Recent News

June 2009
Accounting for the 21st Century

February 2009
Greentree avoids downturn with 13 new users
Software centre's local support
Fear is not a factor for Greentree
Greentree set for mobility push, overseas expansion
Licensed to deliver: vendors respond in cash-strapped times

August 2008
Smartphones take computer power out of office

July 2008
Ryman on top as fast creator of share value

June 2008
Greentree delivers BPM layer
Southern man still alive — and kicking

May 2008
SellAgence is geared up for new business in 2008

January 2008
Getting a handle on the business - Computerworld

June 2009

Accounting for the 21st Century
By John Young - Bidwell's
UK Property Management Company Newsletter Article
June 2009

Transferring to new accounting software is usually nothing to get excited about. But with the recent introduction of Greentree to our Accounts Team, clients can now be provided with more detailed and powerful management information upon which to base critical business decisions.

Greentree was developed in New Zealad and was chosen by our business, north and south of the border, on account of its efficiency of use and reporting power. The system allows for all transactions entered to be linked to different business enterprises, or to individual properties, or even to individual vehicles or employees.

Management reports can then powerfully analyse very specific elements of business performance against budget. In today's challenging economic climate, it is imperative that businesses have this ability to analyse their income and expenditure in any number of detailed combinations, in order to make informed strategic decisions.

Read full article (1.3Mb PDF)

February 2009

Greentree avoids downturn with 13 new users
By Ulrika Hedquist - Computerworld NZ
16 February 2009

One of the new clients is Eastern Tree Services in Australia, a specialist in managing vegetation around power lines. Founded in 1981 in Victoria, the company today operates across Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania and has over 400 staff.

"Eastern Tree Services chose Greentree because it was flexible, cost-effective ERP solution," says Paul Tymensen, CFO of Eastern Trees Services.

Another reason for going with Greentree was the local support provided by Star Business Solutions, says Tymensen.

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Software centre's local support
Canberra City News
19 February 2009

Businesses and government agencies in the ACT could benefit from streamlining their business operations, according to Star Business solutions chief executive office Trish Hall.

Star Business Solutions, which was named Greentree Partner of the Year (Australia) in 2008, has just opened a new Canberra city office to offer software and support more directly to the ACT.

"We distribute that software, but more importantly involve ourselves in its implementation, helping businesses work out how they should be using it, helping to put in place training and then supporting them, after the changeover to that software, for years into the future," says Trish Hall.

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Fear is not a factor for Greentree
NZ Reseller News
6 February 2009

Greentree International is usually all about business (when it comes to software), but its staff and partners let their hair down at its recent conference on the Gold Coast, with a bit of action reminiscent of the TV show Fear Factor.

The "Unleased" theme seemed appropriate,not just as a call to ramp up sales efforts, but to fish in tanks of worms, hit the water in kayaks and get into a bit of body painting. Pictured as they're about to eat fish eyes and sheep's testicles are the vendors Paul Lane and Manjit King

See more highlights from the Greentree Partner Conference>>

Greentree set for mobility push, overseas expansion
by Amanda Sachtleben - NZ Reseller News
6 February 2009

Business software specialist Greentree's plans to make its applications available for mobile devices are now well advanced, with a full launch planned in about three months.

In addition, the vendor is on the hunt for more partners in the US and the UK, where it hopes to reach a target of 500 site installs in each market.

"Resource-constrained organisations don't want a new technology cost, and for people to be able to get their workforce to be more effective and have a system that's low cost, it's quite compelling," says Peter Dickinson, Greentree's CEO.

Read full article (669kb PDF)

Licensed to deliver: vendors respond in cash-strapped times
by Amanda Sachtleben - NZ Reseller News
6 February 2009

Cash flow constraints among small and medium business will force vendors to be innovative with pricing, licensing and delivery models this year, recent research by local IDC analysts suggests. Amanda Sachletben investigates their responses to this challenge...

"We're possibly not seeing as much pressure as some of the vendors, because Greentree is cost-effective and partner services are also cost-effective," says Peter Dickinson, Greentree's CEO. "A lot of our customers or new prospects aren't loking at a two-year payback, they look at six months. They tend not to get stressed about spreading payment, but think 'let's get in and do it'."

Read full article (724kb PDF)

August 2008

Smartphones take computer power out of the office
By Simon Hendery - NZ Herald
22 August 2008

New uses for cellphones are lifting productivity and cutting costs... This Herald article looks at some of the current issues surrounding business software, including the growing use of mobile computing. Following are some exercepts about Greentree's contribution to the growing mobile arena...

...one of New Zealand's largest business software companies, Greentree, plans to launch a mobile platform in October which will give customers phone-based access to a wide range of its applications.

