau City CCO's
15 September 2007

Manukau City Council’s two new Council Controlled Organisations (CCOs) have started independent operation supported by Verde Group’s Greentree software solution. Manukau Building Consultants Ltd and Manukau Leisure Services Ltd both commenced operation as stand-alone companies on 1 July 2007.

In April 2007, the council issued a Request for Proposal for a Financial Accounting System for both companies, to ensure their software would be the best fit for their requirements. A review of responses and a selection process involving product demonstrations to representatives of both companies and reference calls to customers resulted in Verde being selected to implement the Greentree software solution in mid-May.

Brian Jago, Manukau City Council Manager, Business Systems and Advice said “We were looking for a solution that would fit two distinctly different businesses. Verde understood our requirements and presented a solution that both MBCL and MLSL were completely happy with.”

The systems were implemented concurrently during May / June and in July both companies were launched and went live with their new Verde / Greentree software solutions. “There was a lot of pressure on at the time with both CCO’s negotiating contracts with the council. The Verde consultants worked extremely well under tight timeframes to ensure a quality implementation of Greentree” said Jago. “Both businesses are now getting value out of a solution that has been tailored to meet their individual needs rather than one size fits all.”

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SellAgence opts for local solution over tier-one Oracle
Greentree selected as replacement for E-Business Suite
Computerworld article by Ulrika Hedquist
30 April 2007

SellAgence, a provider of market management services for manufacturers, has ditched its existing Oracle E-Business Suite software and replaced it with a solution from local business management software vendor Greentree.

SellAgence provides market management services for global brands, such as Procter & Gamble, Ferrero and Kodak, managing around $250 million in retail sales for clients.

SellAgence’s new Greentree business software is a full suite, backed by a financial base, and incorporating inventory and a business intelligence system. It was implemented two months ago at a fraction of the cost of the existing system, says Mark Emirali, IT systems manager of SellAgence. The implementation “wasn’t that difficult”, he says, and the new system is simple enough for people to quickly learn how to use, he says. “The learning curve wasn’t huge,” he says.

A number of different drivers led to the decision to replace Oracle with Greentree, says Emirali. Firstly, the Oracle solution was too large for SellAgence, which employs 100 staff, he says....

Click here to read the full article (237kb PDF)

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Acting local pays off for global market management provider
20 April 2007

In a move prompted by a review of IT costs SellAgence have selected Greentree to replace their existing Oracle product in order to significantly cut costs and increase their ability to service new clients.

SellAgence is a leading provider of market management services for global brands Proctor & Gamble, Ferrero and Kodak, managing in excess of $250 million in retail sales for clients.

Providing tailored services for such multi-national giants, they know the value of being to be able to think global. But when SellAgence went out to market to replace their Oracle system, they found the locally developed Greentree ERP system provided by Verde could be implemented at a fraction of the cost of their existing system while empowering the organization with increased flexibility. Effectively this will enable SellAgence to benefit from a system that maximizes their ability to manage current and new client relationships.

“Initially it was simply a decision about dollars, but the more we looked at it the more we found that a local provider actually made our business simpler and more flexible to run”, says Mark Emirali SellAgence IT Systems Manager.

The move was prompted by a sea-change in the company’s business model that required SellAgence to simplify processes and get more for their IT dollar. Says Emirali, “we were no longer able to justify the resource required to support a tier one system and the on-going investment required to maintain it. The ability to move quickly and to remain efficient at a manageable cost became of utmost importance to us.”

When Emirali and colleagues researched Greentree they were pleasantly surprised by the value for money and low total cost of ownership inherent in the Verde solution. “Technology has moved on in terms of the return on investment, Greentree is extremely good value for money and has an impressive amount of functionality.” SellAgence’s new Greentree solution is a full suite that is backed by a powerful financial base, is strong on sales and distribution and even incorporates a state of the art business intelligence system.

While initially it was felt there was some risk in changing systems, Emirali says that after viewing the Greentree solution it was clear that nothing would be lost in terms of functionality. Says Emirali, “I would imagine that everyone wants their business to be less complex, but there’s a fear that it’s a trade off in terms of what the system can do. We haven’t found this to be the case at all with Greentree.”

SellAgence believe they will be able to offer additional services much faster with local support from Verde as the Greentree system can be quickly modified to incorporate any changes to the business. Already SellAgence have plans for how they would like Greentree to help them further their business goals and are confident in the scalability of the product. Their contract with Kodak is an excellent example of new business that SellAgence has been able to incorporate quickly and seamlessly into their business processes.

Verde Director Vlad Kozak says the move highlights a shift in mindset from the ‘bad old days’ of technology, where companies equated spending a lot of money with getting good value. “Greentree is like getting all the benefits of a Mercedes for the price of a Toyota. There is a huge depth of functionality, but it is a much more cost-effective option and provides a quick return on investment.”

