QMSoftware is another company that's undergone a significant change of direction since its inception. Originally in the contract programming business, managing director Mike Malone and his business partner decided to switch to developing their own products following the post-2000 slump in demand for their services.
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The product portfolio is unusually diverse, comprising a quoting/contract management/CRM system for freight forwarders, a novel backup system, and educational games.
The QuoteMaster package focuses on written quotations and rate management. The system is still under development due to recent industry changes imposed by the government, but it is already in use by some companies. For example, EDIFACT links between the software and the Australian Customs Service will be added once the specification is finalised. QMSoftware will also add integrations with other related packages used in the industry.
Other companies have tried and failed to meet the freight market's needs and Malone says this is because a deep understanding of the industry is required to cope with rules along the lines of "X is always true -- most of the time". QMSoftware takes time to do the necessary research and "it's all to do with communication," Malone says.
Replica Backup takes an unusual approach to backup in that it uses a database as the storage medium. Eighty percent of Australian businesses are SMEs, Malone points out, and "most backup systems cost an arm and a leg". Consequently most SMEs' data is unprotected, apart from copying some key data to CD.
Replica moves the files into an InterSystems Caché database, compressing and encrypting them in the process. That database can be stored locally or on a server. Either way, it can then be replicated to a remote server for security.
This approach has several advantages. Backup can occur as frequently as you like -- even every 10 minutes -- and only the changed data is transferred, so the process is quick and provides access to successive versions of the file without requiring huge amounts of disk space.
When used with a notebook computer, the user can check confidential files out of Replica as they are needed and then check them back in again when the task is complete. If the computer is lost or stolen, the data is protected from prying eyes and -- as long as it has been replicated to an external server -- it can be recovered quickly and easily.
What all of these products have in common is that they're all different to other products in the same market.
"They're definitely not 'me too' products," Malone says. "We looked for opportunities to have a significant point of difference," but he adds that's not easy if a company limits itself to a single industry.
"You couldn't afford to do it [with a larger development team] -- the risk would be too high."
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