5 April 2009
The Stereophonics track “Long Way Down” introduced software company Digita’s recent 7th annual conference. This year the company is under new ownership, having been acquired by US software and information giant Thomson Reuters, introduced to delegates as “a global leader in tax and accounting software.” The Thomson Reuters branding was evident everywhere at this year’s conference.
After 23 years at the helm, managing director Jerry Rihll’s enthusiasm for the company and his vision to drive it forward were undiminished as he opened the conference. Last year was a good one for Digita, he told the audience:
- turnover up by 27%.
- 1,200 new customers.
- an impressive 98% renewal rate.
- a customer base of 3,000 firms and 15,000 users.
- 93 employees across its three sites, 60% of whom work on software development.
Rihll singled out the company’s customer service team for particular praise. In 2008 they fielded 39,000 service requests – an impressive total, but not specially alarming given the number of new and existing customers.
Seventy per cent of the support team have worked in practice and since joining Digita they have together accumulated 40 years of service with the company. Continuity is important to Digita and it was noticeable that virtually the same key staff have lead their respective product teams at every one of the seven conferences to date. However, delegates were not upset to learn that one long serving servant of the support team will be retiring in 2009 – later this year the answering machine will be terminated and all support calls will go through to an adviser immediately.
Rihll reminded delegates of the six principles or “virtues” behind Digita software:
- Flexible – despite developing a complete suite of practice applications, Digita remains equally committed to best of breed users; users range from three of the top 10 firms down to a large number of sole practitioners.
- Future proofed – Microsoft certification is obtained for every new version of Windows and office.
- Proven –over 23 years.
- Extensive functionality straight out of the box.
- Intuitive, especially thanks to the company’s close working relationship with Microsoft.
- Reliable – Digita was top with 0% critical failures at initial service and ongoing support in the last ICAEW survey.
On the product front, the main news for 2009 was the ongoing development of Practice Management, the first part of which was delivered in 2008. This year should see the release of time and fees, complete with reports and user dashboards. This release will include 60-70 ready-to-run reports plus a fully user configurable report editor.
Far from being swallowed up by its new parent company – the Thomson Reuters (TR) group, which has a presence in 22 countries, 50,000 employees and turned over £10bn last year. President and CEO of the tax and accounting division, Roy M Martin Jr, was on hand to reassure Digita customers that TR was committed not to meddle with Digita and would be allowing Jerry and his team to continue to lead the company. The acquisition means that Digita now has access to the entire TR software catalogue to enhance its own offerings.
The first fruit of this co-operation will be a document management application to be launched as part of Digita Practice Management in the last quarter of 2009, a fully localised UK build of the highly successful File Cabinet which TR has sold into over 15,000 firms in the USA. Martin promised further investment in Digita and in the UK in future, but gave no further details either in his formal address or when interviewed later.
The opening address closed with a reprise of “Long Way Down” – not, as it turns out, a comment on how far the company has to fall in the current economic climate, but a reminder for Rihll of his recent 2,000 mile motorcycle trip across Thailand!
Back to press cuttings