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Verde hits a Century
2 March 2007

Business software consultancy Verde Group today announced they have hit a significant milestone by signing their 100th Customer – market services provider SellAgence.

Pictured: Verde’s John Fothergill (centre) with Barry Fallwell & Mark Emerali of SellAgence

Recognised as one of the fastest-growing Greentree business partners Verde continues to attract high profile clients such as the BBQ Factory, Ryman Healthcare and Hanover Finance and have now added SellAgence. The company says the recent spurt of growth can be attributed to the success of their business model in the SME market that combines the robustness and versatility of Greentree with Verde’s tailored solutions around the product.

While Verde have traditionally catered to SME’s the flexibility of Greentree, along with Verde custom design means that the system can cater to a range business sizes and scope. In this latest deal SellAgence are replacing their tier one Oracle product with Greentree and are delighted to be making considerable savings without compromising on functionality. In fact the Verde solution will actually provide a greater degree of flexibility and increase their ability to service new clients.

Mark Emerali IT Systems Manager with SellAgence says “after working with a multinational we wanted to go with a local service provider and already with Verde we have been impressed by the short implementation time and the quick return on investment we’re seeing. Verde have shown they can react quickly to our needs and that’s important in our business.”

Verde Director Vlad Kozak says “we are delighted to have reached our 100th customer. This is an important milestone in Verde’s history because it represents a maturing of the company and is testament to the breadth of services we offer, including financial management consulting and custom development. We now have a team of 27 and are reaching our stride in terms of the expertise we provide in a range of different industry sectors.”

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Increase your Intelligence, click here!
15 February 2007

“I'm sure if your other customers could see QlikView they would be as enthusiastic as we have been.”
- Fiona Ludemann, Ivoclar Vivadent

Verde recently teamed up with QlikView to make business intelligence (BI) available to its Greentree customers in order to make gathering, accessing and analysing existing data that much easier. After assessing several BI solutions Qlikview came out ahead as being the most cost effective due to the fast learning curve and low maintenance associated with the technology.

Our first client site to put QlikView to use in their business is dental industry supplier Ivoclar Vivadent . Ivoclar use QlikView in tandem with Greentree’s inventory management module providing arguably the most intelligent inventory management and sales data analysis & reporting solution available. Like any successful and growing business Ivoclar realise that the key to improved performance is directly related to the quality, speed and accuracy of decision making across the company. This requires quick access to critical information and data that is easily analysed and understood.

QlikView allows users to analyse any subset of data and any type of relation within the data just by clicking on the item you want to analyse. Benefits are almost immediate because the time to deployment is usually about a week and it is so easy to use. Says Fiona Ludemann at Ivoclar, “it is just much clearer, faster and user-friendly than anything we’ve seen before.”

QlikView’s graphical representation of key data makes it easy to absorb large amounts of information much more easily and therefore to get a fast and accurate picture across your business.

Partly this is because QlikView works in the same way as you think, if you wish to look at all sales of a particular product, you just click on that product. Finding different subsets of information is simply a matter of digging in further. For example if you wanted to view your top 10 customers by revenue, by salesperson or by geographical area, this information is instantly available to you. Four clicks can often equal between 4-16 hours of work using ordinary reporting.

Ivoclar find QlikView unmatched in terms of the near-instant view it gives them of their business. The depth of information they now have at their fingertips is hugely valuable across all parts of the organisation. One simple example is exclusion reporting - where two products are normally used together such as a piece of equipment that requires a particular consumable such as cleaning solution. QlikView will quickly bring up a comparison list of customers who bought the piece of equipment but not the consumable product normally sold with it. These quick and easy comparisons enable Ivoclar not only to better market their products, but also to provide a better service to their customers.

Teresa Riddell, General Manager with Ivoclar says QlikView has quickly become indispensable as a reporting tool for all kinds of business intelligence. "We use it across the whole organisation from analysis for setting budgets to obsolescence reporting so it is helping us become a more efficient organisation. The more efficient we are the better service we provide to our customers and the more we grow."

About QlikView

QlikView is a complete software suite for business analysis. It is quick-to-deploy, easy-to-learn, and easy-to-use. QlikView is based on single architecture to cover all types of analysis and reporting needs for all organisations. QlikView’s patented technology never restricts the end user in the pursuit of knowledge hidden in operational system data. QlikView easily scales to meet the needs of any organisation. For more about QlikView in NZ go to www.visualintelligence.co.nz

About Ivoclar

Ivoclar Vivadent is one of the leading suppliers to the New Zealand dental industry and part of the largest privately owned dental company in the world. Based in Albany, Auckland the company has grown in 27 years from a fledgling business to a market leader with nationwide premises and a comprehensive business that includes a dental training laboratory and lecture theatre. For more about Ivoclar go to www.ivoclarvivadent.co.nz

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Pick-me-up for Burton Hollis
8 January 2007

Coffee company Burton Hollis have boosted performance since implementing Verde’s Greentree financial management solution. The company originally invested in Navision 7 years ago, but found it wasn’t nimble enough for the fast moving world of coffee roasting, manufacture and equipment leasing.

