South African ISV Breaks New Ground
Background
Freight Fusion Systems (FFS) was established in June 2003 with the purpose of entering the freight industry to provide a superior solution of freight management software. To achieve their goal in the shortest period of time FFS acquired a complete suite of software which had been used very successfully over many years by multinational freight companies. The management and development teams have many years of freight industry experience and their company motto is, “We are from the Industry, for the Industry”!
FFS is still a relatively small business – but they have big plans for the freight industry in South Africa and the greater African continental region! Their eleven dedicated staff are all specialists in their field with many years of experience, and they operate from their headquarters in Gauteng, on the outskirts of Johannesburg – South Africa’s economic engine room.
With its intimate knowledge of the freight industry, FFS was acutely aware of the issue of time sensitivity to this market. In order to address these needs and enhance the acquired software suite, FFS turned to looksoftware for its modernization and integration expertise. Now, after literally thousands of man-hours of effort, FFS has significantly enhanced its application.
The new application is called Genesis 1 and it embraces the whole spectrum of functionality in Supply Chain Logistics. Indeed Genesis 1 now features functionality that is way ahead of the opposition. Brian Mulligan, CEO of FFS commented, “Our focus on workflow provides major improvements in productivity for our users. We have also enhanced our software to conform to Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) principles by extending our system to be accessible from the internet. This has further distinguished us from the competition. We provide all the requirements of a forwarding and customs clearing agent - from registration to balance sheet!”
The application is written in RPG and has evolved over many years with modules from System 36 through to native AS400/System i. We have also developed various freight related modules designed and developed for the end user, that product is branded “On Track”, runs on Sequel and has been well received by the freight industry.
Challenge
FFS’s Director of Development, Rian Mulligan said, “When we established FFS, and having acquired the suite of software mentioned earlier, we had to make a strategic decision as to which direction we would take with our two software offerings. Genesis 1 had by far the best functionality and while On Track was seen to be more modern and advanced, it was going to take a lot of effort to bring it up to par with Genesis 1. However, despite its array of features and deep functionality, Genesis 1 was seen to be old hat and the market was looking for a more modern solution.”
Solution
“Having been previously exposed to newlook, we approached looksoftware with the intention of using their software to modernize our solution and thereby significantly extend its shelf life. Although we considered a number of alternatives, we quickly found in newlook a product ideally suited to our needs. We were highly impressed with the looksoftware’s ease of use and that cemented our decision to focus our attention on modernizing Genesis 1. We are now able to provide a complete solution with all the functionality of both systems wrapped into one”, said Rian.
Brian added, “A software company’s future always depends on the acceptance of its products in the marketplace. With newlook, the possibilities are almost endless and our ability to quickly respond to our clients’ needs is a definite advantage”.
“Transforming Genesis 1 with newlook has extended the life of our software for years to come and has made us far more competitive in this market which is served by various other software solutions running on all kinds of platforms. To rewrite the system in an alternative language would take years of dedication and commitment with a budget of scary proportions!”
FFS are now considering expanding their services to embrace new features which looksoftware’s soarchitect can provide and are delighted with the ease of use, power of integration, data-centric capabilities and indeed competitive pricing of the looksoftware suite.
Benefits
As to the future, FFS are confidant they will see significant growth based on the positive initial acceptance of their “new” application. The benefits arising from this new direction will include :
- Increased software and hardware sales
- Improved customer satisfaction and retention
- Reduced desktop maintenance
- Improved customer productivity through full application integration
Said Brian, “We now believe we can compete effectively again. There is a whole new interest being generated within our market segment. Instant customization capabilities allow us to modify the interface and add functionality during live demonstrations – our customers are amazed at what we can do for them!”
“The new lookGenesis 1 will drive future hardware sales for us and IBM. Our System i customers can now deploy our application across the web easily and without fuss. We can rapidly personalize features and services to meet specific customer needs.”
“We are delighted with the support and service we have received from looksoftware. The continuing improvement of the software and their speed of delivery of new functionality is quite mind blowing. Without question, newlook is today’s answer for yesterday’s problems. We live in a technologically explosive era with our boundaries being extended daily. newlook enables us to keep pace with that ever-changing world.”
“Without doubt, newlook should be awarded “Cool Tool of the Year!”