Highly Commended: Cosyn Software

"We are able to offer our clients a top solution that has a long-term future. It has given us a tremendous new product set to offer our clients” Cosyn Software director Trevor Middleton

By Reseller News Staff, Auckland | Friday, 30 November 2007
Cosyn Software has been an IBM Business Partner since 1993 and was highly commended in Information Management category at the IBM Business Partner Awards.

According to director and founder Trevor Middleton, Cosyn has built up a level of expertise with all things IBM. “We’ve been working in the IBM environment from the days of the AS/400. We do everything from designing custom applications to consulting to developing our own stand-alone solutions that sit on top of IBM-specific applications. Over the years we’ve built up considerable business acumen to complement our technical knowledge and that has helped us as we develop solutions for clients.”

For Middleton, there is no such thing as “one-size-fits-all”. “Each customer has specific needs that evolve over time and a solution that was appropriate a few years ago might not be the best fit now. We have a number of clients who have been with us for years and we are always looking for ways to help them keep up with the technology. We offer guidance, project management, and development – anything that helps them achieve their business goals.”

A low staff turnover has helped Cosyn build trusted relationships with its clients, says Middleton. “We’ve built up a good knowledge base within the company that helps us service our clients in the most efficient manner. It’s not enough just to put in a new system and hope that it gets used. We are proactive after the implementation and help people within the organisation discover the benefits of the system. A relatively modest amount of education can improve productivity significantly.”

Cosyn currently has around 12 consultants and developers on the books and does about 25 percent of its business overseas. “Audit Trail/400 has been very successful for us as an export, as compliance is a major issue for American companies.”

Audit Trail/400 provides a simple and cost-effective method to log database changes for IBM iSeries customers says Middleton. “Tracking database changes has become more important, especially for companies that are affected by American laws such as USA FDA Article 2 Part 11, Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and HIPAA. These mandates have spawned any number of opportunities for developers like us.”

Cosyn has seen a big boost recently with a renewed focus on ERP implementation, says Middleton. “When we started the AS/400-based BCPS ERP system was a standard, but the technology moved on and there was a slight lull in the uptake. But recently there has been movement with a convergence of BCPS and BAAN into INFOR and that has pushed IBM-based ERP solutions back to the fore. So now we are able to offer our clients a top solution that has a long-term future. It has given us a tremendous new product set to offer our clients.”

Technology used:
Custom IBM System i coding & development
Evelogic Robot/Schedule
Captaris Rightfax
Sublime outsourced web-based OCR/workflow solution using Ascent Capture