Dealing with a range of different customers requires a good tracking and reporting system and increased management of the coffee machines it leases is something Burton Hollis were looking to improve upon in their new system. Principally though, the overriding factor in selecting a new business management system was that it had to be flexible and easy to use. Says Philip Holden, Burton Hollis CEO, “it needed to be simple to use, highly flexible and could give us what we needed when we needed it.”

Burton Hollis decided to go with Verde and Greentree because they fitted all these criteria completely. What’s more, Verde could tailor the system to Burton Hollis’s unique requirements where needed. The result says Philip Holden “is that I can quite honestly say it revolutionised our business.” The company now has a systematic way of keeping track of sales orders right through from phone order to packing slips on the items to be shipped. The new system is saving time, while providing more control and an accurate view of the state of the business.

Greentree’s Job Costing module for example is being used for the coffee machines that are leased to cafés so that there is an automated process for when replacement parts are required or when the machines need servicing. Efficiency is leading to cost savings in the production of coffee where a true and accurate cost of production is easily calculated within Greentree’s bill of materials function.

Verde tailored Greentree to provide even greater efficiency and better service to Burton Hollis’s customers. Verde Sales History for example allows sales consultants to see the last ten orders so that when speaking to a customer about re-ordering they can automatically bring up that customers last ten invoices and remind them what blends of coffee were ordered recently. Sales reports are easily shared with the company’s General Manager, Sales Manager and Sales Reps as an automatically generated email sends reports on a daily basis.

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Verde provides platform for billion-dollar business
15 December 2006

Verde Group customer Ryman Healthcare hit the news recently with some outstanding business performance. An abbreviated version of the news item that featured in the Dominion Post is transcribed below*. It’s worth pointing out that Ryman are a Verde Greentree reference site. The following is an extract from the customer success story where Simon Challies (also quoted in the news item) refers to the Verde solution. Clearly Ryman are in excellent health:

The main issue for Ryman, when looking at business software, was to find a system that could manage the complexity and size of the group structure, as it operates independent apartments, serviced apartments and studio units, rest homes and hospitals throughout New Zealand.

>>Simon Challies, Chief Financial Officer at Ryman Healthcare, was impressed by the overall performance of the suite of Greentree products and the smooth integration of Greentree into their business. Challies believes, “Verde provides an excellent solution, as it incorporates local requirements and group functionality seamlessly, so we are able to run our group of companies on one integrated system.”

In addition Challies states, that by using Greentree Ryman have successfully reduced their construction development times by 3 months, reducing the development time for a retirement complex from 12 months to 9 months.<<

* Ryman hits billion-mark
By DAVID KING – (edit from) The Dominion Post, Friday, 15 December 2006

Ryman Healthcare is officially a billion-dollar business, after a stellar run on the sharemarket saw its shares bust through $10 earlier this week to close at a record high.

The retirement village operator listed on the New Zealand Exchange in 1999 but its shares have come alive only in the past three years.

Assuming dividends were reinvested, a person who invested $1000 in the company when it listed would be sitting on $8500 today.

Ryman chief executive Simon Challies said there had been no billion-dollar celebration, but it was a significant moment in the company's history.

"It's an incredible milestone for the company. We couldn't have dreamed we'd do it a few years ago."

Mr Challies said Ryman had been beneath the radar for some time, but was now getting a lot of interest from big investors.

The company had always had strong support from the areas where its retirement homes were built.

"It's like the more we spread, the more interest we get."

The company was founded by John Ryder and Kevin Hickman.

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Open system for successful school management
11 December 2006

Established in 1957 as the first Catholic girls' school on the North Shore, Carmel College was initially just fifteen students and no actual classrooms. Now boasting a role of 950 students and a strong reputation for academic excellence the school continues to thrive and grow. With a growing number of international students and activities on offer at Carmel, keeping track of the school’s accounts requires a flexible system designed to cope with the rapidly changing demands of modern school management.

After becoming increasingly frustrated by the closed period system she inherited when joining the school, Carmel’s Business and Planning Manager Kaye Curran says “the old system was incredibly inflexible and very frustrating, we couldn’t close our year end accounts until the auditors had signed off and that could be months into the new financial year.” Most annoying was the fact that in the meantime Kaye couldn’t operate her creditors system because she had to close one period before she could open a new one.

