As vendors gear up for another set of conferences next week, there seemed to be a slight lull in the volume of press releases emerging. Nevertheless, there was some interesting news from across several sectors.
Product Announcements
Intuit has announced the launch of QuickBooks UK Sole Trader in the UK market.
Tricentis continues to build generative AI Copilots to strengthen its testing solutions. It has now launched a third Copilot, this time for qTest.
Zilliant announced enhancements to Zilliant CPQ. The solution now supports the automation of customer-specific pricing and negotiated sales agreements.
Financial and acquisitions
BigTime Software has announced the acquisition of WorkRails to extend the capabilities of its PSA solutions with CPQ, SoW, and workflow capabilities.
Nebius Group released its unaudited Q3 2024 results. These are showing a remarkable jump in revenue of 1.7x over the previous quarter from $25 million to $43.3 million.
Advania UK has announced that it has completed the acquisition of CCS Media it announced on 10th October.
Partnerships
Big Red Cloud has moved from being a customer of GoCardless to becoming a partner of the bank payments company.
Coveo formed a partnership with Shopify to bring its commerce AI capabilities to Shopify enterprise customers.
Vidyard announced that Salesloft has selected it as its preferred Video partner.
Workday announced a partnership with Compa, the market intelligence vendor whose information is used by leading compensation teams.
Appointments
BR-DGE, the Payment Orchestration platform vendor, has appointed Chun Ong as Chief Operating Officer.
Features
Stuart Martin, Global People Operations and Services leader at Lloyds Banking Group and Carolyn Horne, SVP at Workday, explain how Lloyds Bank is adopting Generative AI use cases using best practices within its Workday architecture. There are some useful approaches that others could learn from.
Fred Laluyaux, CEO of Aera Technology, about the company’s activities and plans for the coming years. He also mentions the next generation of the Aera platform, which was launched this week.
Colin Johnson, Co-Founder and CEO of Aprika, the company behind Mission Control PSA, gave a tip about how to look after employees as a CEO.
Research
Atos has published the “Increasing digital workplace sustainability: Data-driven strategy to accelerate progress together” report. It found that there are high levels of waste across the IT industry.
Infor unveils a strong piece of research around “How Possible Happens”. It highlights how the most high-performing organisations have achieved value creation from their investments in technology.
Aera Technology
Aera Technology announced the next evolution of the company’s Aera Decision Cloud platform for the future of work at AeraHUB ‘24. Major advancements, including Aera Agentic AI, Aera Workspaces, and Aera Control Room, empower users with one system of intelligence to automate routine decisions, model scenarios to support strategic decisions, and execute and track the full spectrum of enterprise decisions.
Fred Laluyaux, Co-Founder and CEO of Aera Technology commented, “We pioneered our AI enterprise platform with a vision of changing how work gets done in large enterprises by automating and scaling tactical and routine decisions. We knew this would be critical to freeing people from dull work and enabling human-machine collaboration to speed value and innovation. Our advancements today take our vision a step further, enabling people-centric Decision Intelligence to reimagine and redefine work, make bold moves, and navigate the future.”
Bentley Systems
Blyncsy recognised by Google
Blyncsy, a Bentley Systems company, today announced that it has achieved the Google Cloud Ready – Sustainability designation in the Google Cloud Partner Advantage Program. By earning the Sustainability designation, Blyncsy has proven its success in building and producing solutions and tools on Google Cloud. This is to help customers achieve their sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals.
Mark Pittman, Blyncsy CEO and Bentley’s Director of Transportation AI commented, “Artificial intelligence is playing an important role in building a more sustainable world. Our approach leverages this new technology to extend the useful life of our assets, reducing their carbon impact on the world and their financial impact on our public agencies’ budgets.”
Q3 Results
Bentley Systems Inc. announced its Q3 results. Key figures from the results were:
- Total revenues were $335.2 million, up 9.3% or 9.1% on a constant currency basis, year-over-year
- Subscriptions revenues were $303.2 million, up 12.0% or 11.8% on a constant currency basis, year-over-year
- Annualized Recurring Revenues (“ARR”) was $1,270.7 million as of September 30, 2024, compared to $1,124.8 million as of September 30, 2023, representing a constant currency ARR growth rate of 12%
CEO Nicholas Cumins said, “During my first 100 days as CEO, we unveiled ambitious strategic moves that will help propel our future growth: the acquisition of 3D geospatial company Cesium; a strategic partnership with Google to integrate their geospatial content; a new product portfolio for asset analytics and a new generation of engineering applications, both leveraging AI and digital twin technologies to improve the way infrastructure is designed, built, and operated.
