Published on the 19/01/2016 | Written by Beverley Head
Netherlands based ERP provider Unit4 is stepping up activities in Australia and New Zealand, just as it announces an integration with online messaging app Slack…
Integrating with Slack – which hit the headlines late last year when newly installed prime minister Malcolm Turnbull recommended his Cabinet colleagues use the system to communicate with each other – would mean that any updates in the Unit4 communities workspace would become part of the Slack stream and vice versa.
It allows workgroups to be set up with a direct communications component.
The alliance reinforces the different nature of the Unit4 ERP compared to say, SAP or Oracle. Chris Tithof, recently appointed ANZ channel director, said the Unit4 system is particularly suited to deployment in ‘people centric’ organisations– such as professional services businesses or employment agencies.
“If you are selling widgets then Unit4 may not be the system for you,” he said.
In Australia, the system has been deployed by Perth based IT company Kinetic IT, the Skilled Workforce Group, and Save the Children. The solution was also recently implemented at New Zealand Post.
Unit4 allows what Tithof describes as ‘self-driving ERP’ where workflow changes can be introduced by end users, thanks to the system’s graphical user interface, with any necessary changes rippling through to the back end.
The integration with Slack will also allow more free form communications and information sharing to be supported.
Founded in Europe in 1980 the company has for the last 11 years been sold and represented by Agilyx in both Australia and New Zealand, which also provides a hosting service for organisations which want to use a cloud based rather than on premise deployment of Unit4. While that relationship will remain, Tithof said he is looking for additional partners and also scouting out the option of Unit4 establishing a direct presence in Australia.
One potential avenue of new business is among the professional services sector, which is the target for a newly introduced project forecasting function. This tool trawls a company’s previous project history to identify how long similar projects took, and what skills were needed, so that an accurate quote and project plan can quickly be provided to new prospects.