Kaye has a good relationship with other schools and she knew a few who were using Verde and Greentree. While reviewing other packages available Kaye found they were either too unwieldy, too costly or both, and was influenced by the positive experience Westlake Boys High were having with Verde and Greentree. She also knew that Multiserve Education Services had a Verde solution. “I found a number of great reference sites for Verde and Greentree in the education sector and that gave me a great sense of trust in the solution for use in our school.”

Verde’s Greentree financial management suite has given Carmel College the flexibility of multi-period multi-year posting into the system, which is already paying great dividends in terms of the time it takes to process monthly accounts. “We started reaping the benefits of Greentree straight away because our information is up to date and it is much easier to run reports. It’s also freed up large chunks of my time that were previously spent keying batches of transactions”, says Kaye.

The school can now see straight away exactly what the spend is on a budget at any point in time. Previously, this information was always a month behind because the closed system could never be fully up to date. This is helping immensely when it comes to sharing accounting information with other stakeholders such as the school’s Board of Trustees. Kaye can now provide them with up-to-the-minute information, and can run a report on the day of the board meeting and know it is completely current.

While information from the system is easily shared, the same is true of the task of inputting data into the system. With Greentree, Kaye’s team share the responsibility to update the system without layers of data having to go through her and thereby create the potential for bottlenecks. If she is out of the office the work can still be done and there is a stronger knowledge base of the system amongst other accounts staff. This is possible because internal control is highly manageable within Greentree, and because Verde’s system is extremely user friendly, “it’s logical and intuitive and easy to learn, anyone with exposure to Excel can understand the system pretty easily”, adds Kaye.

Being fully integrated to Excel the system can publish a report directly to an Excel spreadsheet and vice versa. It means that a wide variety of reports, for different audiences (such as individual teaching departments) can be quickly and easily produced. It is also a simple matter to update reports as requirements change.

Budgeting generally is easier while at the same time providing greater clarity which in turn provides greater control. For example, now rather than simply showing one budget for all art activities the system will show budgets for the various art courses such as photography or sculpture. By providing differentiated information it is anticipated that the teaching staff at Carmel will be able to track curriculum expenditure and monitor budget levels more accurately.

Heading into further expansion the school has the option to run dual budgets to track their building programme. School management will review progress of the original budget in March 2007 and update target performances at this time by developing a second budget model.

As a part-time member of staff the system has made Kaye’s job more flexible and has removed a level of manual processing that was taking up a large amount of time. With Verde’s solution Kaye also has the ability to work from home when she needs to and is comfortable with the knowledge that both she and her colleagues back at the office are working from the same fully current system.

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Future-focused Equico on board with Verde
23 November 2006

Technology finance provider, Equico today announced that their new business management solution will be supplied by Verde.

Equico facilitate access to future-focused technology by financing IT equipment and associated software and services. Covering all areas of the business market, from Government and Education through to Corporate and Commercial businesses, they’re currently the largest financier of notebooks in the country, having financed over 15,000 notebook computers in the past 18 months.

Following a period of swift growth in their first 5 years of operation, Equico decided the business required a more robust solution that could provide accurate and timely financial reporting and tracking. It also needed the flexibility to integrate to other existing software systems run by Equico. Several systems were considered as part of the selection process including Attache, Prophet, Exonet, SAP, Great Plains and Navision, but Verde and Greentree came out on top because of their ability to provide superior support and an excellent solution fit.

A key part of the decision to select Verde’s Greentree solution is the fact that it is developed and supported locally. Equico had been dealing with an overseas support provider and found that frustrating as the distance meant less service and slower response times. In the end says Ross Fodie, Equico Operations Manager, “Verde came out on top because they showed an understanding of our requirements combined with the fact that Greentree has all the elements we need in a completely integrated financial system.”

Verde’s Greentree financial management solution will allow Equico to replace the myriad of spreadsheets currently used to track the company’s financial position. The robust system also means the firm can bring financial reporting in-house, providing greater control and a more timely and accurate view of business.

In addition, Greentree has the ability to integrate easily to the lease-tracking system already in place to track laptops already in use. Equico’s web based end-of-lease system will also be integrated to Greentree with the new system providing a complete solution to Equico’s business management needs.

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Investment Bank ING live with Verde Solution
15 November 2006

ING New Zealand, part of one of the world’s largest investment banking and insurance organisations went live with Verde’s Greentree financial management solution this week.

ING NZ’s core business is financial services, including investments and savings, wholesale/institutional investment management, and life insurance. The company employs over 300 staff across the country, with offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

The Greentree suite will allow the group to fully automate inter-company consolidations across all 9 ING (NZ) companies, a task that will make managing those companies a lot more straight forward. With all company information in one system, reporting will be that much more streamlined and publishing information to reports will be seamless.

David Atkins, finance manager for the group says “being live with the new system is an exciting first step, but this is just the beginning, we look forward to the increased flexibility and efficiency this will bring to our business.” Atkins says one way this will happen is through using the Verde system to generate invoices, which was previously a manual process. In addition the system will allow the group to track invoices via debtor’s control.