“At the same time, we delivered strong quarterly operating results. Our year-over-year ARR growth on a constant currency basis accelerated to 12% in 24Q3 (12.5% excluding China). Strength was broad-based across geographies and sectors as we continued to operate at a high level of performance, with favourable end-market conditions for the foreseeable future.”
Cybage
Cybage announced the opening of a new Water Bottling Plant. The facility is designed to minimize plastic usage and will provide employees and guests with clean, refreshing water. It is part of its drive to prioritize sustainability and set new ESG standards.
Deltek
PARIKH
PARIKH Consultants, a geotechnical engineering firm based in California, shared how it upgraded from Deltek Vision to cloud-based Deltek Vantagepoint in 2022. Deltek Partner, Full Sail Partners assisted with the implementation, which went live over a single night.
The firm uses all the modules and is not using any other third party solutions except for Excel. It has seen several benefits, from user-friendliness remote access without a VPN to enhanced flexibility and reporting capabilities.
Kathy Krol-Ramirez, Sr. Principal, CFO, commented, “What I like about Vantagepoint is the flexibility. The project manager can configure what they need to see and that can vary based on the manager, for example, by numeric order or location or a county.”
Reinhold Electric
Deltek also published a brief customer story from Reinhold Electric, a family-owned electrical services firm. After being recommended ComputerEase, Judy Reinhold decided that the range of modules and user-friendliness of the solution would be the right fit for its business management solution.
One of the modules that is most impressive is the ComputerEase Payroll. The firm switched from Paychex and found Deltek ComputerEase’s construction payroll services a far better fit. It has also implemented QTools, the report generator and Deltek’s FieldEase to manage employee timesheets.
Judy Reinhold summarised, “Having everything streamlined through Deltek ComputerEase makes our lives easier, and we feel safer and more compliant, especially with taxes. We work in many different states, and Deltek ComputerEase has made it easy to differentiate and report taxes for audits each year. Give Deltek a chance. No matter how big or small your company is, they will help you find the right solutions.”
Freshworks
Freshworks published its third quarter results for the period ending 30th September 2024. Dennis Woodside, CEO & President of Freshworks, commented, “Freshworks delivered a strong third quarter, with revenue growing 22% year over year to $186.6 million, net cash provided by operating activities margin improving to 23%, and free cash flow margin improving to 21%.
“We continue to see mid-market and enterprise companies choose Freshworks as the AI-powered service platform that enables them to scale with exceptional customer and employee experiences.”
Key figures included:
- Total revenue was $186.6 million, up 22% ear-over-year
- GAAP loss from operations was $(38.9) million, up from $(38.7) million ear-over-year
- Free cash flow was $40.1 million, compared to $22.1 million in the third quarter of 2023
- Freshworks increased customers paying over $5000 by 14%, to 22,359
- Net dollar retention was 107%, down 1% ear-over-year
The firm launched Freddy AI Agent for Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX). It also appointed Murali Swaminathan as Chief Technology Officer. The outlook for FY2024 was for overall growth of 20%, with revenues in the range of $713.6 – $716.6.
Infosys
Infosys announced a collaboration with Southwark Council to launch its digital learning platform – Springboard – in the borough. This initiative aims to provide Southwark residents, colleges, and schools with free access to Infosys’ flagship digital learning platform, Springboard.
Dionne Lowndes, Chief Digital & Technology Officer, Southwark Council, said, “Partnering with Infosys to bring the Springboard platform to Southwark is a significant step towards realising our ambitious three-year digital strategy. The initiative will not only empower our residents, but local businesses too, with vital digital skills and resources. By enhancing this kind of accessibility and fostering innovation, we are working to enable our community to thrive in an ever-advancing technological world.”
iplicit
Minerva
Minerva, a value-added reseller for financial accounting solutions, recently decided to partner with iplicit, having worked with the team when they previously ran Exchequer. Dave Rendall, Technical Director at Minerva, explained, “They approached us with this new product they were marketing. They knew the industry extremely well and realised where the gaps were in the market.
“You’ve got high-end cloud systems like NetSuite and low-end cloud systems like Xero but nothing in the middle. There was no midrange cloud system, and they had identified that as a gap, as well as various verticals and niche markets.
