Export Award For Dental Software Specialist

Export Award For Dental Software Specialist - Software Of Excellence International Ltd

Auckland, April 11, 2003 -- Successfully developing and selling dental health software to the world – and in doing so earning more than $12 million in foreign exchange earnings in 2002 - has won Software of Excellence International Ltd a Trade New Zealand Export Award.

(Note to editors: Media are invited to attend the presentation of the Trade New Zealand Export Award to Software of Excellence International by The Prime Minister of New Zealand, the Right Honourable Helen Clark, on Friday 11 April 2003, at 11.30am, at the company’s premises 106 Bush Road, Albany, Auckland).

Chief Executive Paul Weatherly says Software of Excellence International is the only listed company in the world with an exclusive focus on dental software.

He says the company has focused on this international niche for more than a decade and has been a world pioneer in the area of bringing a clinical dimension to dental computing.

“Our expertise in electronic patient records means we are able to deliver efficiency and oral health gains to large dental health providers.”

Software of Excellence International’s main products are “Professional” EXACT software, that is sold to dental practices, and “Enterprise” software, which is aimed at group dental practices, dental schools, hospitals and public health providers.

Mr Weatherly says export sales, which account for more than 90% of revenue, continue to grow very rapidly, increasing from $7.5 million in 2000 to $12.3 million in 2002, and are expected to be around $15 million in 2003.

He lists an ongoing ability to innovative as a key competitive advantage.

“Over the past ten years we’ve worked closely with dental professionals, pioneering areas such as PC-based digital x-rays and digital imaging. We continue to add many features and modules to our software that are world firsts, including sending appointment reminders via SMS to cell phones and 3D animated teeth and charting.” Software of Excellence International listed on the New Zealand stock Exchange in December 2000. It has offices in the UK, US, Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, and while more than half of its 128 staff are based offshore, Mr Weatherly says its remains very much a New Zealand company, with all software development and product management in its Albany office.

He says the company has achieved outstanding success in the UK, a market it entered in 1995 and which currently accounts for about 80% of its business.

“We are the clear market leader in the UK, with over 2600 sites in Britain and more than 42% of all new dental software sites in the UK using our software.”

In order to strengthen its position in the UK, Software of Excellence International Ltd has embarked on a strategy of acquisition, buying two UK dental software businesses.

Other important markets include Australia and the USA, with the company opening an office in Los Angles last year to help it develop the market. Mr Weatherly says the strategy in the USA is not to tackle the professional market that is already been served by large local companies, but to focus on the group dental practices and dental schools, hospital and other training providers.

The company is also putting in place pilot programmes for the Malaysian Ministry of Health and for the Kuwaiti Government.

“Both these countries operate comprehensive government funded national dental programmes for their citizens which will benefit greatly from our software. These markets present significant opportunities for growth.”

Trade New Zealand Account Manager Grant Hemmings congratulated Software of Excellence International on its export success.

“Whilst they have a truly great product, in my view it is really a story about the implementation of a great export strategy. They have been prepared to bite the bullet and invest in the right strategies and this investment is now starting to pay off,” says Mr Hemmings.

“This is a company that has had a clear vision since it started in 1992. It has its sights clearly on developing into a global players and is well on the way to achieving that.”

Paul Weatherly says Software of Excellence is a New Zealand company that has bought a clinical and customer-service focus to the global dental software market.

“We are very flexible and are able to offer customised software solutions that many of our competitors are simply not able to do because they are focused on the ‘mass’ market.

“Fundamental to our success is the quality of our software, which has enabled us to gain key reference sites in markets that are the home of technology - for example the UCLA School of Dentistry and the University of Singapore Dental Hospital.”

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