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A bright future lies ahead for Ivoclar
26 October 2006

Ivoclar Vivadent is one of the leading suppliers to the New Zealand dental industry and part of the largest privately owned dental company in the world. Based in Albany, Auckland the company has grown in 27 years from a fledgling business to a market leader with nationwide premises and a comprehensive business that includes a dental training laboratory and lecture theatre.

As a wholly owned subsidiary of parent company Ivoclar Vivadent AG, based in Liechtenstein, Ivoclar in this country has a good deal of autonomy. Ivoclar NZ felt strongly that they had to go with a business management solution that was right for them and suited the local business environment.

The business was looking to overcome some specific issues brought about because of their tremendous success and growth. As an organisation strong in sales and marketing Ivoclar felt the need to be information rich. Along with that came requirement to have a more extensive sales history easily accessible and better sales analysis tools. With 18 000 stock codes and a minimum of 200 orders per day they had effectively outgrown their existing CBA system.

“We were already using Greentree’s CBA product and we saw the opportunity to streamline the process of moving our sales history across, to be less disruptive and have a strong sense of continuity. Also, Verde offered a level of support that I didn’t see with the other products”, says Teresa Riddell, General Manager at Ivoclar.

Ivoclar went live with Verde’s Greentree solution in October 2004 and the difference to their business was almost immediate. Providing a true picture of the business in real time has made for greater efficiency and better service to customers. “For a start a complete sales history is now available, so we have a clear view of what customers are buying”, explains Fiona Ludemann, Office Manager with Ivoclar.

Another important benefit from the system is the increased search-ability, and with such an extensive number of stock codes this has been vital. “Serial and batch tracking is greatly improved with Greentree and has proved essential, especially because we are an ISO accredited organisation”, says Teresa.

The Job cost functionality within Greentree provides greater analysis on expenses such as marketing, and campaigns can be reported on at different stages. “In fact the general accessibility of information available from Greentree has made a big difference to us – it’s now faster to answer a customer query and to get information from the system, enabling us to make quicker business decisions”, comments Teresa.

Along the way Verde was there to see that the solution was implemented to maximum effect for Ivoclar and made a number of customisations in order to get even more from the system. Because Ivoclar customers prefer to receive their invoice with the actual goods along with the packing slip, Verde tailored the system to provide an efficient way of doing this. Also, customising the report layout to print outstanding orders directly onto the invoice reminds customers what they have already ordered and saves them a call to check the status of backorders. Verde’s re-order workbench is a useful tool enabling staff to set stock –level criteria for each supplier and automatically calculates suggested quantities to order. A purchase order can then be generated at the click of a button.

Teresa Riddell has found Verde very responsive to Ivoclar’s needs. “Because they know the Greentree product so well they are able to tailor it to get what we want in a fully integrated system”. A good example of this is Ivoclar’s customer reward programme, where Verde designed a system specifically for Ivoclar’s needs. The customised programme accrues points for each customer, fully integrated into Accounts Receivable. These points can then be redeemed for prizes, a process that in the past was calculated manually.

Ivoclar have enjoyed a very close relationship with their Verde consultant and have confidence in the fact that she understands their business. That knowledge has been vital in getting customised reports and setting up reporting structures that has assisted in creating a deep and accessible view of activity across the business.

That view of the business has been given a further injection of power recently with the addition of Greentree’s Qlikview business intelligence tool to the base system. Qlikview has quickly become an indispensable part of Ivoclar’s business processes providing powerful sales analysis by revenue, salesperson and any number of slicing and dicing options. Says Fiona, “relevant and current information is even quicker at hand and the options for reporting are virtually limitless; we can even analyse what our customers are not buying”.

Information in Qlikview, which is extracted directly from the Greentree database, can be displayed in many formats including dashboards that provide a quick visual gauge of sales performance.

“The timely implementation of Greentree and the high level of support offered by Verde have enabled us to operate more efficiently during rapid business growth, while continuing to meet the level of service our customers have grown to expect” concludes Teresa and Fiona.

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Smith & Davies have a smooth ride with Verde
24 October 2006

Innovation is part of a long tradition at Smith & Davies, one of New Zealand’s most successful privately owned family businesses. For the past four decades this leading cartage, civil and logging contracting firm has been involved in almost every major project in the Auckland region; including Auckland’s Sky Tower, Americas Cup village, Gulf Harbour and Westhaven Marina developments. Ongoing investment in the latest technology while adhering to family values has proved a winning formula that has ensured ongoing business success.

