Partner Solution Case Study
/ / Business Process Management Specialist Fuels Expansion with New Technology
Overview
Country or Region:Israel
Industry:Software Development/Business Process Management
Partner Profile
PNMsoft develops and supplies Business Process Management (BPM) software and solutions. Founded in Israel in 1996, the company employs 90 people and operates a subsidiary in the United Kingdom.
Business Situation
To maximise opportunities in the rapidly growing BPM sector, the company needed a single, flexible, internationally credible technology infrastructure to underpin its high-quality products.
Solution
PNMsoft chose Microsoft® technologies, including Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2006, because of its technological innovation, international recognition, and ease of use.
Benefits
Partnership with Microsoft enhances expertise internally.
Access to Microsoft solution roadmaps streamlines development.
Support for rapid international growth.
Increased customer confidence.
Enhanced business opportunities. / “From the outset, the presence of Microsoft in the Israeli market was more prominent. More importantly, Microsoft technology met our requirements for innovation and ease of use.”
Gal Horvitz, Chief Executive Officer, PNMsoft
Business Process Management (BPM) software provider PNMsoft launched in Israel in 1996 and now employs 90 people. A key business driver for the company has been expanding into new, overseas markets. As a result, it has invested heavily in additional manpower and centralised management structures. To help deliver its development goal, PNMsoft wanted a technology partner with international credibility and class-leading solutions to standardise the technology environment for its own BPM software. Through a strategic partnership with Microsoft, PNMsoft has streamlined product development, enhanced employee expertise, and reduced the risk from entering new markets. Access to Microsoft® technology roadmaps has enhanced product development, and new Microsoft testing facilities have significantly reduced development lifecycles.
Situation
PNMsoft develops and supplies Business Process Management (BPM) software platforms and solutions. The company specialises in dynamic, Web-based applications that improve and streamline the operations of business administration centres. Its principal product, the Sequence platform, enhances business processes on a corporate scale using intuitive, user-friendly tools and interfaces customised for individual users.
Founded in Israel in 1996, the company employs 90 people and has doubled operations in the last 12 months. During 2005, PNMsoft started expanding abroad, establishing a subsidiary in the United Kingdom and signing cooperation agreements with business partners throughout Europe and North America.
Gal Horvitz, Chief Executive Officer, PNMsoft, says: “Our ambition is to be perceived as the best and highest quality provider of BPM solutions for the business user, and a trusted partner for our customers locally, in Europe and North America. A real opportunity exists here because this niche has not yet been targeted on an international scale and this sector of the software development industry is expected to grow quickly. Our goal is to deliver a high level of technological capability and specialisation and translate this directly into business success for our customers.”
To achieve success, the company has invested significant sums in recruiting additional manpower and training staff to the highest standards. It has also adopted new working practices and management methodologies to centralise control and sales systems. Furthermore, in a bid to boost the benefits of expansion and reorganisation, a complex logistics infrastructure has evolved and managers have created an investor relations programme and comprehensive financial processes.
However, if all this hard work were to deliver good results and drive expansion long term, there was one area that PNMsoft still needed to address. This was to implement a standardised technology infrastructure for developing and deploying customer BPM solutions. Horvitz says: “We understood the need for an enterprise class infrastructure with clear upgrade paths and international credibility. We made a decision to base our operations exclusively on Microsoft® technologies.”
Solution
For PNMsoft, working exclusively with Microsoft technology delivered maximum business value. Horvitz says: “From the outset, the presence of Microsoft in the Israeli market was more prominent. More importantly, Microsoft technology met our requirements for innovation and ease of use. In addition, the integration of a BPM platform is often more of an implementation project than a development project.
“That means deployments are often conducted by people with business expertise rather than purely technical expertise and our systems must be easy to integrate with virtually no training. Microsoft technologies support this key requirement for ease of deployment.”
The partnership with Microsoft would streamline product development at PNMsoft, providing access to Microsoft expertise during development stages. Such help ensures a more robust solution delivered within a shorter timeframe. “When our products are tested at the Microsoft laboratories, we can enhance overall quality and save time that would otherwise be required to conduct future work correcting problems,” comments Horvitz.
For PNMsoft, the new relationship also meant the company gained insight into the Microsoft technology roadmap to ensure new releases of its own solutions coincided with latest software releases. For example, new versions of the Sequence BPM platform will come to market at the same time as Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2006, which is part of Microsoft Windows Server System™ integrated server software. Not only does this provide joint-promotional opportunities, but it helps ensure PNMsoft customers gain solutions that integrate latest-version, value-adding technology to boost IT investments.
For the company, there were additional benefits from working solely with Microsoft. These included gaining Microsoft Gold Certified Partner status, which highlights a deeply embedded relationship with the vendor and gives customers greater insight into PNMsoft’sMicrosoft expertise, increasing confidence in the business value of its solutions.
Also, a key benefit of the new strategic relationship is that during projects PNMsoft staff gain better access to technical personnel at Microsoft. This can help employees address customer needs more effectively. Oran Dror, Vice President, Customer and Enterprise Partner Division, Microsoft Israel, says: “PNMsoft is involved in one of the hottest areas of the organisational software industry. Many organisations across Israel are examining or selecting BPM solutions to enhance efficiency.
“At some of the largest Microsoft customers in Israel, such as Amdocs, PNMsoft has successfully integrated a centralised BPM system that coordinates a range of business processes, delivering major savings in terms of manpower, resources, and operating costs. Over a prolonged period, the company has proven its professionalism, innovation, and total commitment to Microsoft technology. The company has revolutionised its marketing, sales, and technical resources and is developing and promoting its solutions in Israel and worldwide with considerable success.”
Benefits
Increased Competitive Advantage From Expertise and Technology Roadmap
By working closely with Microsoft, PNMsoft gains an increased competitive advantage in its marketplace. The new deeply embedded relationship with the IT vendor translates into massively increased insight into future Microsoft software developments for better, smarter business planning.
Horvitz says: “Our close relationship makes it possible to coordinate plans, adapt time-to-market for new products, and effectively manage our investments. We are not taken by surprise by business or technological developments, and there is no guesswork involved. This is an extremely valuable benefit.”
Expert Support for International Growth, Reducing Business Risk
Today, Microsoft has successfully penetrated software markets worldwide. With access to data on country-specific markets from Microsoft, PNMsoft can access precious information on potential new markets that help reduce the business risk of overseas development. During preparations for expansion, Microsoft also helped establish contacts with local business partners—shortening the time to enter targeted markets to a few months.
Horvitz says: “The people from Microsoft specialise in a wide range of fields and, by virtue of their experience, they advised us on how to work effectively in new areas and helped with which technologies and sectors we should focus on. They also helped us to contact the right suppliers and partners and gave us an effective way to share information with them.”
Excellence During the Product Development Process
After conducting market surveys and identifying customer requirements, PNMsoft works closely with Microsoft to develop new product offerings. Horvitz says: “Our relationship with Microsoft always increases the customer’s confidence in our solutions. At the technological level, the close relationship gives us valuable privileges, such as participation in prestigious Microsoft technological programs and access to extensive knowledge about Microsoft technologies.
“At PNMsoft, we could potentially double our business on an annual basis, while continuing to focus on our existing activities. Thanks to the relationship we have with Microsoft, we will continue to specialise in the BPM sector and be the best in our field.”
Microsoft Windows Server System
Microsoft Windows Server System is a line of integrated and manageable server software designed to reduce the complexity and cost of IT. Windows Server System enables you to spend less time and budget on managing your systems so that you can focus your resources on other priorities for you and your business.
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