Webgenery SAS is an Independant Software Vendro dedicated to the real estate industry. To cope with strong growth, it has equipped itself with Akuiteo software, entering the world of SMEs at the same time. Following is the interview with Frédéric Daviet, chairman of Webgenery.

Hello Frederic Daviet. Can you introduce your company, Webgenery?

Webgenery has been in existence for 15 years and now has 12 employees. We are located in Annecy and also have a subsidiary in Geneva. Our business is structured around three services:

• graphic and functional realisation of websites,
• software publishing in the real estate sector, with training,
• design and management of the digital strategy (including advertising and support).

We specialized very early on in our field. We have more than 150 clients, 30% of whom are real estate agencies in tourism, as well as in new real estate, classic rental (management), etc.

Our territorial strategy focuses on the regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Burgundy-Franche-Comté, French-speaking Switzerland and major national accounts.

What is your role within Webgenery?

I created the company with two people: Laurence Hermelin, Marketing and Sales Director, and Julien Campos, Technical Director. As CEO, I naturally have a role as general manager but also in managing the administrative and financial aspects. In collaboration with Laurence, I am also in charge of business development.

As a software publisher, why did you choose an ERP software?

In 2012, we anticipated Webgenery's growth and hired an IT consultant to audit our operations at the time. His study revealed that our information sharing system was very generalistic and insufficient.

We have decided to completely reorganize the company's departments. To do this, we had to equip ourselves with a shared information system, allowing us to manage the company around customers and business. We wanted to help our company to grow, to move from the world of VSEs to that of SMEs and we knew that an ERP software was the solution ... without really having found the right tool for our structure and needs.

We had several problems to deal with. The tool had to be able:

• to bring together different software and services of the company,
• to incorporate the accounting part, whether for purchase or sale,
• to calculate our profitability by business, customer, product or service sold, etc... 
• to enable us to do so instantly to facilitate management control and foresight.

Did you have other expectations about your future management software?

We wanted it to be accessible, secure and absolutely compliant with the law, particularly in accounting, but we were also attentive to the quality of the relationship with the publisher. We wanted a real partner, attentive to our challenges, and able to develop ERP software functionalities according to our needs and strategy changes.

Why did you choose Akuiteo ERP software?

During the discussions with Akuiteo's teams, before the acquisition of the software, we were always extremely well received. We felt that our needs were really understood. We attended an ERP software test set that definitely convinced us that the software was suitable for our software service and publishing activity.

We were going to be able to develop the company with a single information system able to provide us with all the necessary services. This is Akuiteo's great strength: it allows us to manage customers, suppliers, prospects... in business mode. Each department can communicate around the project, including accounting and financial services.

You have been using Akuiteo for 5 years now. Has the software been able to support your development?

The first year allowed us to configurate and fill in the software database - we were advised and supported by Akuiteo's teams. We are well aware that data migration between software is complex and time-consuming and it was a real pleasure to be guided by experts in this field.

Here are two examples:

1. We have almost all the VAT entries or exits at Webgenery, suppliers outside the EU, EU, Switzerland, France, etc., the same thing for customers. I have been taking care of VAT in 5 minutes with almost no errors reported by my accountant over 36 months.
2. When we opened our subsidiary in Switzerland, we were pleasantly surprised to realize that Akuiteo software allows us to manage several companies, even abroad!

The tool is constantly evolving, in line with customer requests, legislation and strategic trends. We take advantage of the various updates offered and we regularly train our employees to use it to the maximum of its capacities: the model is very stable and scalable at the same time.

Today, thanks to Akuiteo, the whole company speaks the same language.

Thank you Frédéric Daviet for this testimony.

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