In 2002 Smith & Davies management saw in a new era of innovation by investing in Verde’s Greentree solution. The company was using DOS-based CBA, but Director Graham McKinnon says it was increasingly limited in terms of functionality. With the business poised for further growth, it was time to introduce the flexibility and user friendliness of a windows environment. Verde was selected based on the fit of their Greentree product coupled with the ability tailor Greentree to provide a solution specific to Smith & Davies requirements.

Verde’s solution for Smith & Davies has contributed to the success of the business and is well suited to the haulage industry. Graham says with Verde their new solution has been “a smooth ride” and has provided for a far more efficient workplace. Process workflow within the firm is one of the most significant improvements from the Verde solution. Says Graham McKinnon, “Since deploying the system we are now generating much bigger revenues, but with fewer staff. Verde’s solution has effectively saved us a staff member.”

Tailoring the system to Smith & Davies specific requirements has been an important factor in getting the right solution. Along with the base financial package and Job Costing module Verde tailored the system to include an internal transaction entry function. This allows the firm to post a cost to a customer’s job and at the same time to show the revenue from that job to a plant item. The result is a saving on re-keying data while providing a more accurate view of the company’s financial position at a given moment.

Plant management generally has been improved by the Verde solution, as has job costing now that the firm is better equipped to track costs on a daily basis. Says Graham McKinnon “Verde demonstrated a thorough knowledge of our business needs and they are experts in the technology they work with, it means we get more than just a product. Verde continue to work with us to improve our business and our processes.”

Smith and Davies management is committed to a program of continuous process improvement and again Verde is assisting by combining process improvements with technology solutions that work hand in hand. Currently Verde is working on a GPS based dispatch system that will automate, centralise and track the management of trucks, drivers and jobs to increase Smith & Davies productivity and profitability. Says Graham McKinnon, “our whole system will become much more visible at every stage of the process. Once complete it will allow us to give more accurate quotes for jobs and be more efficient about carrying out those jobs. That’s going to be great for our business because we will be able to provide an even better service to our customers”.

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Connect NZ has plenty of room to grow with Verde
22 August 2006

Founded in 1979, Connect NZ originally formed in Wellington to sell photocopy paper. The company is now one New Zealand’s most successful technology providers employing over 100 staff and generating revenues in excess of $35m. In February this year, Connect NZ announced plans to merge with ABLE Business Machines, heralding a new phase of consolidation and development.

The two companies had a slightly different but complimentary focus. ABLE has traditionally focused on Sales and Service of PC's, Printers and Retail, while Connect were Business to Business suppliers of Document, IT, Telephony, Multimedia and Mobility solutions Both companies had offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch with a Connect presence also in Hamilton. The new entity, merged to become Connect NZ Group.

Having had a longstanding relationship with Verde (they were one of Verde’s first clients), Connect decided the merger was a good time to consolidate the business and put the newly formed company on a secure footing from the start. The company had been using the Verde installed Greentree system in the Auckland office, but all four Connect branches were run as entirely separate companies. Verde’s challenge was to create a robust infrastructure bringing people and data together in one system across the whole of New Zealand.

Connect’s Meredith Jarrold says they never really considered going with another service provider. Says Jarrold “we enjoy a great relationship with Verde, they understand our business and are able to think about our needs beyond what we actually ask for. It means we get a much better solution in the end”.

While the Auckland offices of Connect NZ were familiar with the Greentree product there was increased functionality required under the expanded business environment.

Verde's solution was to upgrade the existing Greentree system, roll it out across the newly formed Connect NZ Group, and provide several key customisations to increase functionality based on the new company’s requirements.

Taking on some of the core functions of ABLE’s business the newly enlarged Connect NZ had an additional requirement to schedule and process jobs. Thanks to a Verde customisation called Verde Explorer the base Greentree system has been extended to carry out jobs and can search for jobs by an item’s serial number. Credit Management, Warranty Claims and Meta-Billing are also areas where customisations were carried out on the base system to meet the new company’s needs.

Verde’s platform for the newly formed company means that all stock codes and jobs are stored within one system. Just one report function is required to pull out critical information about the state of the entire business. Also, better searching functionality means that Connect can now use the system to view all available stock throughout the country. It allows Connect NZ Group to provide a better service to their customers and save on time checking other branches for stock.

Valuable sales data is easily accessed for any branches at any time of the month. If sales targets aren’t being met the situation can be quickly identified and addressed. Now that stock for all branches can be easily viewed within one system, significant savings can be made through bulk purchasing and savings have also been made on administration costs.

Staff in the different branches have taken time to get used to the new system, but have been encouraged by the advantages the system has offered them. The Verde solution automates a number of processes that were previously carried out manually.

The newly formed Connect NZ Group are happy with the on-going relationship they have with Verde. Says Graham Brown, Finance Director, “we find the Verde team very responsive to our needs. We enjoy being able to go to them and say this is what we want to do – make it happen, and they will modify the system to what we need. As we grow, this is becoming more and more important since our business continues to change at an increasingly rapid rate”.

