Australian ERP provider Pronto Software has won a prestigious AIIA Victorian state iAward for its innovative Alert Intelligence (AI) feature as part of its flagship ERP solution PRONTO-Xi.
The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) iAwards recognise innovation excellence in ICT across a range of sectors including education, finance, government, media and security.
It honours the most outstanding information and communications technology talent in the nation.
Pronto Software won the Applications and Infrastructure Tools iAward presented by Information and Communication Technology Minister Theo Theophanous in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Pronto’s AI capability was judged by ICT professionals on its technological innovation and competitiveness.
Pronto Software Managing Director David Jackman says winning the prestigious award is a ringing endorsement of the innovation and quality of the company’s Alert Intelligence capability which has been designed from the ground up by its own R&D team.
“AI is a new generation of ERP tool that takes businesses beyond the reactive, report driven operations to identify problems and suggest corrective action,” Jackman says.
“It provides information visibility by monitoring changes within the company’s ERP and delivering alerts to predefined recipients immediately after the event occurs.”
By instantly alerting managers to something to something that has happened in their business, AI turns data into action.
Al provides a level of business agility unmet by established ERP systems without the need for extensive customisation or programming.
It adopts a service oriented architecture (SOA) philosophy to application building where components can be plugged in easily to further adapt the functionality.
This user-friendly technology greatly enhances a company’s ability to analyse data, streamline decision making and most importantly, improves efficiency and effectiveness in business operations.
Pronto Software customers benefiting from AI include outdoor clothing brand Kathmandu and bicycle retailer Goldcross.
AI now automatically updates Goldcross customers using SMS when their bicycle is repaired and ready for pick up — an innovation that has improved customer service for the company.
At Kathmandu, staff are instantly alerted to stock outages and when loyalty club members’ purchases next qualify them for an award.
“By enabling ‘management by exception’, this next generation ERP is a strategic asset, adding greater value, more innovation and true competitive differentiation for businesses,” David Jackman says.
State winners go on to compete at a national level, with national winners invited to represent Australia at the Asia-Pacific ICT Awards in Indonesia later this year.
The national iAwards winners will be announced in Melbourne on 28 May 2008.