The days of big IT systems and budgets are gone. Gianni Torta, MD of ISOPro, explains how speed, flexibility, low risk and customer satisfaction are the new paradigms in delivering software solutions.

Could you tell us about your company?

Gianni Torta: ISOPro is an Australian company, based in Sydney, right next to the domestic airport. We specialise in compliance management solutions in highly regulated environments like airports, food and construction. We deliver software as a service (SaaS) through our cloud-based solution that enables companies to manage their safety, quality, environmental risk and legal compliance at point-of-use, while retaining control centrally.

ISOPro has been active in the Australian market since early 2011, and in 2014 we’re expanding our operations into southern Africa and New Zealand.

What market trends are you seeing in your sector?

A few years ago it was hard, almost impossible, to get big organisations to consider cloud solutions. There was generally a low acceptance of externally hosted and managed services. Over the past 18 months, we’ve seen a definite increase in openness to cloud options, and a far greater willingness to engage in real conversation. We’re now being asked tough questions about customisation, service levels, support options, reliability and system outages, reporting and real operational concerns.

What are the key features buyers should be looking for when considering a software solution?

I’ve been in software implementation for many years, having worked in SAP and Microsoft Navision (now Dyanamics) ERP space, and my recommendations to clients have always been the same:

  • Flexibility: what are the chances of your business remaining static for five years? What happens when you bring a new major client on board? How easily can your software solution evolve with you?
  • Change management: how well does the ‘standard’ solution fit your business? How much process change do you need to do in your operation to make the system fit?
  • Mobility: can the solution work on an iPhone or your team’s smartphone? If not, how will you deal with customer expectations of a fully connected workforce?
  • Speed and phasing: how quickly can the solution be deployed? Can you deploy in small steps and learn as you go? Can you be agile and make changes as you learn?
  • Completeness: can you meet all your compliance requirements with one solution?

What do you believe are your key differentiators?

We work hard to stay true to two core business principles:

  • Less is more: our solutions are streamlined, intuitive and easy for users to adopt. Pages load quickly, reports run quickly; reliability is paramount. No bells and whistles, no bling.
  • Earn your trust: we rely on your ongoing subscription to our system for our livelihood. Client satisfaction is critical in our game.

The biggest point of difference from other vendors in our space, I believe, is that we don’t have prebuilt workflows or forms; we take the client’s compliance controls and workflow and move them online. All our clients are sizable organisations in highly regulated environments (construction, health and airport ops) and all have existing systems that work for them. When you implement our system, change management will be minimal.

Also, our mobile apps aren’t a marketing gimmick. They exist to provide true mobility, allowing users to complete audits or enter compliance information onto a tablet or smartphone, even when not connected to the internet. You can manage your compliance anywhere.

What and where were your last major sales?

We’ve just been awarded a major upgrade to the food and environmental compliance system with NSW HealthShare (one of the Australian states’ Health Authorities). Our system will be used for managing food safety compliance, as well as all cleaning audits at over 150 state hospitals. Work starts in February 2014.

Before that, QANTAS Engineering’s customer experience team chose ISOPro to manage their cabin quality auditing around the (Australian) domestic network. The team conducts hundreds of cabin quality audits in all aircraft at all the domestic ports every month. The system has been running since mid-2013. They’re the third QANTAS business unit to come on board.