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Verde’s Success in NZ Mid-Market Prompts Sydney Launch
5 July 2006

Recognised as one of the fastest-growing Greentree Channel partners Verde was recently judged ‘Partner of the Year’ and continues to attract high profile clients such as The BBQ Factory, Hanover Finance and Metlifecare in New Zealand. Verde New Zealand Directors John Fothergill and Vlad Kozak say the Sydney move is a natural progression given the success of Verde in the New Zealand SME market and the demand for their tailored solutions around the Greentree product.

Australia has experienced growth recently in the number of small to medium sized organisations demanding greater IT functionality. As a product specifically designed for the mid-market Greentree has developed a good foothold in the region, with 60% of Greentree sites based in Australia. Says Fothergill “Verde is already recognised for its ability to cater to the needs of SME’s in New Zealand. We understand their business challenges and their increasing need for ‘enterprise style’ technology. We’re looking to replicate that successful formula in Australia.”

Sydney based Director of Verde Group Australia, Jason du Preez is no stranger to the enterprise software space. Says du Preez “I am very pleased to be joining the team at Verde. Verde have a strong solution in Greentree and more importantly a proven services model for delivering tailored end-to-end solutions for SMEs. With our combined resources, we are well positioned for growth. We look forward to bringing even greater value to the SME market in Australia.” In particular, Du Preez says, the areas of wholesale and distribution, finance and insurance and professional services will be a key focus for Verde’s Sydney office in order to play to successes and knowledge of those sectors in New Zealand.

Says Kozak, “We’re delighted to bring our solutions to the Sydney market, and to have Jason du Preez’s experience on board is a huge bonus.”

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VINZ revved up for increased success
15 June 2006

VINZ offer a number of services such as Warrants of Fitness, Drivers Licences and Vehicle Registration. The system installed by Verde will fully integrate these services providing a significant amount of automation of the process.

A key benefit for VINZ will be the integration of the front and back office transactions. Work queue management for vehicle inspection will also be greatly streamlined with the new system, saving time and money. Following implementation, the next step will be to integrate the Land Transport New Zealand LANDATA system into VINZ’s processes to allow a quick search of vehicle details – improving the process significantly.

Speaking about the deal today Eric Chang, Financial Controller from VINZ, said he is excited about the efficiencies the new system will bring to the business. “This one system will streamline a number of our processes; collectively we expect this will save us a great deal in valuable resources and improve our service to the motor vehicle industry and the driving public”.

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The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron charter new territory with Verde
29 May 2006

The RNZYS is one New Zealand's oldest yachting institutions, offering its members and their guests, year-round racing, cruising, social activities and the use of club facilities that include bars and restaurants. With around 3000 members, the Squadron’s existing systems held data over three different disparate systems with no ability to share information between them. Membership details were in one place, while information about yachts and racing details were held in 2 separate applications.

With increased activities on offer by the Squadron and accompanying opportunities to raise revenue, coupled with the desire to provide members with information targeted to their interests and activities, the RNZYS decided it was time to act.

Carrying out an extensive review of requirements, it was obvious that the Squadron needed one centralised system that could; manage member details, automate membership subscriptions, and target members with improved communications about upcoming events and club activities.

Verde has provided a complete solution that fulfils all these requirements and allows for the future growth and development of the Squadron. Craig Peploe, RNZYS General Manager says, “Verde listened to our needs and came back to us with a design for a complete and integrated package that incorporated those needs, in a very short space of time.” The new system holds all member details in one area. Subscription templates are set up as a standing invoice generating a regular invoice for subscription fees on a pre-determined basis and a transaction history is held for each member to easily trace payments.

Memberships are now much easier to keep track of and better quality information is now held on each member, such as linking members through relationship type. This is an important piece of information since an Associate of the club is allowed to become a member only if they are already connected to an existing RNZYS member.

Corinne Healey, Accounting and Administration Manager at RNZYS, is delighted with the new system and says “having an automated, centralised system is speeding up a lot of our processes. We have 10 membership categories and several different levies associated with membership, so keeping track of all that was a big challenge. What’s more, this gives us the scope down the line to give members the option to make payments over the internet; something we couldn’t have contemplated with the old system.”

Boat details are now together with the member’s details, and hold all relevant information such as sail number, class and year launched. This and other high level information allows the RNZYS to be very smart about how they communicate with members and other contacts (non-members). Through the Verde membership system, they are able to target certain boat owners or contacts with particular interests (such as sponsors or corporates) about races or events. Communications are streamlined and targeted and emails can be sent directly from the database containing newsletters or invitations to events. Craig Peploe, has been particularly impressed by the level of integration offered by the system, “our systems need to be professional if we are to compete for function and sponsorship revenue, and run an efficient service for our members; the solution that Verde has provided will allow us to do just that.”