“The proposition was excellent from day one. You knew it was fully functional. It certainly went a long way to addressing most of the issues and problems people have at the minute with their systems.”
Minerva has already implemented iplicit at several companies and is impressed by its diversity. Rendall added, “To date, our iplicit clients include financial services, education, transport and logistics. So, you can see the breadth of the client base that we can serve with just this one product – and that’s not by bespoke developments, it’s just configuration within a common platform.”
New investors and advisors
Iplicit announced that two major figures in the fintech industry have joined iplicit as both investors and advisors. Øystein Moan, Executive Chairman and former CEO of business software company Visma has become a Non-Executive Director. Nic Humphries, Senior Partner and Executive Chairman of Hg and head of its Saturn fund, is now a Strategic Advisor.
iplicit CEO Lyndon Stickley commented, “iplicit now has the all-star team it needs for its next phase of hypergrowth.
“These investors and advisors are adding even more momentum to our ascent towards becoming the dominant accounting software provider for the UK mid-market.
“We’re set up for another phenomenal year of growth in 2025 and we fully anticipate we will continue to acquire more UK customers than every other midmarket cloud accounting provider in our field.”
A trio of C-Suite hires
iplicit also announced that it has expanded its leadership team with three new C-Suite hires. Damon Anderson joins as Chief Marketing Officer. Paul Sparkes joins as Chief Product Officer. Scott Regnier has been appointed Chief Sales Officer after heading UK Sales for 15 months.
iplicit CEO Lyndon Stickley commented, “iplicit now has an all-star C-suite team and a board that underpins our aspirations to reach £100m ARR in the next six years.
“We’re on an ascent to becoming the dominant provider in the UK market, and we’re excited about another explosive year of growth in 2025.
“We are now deploying more systems annually than any other mid-market cloud accounting offering in the UK. I am confident that we will continue to onboard more new customers than every other alternative cloud proposition in our mid-market space, including Sage.
“We serve the organisations that have needs beyond entry-level software like Xero but aren’t willing to accept the disruption and costs associated with products like NetSuite – and these organisations are crying out for a mid-market solution that’s powerful, yet low-disruption and affordable.”
Panasonic Connect
Panasonic Connect announced that TOUGHBOOK devices are now certified on Red Hat Linux. The certification brings flexibility to customers requiring secure Linux-based solutions. Thus making it an ideal solution for government agencies, contractors, and system integrators.
Steven Vindevogel, Head of TOUGHBOOK EU Panasonic Connect, commented, “Collaborating with Red Hat to certify our TOUGHBOOK devices with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, underscores our commitment to delivering advanced, secure, and adaptable technology solutions for our world’s most important industries. This collaboration demonstrates that our devices meet the highest standards for reliability and performance, offering our customers the agility and support they need for mission-critical applications.”
Planful
Ferraro Foods
Planful revealed how Ferraro Foods has ditched spreadsheets and revolutionised its financial management processes with a combination of Planful and Adra by Trintech.
CFO Solutions, a Planful partner, helped the firm migrate to cloud-based Planful in a few short months, between February and May 2022. The firm now consolidates its financials on Planful and also uses the solution for its forecasting and budgeting. Adra is embedded within Planful and is used to automate reconciliations.
The firm has seen three key benefits from the decision: Its closing period ends 55% faster, taking four rather than ten days. The Adra automated reconciliation means accountants are saving three hours a day per accountant on transaction mapping.
Its data is now more accurate, with Johann Cabe, VP of FP&A at Ferraro Foods, stating, “We have the absolute single source of truth,” Johann states. “Now, the team can log into Planful to pull data, reports, and analysis and be confident that the data is accurate. Business units now also gain faster access to the financial performance insights needed to drive success. With Johann stating, “Subsidiaries have instant visibility to see how they’re performing.”
ESL Gaming GmbH
Planful revealed the success ESL Gaming has had, having selected Planful as its new finance and accounting tool after its divestment by its parent company in 2022, which used S/4HANA and IBM Cognos. After a brief review of the options, it selected Planful for user-friendliness and flexibility. The transition was smooth, and the benefits were immediate.
Julia Rausch, Group Accountant at ESL. “We never missed a reporting deadline as we transitioned to Planful because it set us up for success. When we needed help, Planful’s response was always fast. For projects like this, you’re always curious to see if the high level of attention during the sales process continues once you’re a customer. Planful definitely proved that it is just as responsive, even today.”
