Size matters for Fortix software

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G ROW I N G BU S I NESS
Size matters for Fortix software
IN THE NEWS
Awards program
for Subi business
■ Emily Morgan
THE Subiaco Business
Association has created a set
of awards to honor growing
business in the City of
Subiaco district.
PROBLEM SOLVING
The SUBIZ awards will
recognise a range of
businesses including homebased single operator
businesses and larger
professional services
companies.
COMPANY: Fortix.
BUSINESS: Software
solutions for SMEs.
GROWTH TIPS: Build strong
relationships with clients;
innovate and systemise
the business; find one,
integrated, easy-to-use
business management
platform that’s secure and
scalable.
PAUL Faix moved to Australia 10
years ago with little English and just
$100 in his back pocket.
In May, after a decade in his new
home, his business recorded a 20 per
cent revenue increase on the previous
month’s figures.
A native of Slovakia, Mr Faix
started Fortix as a web development and services company, but
that function of the business now
occupies only one third of the
operations, with the core operation
now in the management of clients’
business operations using software
he and his team developed.
Mr Faix and his staff, five based
in Perth and four in Slovakia, developed a software program – the
Fortix Freedom Business System or
‘managed business system’ – which
combines all the programs people
normally use on their computers in
daily work into one program accessible via the web.
In 2006, two years after he started
Fortix, Mr Faix saw a problem on
the horizon.
“Businesses, they hit the brick wall
eventually when they are growing.
You can’t cope anymore, whatever
reason it is. Not enough time, people, management skills, not enough
information to make a decision,” Mr
Faix said.
And while Mr Faix’s business may
not have hit the brick wall, he has
encountered some hurdles along the
way.
“When you start your business,
the number of enquiries is small and
FOR THE RECORD ■
The inaugural awards will
be held in October and
nominations are open
to businesses operating
within the City of Subiaco
boundaries, including
Nedlands, Wembley, Crawley,
Shenton Park, Daglish and
Jolimont.
SBA president Geoff Parnell
said that, as the third largest
business district in WA, it was
long overdue that Subiaco
had local business awards.
“We’re looking forward to
receiving entry nominations
from the diverse range of
small and large businesses in
the Subi community,” he said.
“We have been very
encouraged by the support
of our sponsors in getting
behind us to promote the
business community of
Subiaco.
MAJOR MARKETS: Paul Faix has big hopes for his business management software.
Photo: Grant Currall
manageable. Service delivery is easy
and you can handle it with two to
three people,” Mr Faix said.
“However, when the business doubles or triples in size you quickly
realise that what seemed to be normal and easy suddenly becomes difficult and takes much more of your
time to complete.
“Consequently you are not offering the same level of service to your
customers as when you started.”
Specifically, Mr Faix had issues
with focusing on the day-to-day
running of the business and micromanaging his staff – a problem that
led him to recognise inefficiencies in
the software programs being used to
manage clients.
He said when businesses hit barriers of this kind they either employed
more people and charged more to
cover inefficiencies, scaled back the
business to a more manageable size,
or invested in new business systems
to move the business forward to the
next level.
“We chose option three,” Mr Faix
told WA Business News.
“Our growing business required a
business management platform. We
wanted all the [company] data linked
into the one place where it could be
accessed by all our team, external
contractors and customers.”
But for a small business with a
small budget, the software needed
to do this was not available.
“After extensive research we
found there was no affordable system available that would meet our
requirements,” Mr Faix said.
Like turning lemons in to lemonade, Mr Faix saw opportunity in
his problem and started developing
the software for his business, later
recognising how useful it could be
to other businesses.
“We never sat down behind the
desk and thought, ‘now we are
developing the software, it evolved
naturally’,” he said.
By developing a software package that combined all of his busi-
ness’ software requirements – such
as email accounts, spreadsheet and
word processing software, project
management and sales and service
enquiry management systems – Mr
Faix was able to relinquish control
over all facets of the company and
focus on more important tasks.
Fortix now handles 30 clients’
business management needs with
its Fortix Freedom Business System,
and is set to launch a new product
in September.
Fortix Core is a smaller-scale
system, affordable for SMEs and
companies with tighter budgets and
a reduced need for the software
capacity.
“Fortix Core is the ultimate toolkit
for any business owner helping them to
grow their business,” Mr Faix said.
‘‘Our expectation for our Fortix
Freedom product is to reach thousands of clients worldwide but the
new Fortix Core has the potential
for uptake by the majority of SMEs
globally.”
“We’re very much looking
forward to creating and
building a prestigious brand
for the SUBIZ Awards that
Subi business people will
be proud to share in and
become a part of.”
Businesses can nominate for
10 different award categories
with one, The City of Subiaco
Volunteer of the Year Award,
calling for nominations from
individuals or businesses on
behalf of a volunteer.
Other categories include
business of the year, best
new business, excellence in
customer service, best notfor-profit organisation, best
home-based business, while
other awards will highlight
success in marketing,
retailing and hospitality,
franchise, service and
sustainability.
Nominations will be open
until the end of August.
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June 17, 2010
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