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Verde client Ryman Healthcare reports record profit
New Zealand Herald article
24 May 2006

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MIS votes Greentree one of top 25 NZ ICT vendors
May 2006

These 25 New Zealand companies have been deemed to be very important to NZ IT user organisations that value the advantage of working with companies attuned to the needs of the local business community, and are flexible and innovative at the same time...

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Money grows on trees for Verde duo
Reseller News article
7 April 2006

Kozak and Fothergill make the perfect pair. Kozak’s deep technical skills match Fothergill’s business consulting nous. Both men also have an exceptional understanding of financial software, forged during years of working with such applications...

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Spazio Casa turns on to Verde
23 March 2006

In particular, the quoting functionality, which was a major reason for choosing Verde, is already making it easier to provide a consistent approach to customers, while controlling revenue margins. Staff in remote locations across the country are now integrated onto one system, which has cut down on error due to manual processes, and is improving business efficiencies.

Gianpaolo Grazioli, General Manager at Spazio Casa is delighted with the new system, and is looking to make other Verde modules part of the company’s core business. “We are already seeing value from the quoting module and the general financial system; we’re now looking to get Verde contacts (CRM system) integrated into our processes so we can get smarter with our sales strategies”.

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Verde cleans up at Partner Awards
21 February 2006

Vlad Kozak co-director of Verde was also awarded ‘top salesperson of the year’ for the Australasian region, and Verde consultant Leigh Hyde was nominated for ‘most valuable consultant’. Vlad said he was personally pleased with his award, and delighted that the company was recognised across the board during a time of considerable growth. “Bringing in new sales is always tough, but maintaining high levels of service at high-growth periods is doubly tough, so we are very happy to have had outstanding results on both levels”.

Verde is considered to be a rising star in the Greentree stable, itself judged to one of 25 rising stars globally. Greentree was recently given rising star status by MIS magazine and deemed to be “seriously influencing the way technology is bought or deployed.” Verde is taking that technology to market and specialises in customising the Greentree software to meet clients’ specific requirements.

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Wins Reseller News article 10 February 2006

Financial software specialist Greentree has had several high-profile wins recently through its implementation partner Verde. These include Metlife Care, Walker-Datavision, Hanover Finance and BBQ Factory.

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Verde welcomes two new strategic hires
2 February 2006

In line with steadily increasing business growth, Verde is growing its ability to provide the level of business certainty its customers have come to know and expect.

Penny Boland recently joined the Verde team as Practice Manager at the company’s Mt Eden offices. Penny was previously with Applied Logic for eight years — four of those as General Manager. Having worked her way up from Sales Consultant through a variety of sales roles to General Manager, Penny brings with her a wealth of experience within all levels of business within the IT sector.

Penny believes her appointment is key to the company’s on-going ability to provide the exceptional service that enables Verde customers to achieve business success. She is passionate about looking after customers and says the company already has proven processes in place for consistent levels of service. “I want to build on those processes and provide a very streamlined experience for all our customers.”

Another new hire, recently returned from Europe is Verde Marketing Manager Prue Street. Prue has spent most of the past five years in Dublin where she primarily worked at the Research and Innovation lab Media Lab Europe. “In Europe Innovation was at the forefront of our business so I’m pleased to have found a role back home where innovation is prized.” She brings a range of marketing and communications experience developed in an international context and is excited about the Verde brand.

Speaking on her recent appointment Prue said “these are exciting times at Verde, the company has a fantastic product in Greentree and a high level of expertise within its team — everything is now in place to go to market in an expanded capacity.”

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Greentree voted one of the global 25 “Rising Stars”
November 2005

Greentree International has been recognised by Managing Information Strategies (MIS) Magazine, Australia’s leading IT management magazine, as a global top 25 ‘Rising Star’.

MIS Magazine awarded the prestigious accolade as part of their annual Strategic 100 list of information technology innovators and leaders. MIS Magazine is part of Fairfax Business Media, and is published in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

Paul Smith, Editor of MIS Magazine says “the companies selected are adjudged to be the most strategically important for CIO’s to keep abreast of.” That is those that show signs of seriously influencing the way technology is bought or deployed. These global ‘Rising Star’ companies were selected by analysts, IT directors and the MIS editorial team. The expert panel makes the selection from companies around the globe with over 3000 IT vendors vying for selection.

By placing Greentree in the company of fellow ‘Rising Stars’ such as Google the list reinforces the fact that Greentree is a world class product. Greentree is the only NZ vendor on the MIS 25 ‘Rising Stars’ list, such recognition is rarely bestowed from outside the domestic market. Exciting also, is the news that the Greentree development tool, Jade was also voted as one of the most strategically important ANZ 25.

Verde thoroughly congratulate Greentree and Jade on being recognised as rising stars in this extremely competitive industry…

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