After using Planful for a couple of years, the team continues to leverage Planful and has improved its process. Consolidated figures, which took nine days, now take less than five. Management reports take less than a day. It has also benefits from the rapid data transfers from ESLs SAP and NetSuite systems.
Rausch concluded, “Planful will be a great help when we need to adjust hierarchy structures or, as we’re already considering, a change or update of our chart of accounts,” Rausch added. “We’ve had such a great experience so far. We’re very happy with our choice, Planful, especially since we can report so quickly and act autonomously when we need to make changes.”
Malwarebytes
Malwarebytes switch to Planful for its financial planning management (FPM) after struggling with Anaplan for various reasons. It now relies on Planful for its annual budgeting cycles, to run rolling forecasts and monthly OpEx updates. Also to deliver internal and external financial reports.
Since Planful uses Excel syntax, moving the team’s Excel-based models onto the Planful platform has been a fast and easy transition. And, as Malwarebytes prepares for its upcoming annual planning cycle, its finance team is looking forward to having a single resource for and increased confidence in its financial data.
Cory Lauchmen, Senior Manager of Financial Reporting at Malwarebytes, commented, “Planful is a Swiss army knife for finance; it’s the tool we’re always using. Being on a finance-owned solution is huge. We don’t have to rely on other people who might have other priorities that could cause delays in reporting. When it’s finance-owned, we can troubleshoot anything.”
Pulseway
Pulseway announced its collaboration with the Technology Marketing Toolkit (TMT). This partnership aims to deliver exceptional resources and expertise to Pulseway’s MSP partners. Thus helping them scale their businesses and enhance their service offerings. This collaboration will provide Pulseway partners access to cutting-edge training, marketing resources, and business development tools to drive growth and profitability.
Edgar Zacharjev, SVP of Product and Strategy at Pulseway, commented, “Teaming up with TMT Robin Robins is a significant step forward in our mission to support our MSP partners. With Robin’s extensive experience, we’re confident that our customers will gain invaluable insights to scale their services and maximize their potential in an ever-competitive landscape. Combining with our platforms and products that help our clients deliver those services, this will give our partners a complete growth platform to scale their business.”
Robin Robins, CEO at TMT, said, “Pulseway has a strong commitment to helping their partners succeed, and we’re thrilled to be part of this journey,’ said ‘We’ve seen first-hand how effective strategies can transform businesses, and together, we can help MSPs unlock new levels of success.”
TSIA
TSIA published several pieces of content this week, including:
- The Velocity Toward PSaaS, A research report based on the trends and headwinds impacting PSaaS adoption in H2 2024. (subscription required)
- Trends in Content Consumption within Education Services. Quick poll insights from TSIA’s 2024 Education Services are driving content consumption quick poll. (registration required)
- Value-Based Pricing in Technology Services. An article that examines the strategic adoption of value-based pricing within the technology services industry, integrating insights from TSIA and the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) V4 framework. (Subscription required)
- How Hardware and XaaS Companies Approach Partner Enablement. An article based on the 2024 Partner Enablement for XaaS Growth quick poll examined how companies are empowering their partners to effectively sell, implement, and drive the adoption of XaaS offerings. (Registration required)
- Charter of Expansion Framework. The framework guide delves into the critical elements of a charter of expansion, which is a strategic blueprint for organizations aiming to achieve sustainable growth. (Registration required)
- Expand and Renew. A research report that draws insights from TSIA’s 2020 subscription revenue effectiveness benchmark survey. (Registration required)
Zoho
Zoho unveiled details of the latest version of Zoho Cliq, its business messaging tool. In a series of three blogs Zoho unveiled some of the improvements within Cliq 6.0.
Performance: Cliq loads 4.5x faster. It now has more reliable one-on-one calls, with 90% connecting in less than two seconds. Video streaming is improved, it started faster and is smoother.
Improved administration: New data loss prevention tools to detect and stop sensitive data emerging. File storage is optimised to minimize data storage costs for users. A new bulk team onboarding feature. The ability to configure default channels and bots as well as other improvements.
Usability: Several improvements to the usability of Cliq. Help to compose and summarise messages, the ability to extract text from images and a better understanding of when colleagues are working. Zoho has embedded more intelligence across Cliq to make it easier to use and more powerful.