Greentree chief executive Peter Dickinson says that as well as the productivity advantages of enabling field staff to feed information into the system throughout their working day - rather than having a backlog of data entry to do at the end of it, there is also growing business interest in "remote management" functionality. This is the ability for managers to use their mobile to receive real-time reports summarising important business metrics, or to receive an alert on the device if the office system records an unusual event - such as sales staff lodging a particularly large order at a discount price.

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July 2008

Ryman on top as fast creator of share value
By Tamsyn Parker - NZ Herald
3 July 2008

This recent NZ Herald article headlines long-time Greentree software users, Ryman Healthcare has just made the top of the NZ list for being the fastest creator of share value in the latest BCG report. Having good business processes and financial reporting and analysis functions plays a significant role in creating value in a company and Greentree has no doubt made a valuable contribution to Ryman in this respect...

Ryman Healthcare has topped a list of New Zealand's 15 largest listed companies for being the fastest value-creator for shareholders over the last five years.

Boston Consulting Group's latest value-creators report found the retirement village operator delivered an average total shareholder return of 49 per cent per annum in the five years to the end of 2007.

During that time Ryman's revenue grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 25 per cent while maintaining an ebit (earnings before interest and tax) margin of 18 to 25 per cent - a performance which saw its market value grow from $165 million to $1.03 billion.

Read full article (344kb PDF)

June 2008

Greentree delivers BPM layer
By Randal Jackson - Computerworld Magazine
16 June 2008

Greentree has developed a business process management layer for its software that turns it from a transaction and processing system into a fully fledged business control system.

The software is in beta and will go to general release in August.

"It runs across the entire product and allows both internal and external processes and events to be managed," says chief executive Peter Dickinson.

"You can create any rules. We've gone for a tightly integrated approach. This means rapid development of processes because the product doesn't need to be taught or have any complex mapping built."

Read full article (328kb PDF)

Southern man still alive — and kicking
By Jo Bennet - Computerworld Magazine
3 June 2008

The big goodbye bash for 500 that recently saw Robbie Deans, the former All-Black and Crusaders coach who has now taken on the Wallabies, farewell these shores show the ditch between the two islands is almost as deep as the one to the west.

Paul French, software company Greentree’s communications chap, revealed that the divide still runs very deep indeed. Among the banter at the event, the MC told the partisan Southern Men at the bash that the only three northerners allowed in the room were Greentree’s Graham Hill (Greentree was the event’s sponsor) and honorary southerners Colin Meads and the Mad Butcher.

Read full article (44kb PDF)

May 2008

SellAgence is geared up for new business in 2008
Grocers Review Magazine
May 2008

Technology enhancements will help deliver superior service to brand principals and trade customers.

“We feel the technology enhancements within the business have been absolutely critical.”

Sales and marketing agency SellAgence Ltd has completed an intensive year of technological investment, to create a platform for growth in 2008 and beyond.

The enhancements will also help deliver superior service to its brand principals and trade customers, and include a new ERP system and sales reporting, an e-commerce solution, enhanced process mapping and the roll out of PDA devices to the SellAgence field team.

In March 2007 the first major change was completed. To create an agile business system environment, SellAgence, in conjunction with systems parter Verde, implemented Greentree to replace its existing tier-one ERP system.

Greentree provided the ability to rapidly and efficiently add new principals and this was immediately put to the test. The system integration of the Kodak business began as soon as Greentree went live and trading commenced on 1 May - just 60 days later - an impressive result considering the scale and complexity of the business....

Read full article (347kb PDF)

January 2008

Getting a handle on the business
By Darren Greenwood - Computerworld Magazine
18 January 2008

This recent article looks at "off-the-shelf" financial management information systems (FMIS) and how easy they are to use and maintain. Greentree users SellAgence are companies interviewed, there are also some comments from Greentree's CEO Peter Dickinson.

““The cost of ownership has plummeted [since implementing Greentree].”

Mark Emirali, IT Manager - SellAgence

While some firms go for larger tier-one systems, marketing company SellAgence switched from Oracle to Greentree, feeling such a large system was “overkill” for their needs. IT manager Mark Emirali says the company’s whole IT system was overhauled, not just ERP and switching to Greentree delivered more efficiencies.

On seeing some Greentree sites, company executives were won over by Greetree’s ease of use, ability to migrate from one system to another, and ability to drill down for information. Verde was chosen as implementation partner.

Greentree was delivered “out of the box” and since its implementaion in early 2007 has been cost effective, needing fewer staff to support it. It had similar functions to the old Oracle system and has also been able to expand to cope with major new clients, such as Kodak.

“The cost of ownership has plummeted,” Emirali says.

SellAgence is also integrating Greentree with electronic data interfaces and data warehosusing tools, with other modules planned for the future. It has also virtualised Greentree onto other servers, boosting its disaster recovery capability.

Read full article (48kb PDF)