esolutions first to market with new products

esolutions first to market with new products

Media Release

14 August 2000

esolutions today launched eOffice - the first time in New Zealand that Microsoft's popular desktop software, Office 2000, and Datacom's award-wining NettPay are available as rented software accessed over the Internet.

esolutions' General Manager Jane Freeman says the virtual alliance between Telecom, EDS and Microsoft is one of only a handful of organisations world-wide to offer Microsoft Office this way. This also makes esolutions eOffice the only pilot of Exchange 2000, Microsoft's popular messaging and collaboration software solution, with Office 2000 outside the United States.

"Previously only very specialised business software has been made available. By including Microsoft® Office in eOffice, esolutions offering becomes the first Application Service Provider (ASP) product to have a wide appeal for small and medium businesses," Ms Freeman said.

"esolutions via Telecom is currently the only independent channel for Datacom NettPay and this is the first online payroll package to be part of an ASP offering in New Zealand."

"To date the ASP market has shown a lot of promise, but few vendors have delivered. This is the first significant move in the New Zealand ASP market."

The eOffice package includes OfficeOnline, the online licensed version of the popular Microsoft Office 2000 suite, Microsoft Exchange 5.5, Exchange 2000 as a pilot, and Datacom's NettPay, a payroll management system.

The eOffice suite of products will grow to include human resources and financial applications. Renting software means users always have the latest software, don't have to update it themselves or spend significant time and money maintaining a large IT system.

One of the first customers of eOffice, Dennis Baty, Regional Business Development Manager of Baxter Healthcare, plans to use eOffice with his nation-wide sales team. "We have many people in the field who operate independently of the company's hardware infrastructure. We will save on costs by extending the life of our hardware, being able to immediately deploy new versions of software, and by getting rid of hard drives and working from anywhere in the country with dial-up access to eOffice."

Another esolutions eOffice customer, Stream Interactive Director Bruce Timmins says that "the ASP model provides a simple, low-overhead option that is fast to master and easy to administer." Stream Interactive plans to use Datacom NettPay to automate its payrolls and update the software with changing legislative and compliance requirements.

eOffice is part of a range of packages esolutions offers, including secure network and internet connections, website hosting, email-to-fax software, online marketplaces and e-procurement systems. All are designed to help both small and large businesses work effectively online.

The service includes data storage, daily backup of files, document restoration, virus protection for MS Office files, monitoring and management and a free helpdesk for Word and Excel users. eOffice is charged on a pay-per-user basis - if a user does not access the software that month, they are not charged for it.

Datacom's NettPay automates payroll processing and payments. Since the software is stored a central server it can easily be updated to reflect changes in compliance issues such as Student Loans, Tax Codes and Family Support. It also automatically advises the IRD of any details it requires, archives data for seven years and interfaces with bank accounts.

Already there are six existing customers of esolutions eOffice software, and it will be actively promoting the product through Microsoft resellers, Telecom Business Account Managers, a call centre (0800 ESOLUTIONS) and www.esolutions.co.nz.

About ASPs Application Service Providers (ASP) provide software over the Internet or a dedicated network. The actual software is stored on the ASP's own server, which ASP's like esolutions maintain and upgrade. ASPs gives users the ability to use the latest software anytime, anywhere, on any device on a rental or pay-per-use basis. Files can be shared securely by work groups.

The benefits of the ASP model include eliminating software purchase costs, software upgrades are never required and there are no special hardware requirements or ongoing IT maintenance costs.

esolutions' ASP system (built on its world-class Safecom system) has robust security features to protect against viruses and hackers.

About esolutions esolutions is a unique virtual alliance supported by the combined strengths of Telecom, EDS and Microsoft.

esolutions is a specialist developer of e-commerce packages that help businesses of all sizes and complexities to fully participate in the online world.

Because esolutions is a virtual alliance, not a legal entity, when customers make an agreement to purchase it is with one of the alliance parties. However, the esolutions alliance is non-exclusive - customers can choose for esolutions to involve or work with their chosen IT supplier, regardless of who the supplier is. This also means that esolutions can offer products and services developed in partnership with other suppliers and service providers.

For more information please contact: Sue McCarty, Brand Manager, esolutions on (025) 931 854 Donna Rush, PR Manager, esolutions on (09) 359 5832 or (021) 302 133 Stephen Knightly, Consultus on (09) 9131 833 or (021) 656 063

The esolutions website (www.esolutions.co.nz) has a media section which contains customer endorsements for the eOffice products and further information about esolutions' wider range of packages.

© Scoop Media