superMate aids flood affected businesses

superMate aids flood affected businesses

21 January 2011

Download the PDF here

The floods affecting Queensland and Northern New South Wales have not just destroyed homes and infrastructure, but business in Brisbane’s CBD and surrounds also came to a virtual standstill over the last two weeks when evacuations and subsequent power cuts were still in place due to the presence of water near electrical outlets.

For many businesses, this amounted to a week or more of lost productivity and revenue, but for Keersten Plep, SMSF Accountant for the Integrated Financial Solutions (IFS) group of companies, it was business as usual thanks to the company’s decision in late 2010 to upgrade to Supercorp Technology’s superMate software.

The IFS Group provides SMSF administration services in-house for high net wealth individuals and business owners through its specialist administration arm, Fintech Financial Services.

The Principal of the IFS Group, Grant Chapman, said that the financial situations of clients were not compromised during disruptions caused by the recent floods and IFS was able to continue to provide high quality financial strategy and investment advice due to superMate.

Being a hosted application, the superMate system and database is located and maintained off-site, which enables users to access all client information remotely and operate “any time, anywhere” while also saving on disaster recovery and back up processes.

Ms Plep was able to relocate and then continue conducting business from her home on the Sunshine Coast after IFS Group offices in Fortitude Valley were evacuated as a precautionary measure due to rising flood waters.

“We decided to evacuate our offices on Tuesday due to the danger posed by the rising flood waters and power losses. But having superMate software which is easily accessible via the internet from any location, I was able to continue servicing my clients with no disruption whatsoever,” Ms Plep said.

“This has been extremely convenient for the business. Unfortunately, many other financial planners and accountants I know did not have the same remote access to client information so have been unable to attend to the needs of their clients in these critical times during a natural disaster.”

Ms Plep had previously used Supercorp Technolgy’s Superfund software which is not hosted off-site. Had the company not upgraded to superMate when it did, she would not have had the ability to access client information at all.

“It made all the difference that the superMate server was not located onsite as once something so important is damaged by a crisis of this nature, it becomes very difficult to retrieve information even once the floods have subsided, as the server itself can be destroyed,” Ms Plep said.

Having returned to her office on Monday 17th of January, Ms Plep is one of the lucky few for whom business was able to continue despite the destruction caused by the floods for those based in Brisbane’s CBD.

For many, returning to their offices will not possible until the week commencing 24 January 2011 or later.

superMate was unveiled in September 2009 as the next generation of SMSF administration software, built on the previous success of Supercorp’s flagship product SuperVisor II.

The new software extends the existing SuperVisor II engine and provides innovation and flexibility, delivered via the web. It enables users to increase productivity and enhance client value, while decreasing the need for highly skilled staff.

Supercorp’s CEO Kurt Groeneveld said that Supercorp was delighted that superMate’s remote access capability has been useful to subscribers whom have been unable to access their offices during the floods.

“Obviously, the losses that Queenslanders, those in northern New South Wales and now in Victoria, have had to face have been great in terms of lives and homes lost. But for businesses that have also been affected, it makes real sense to ensure that you don’t keep all your records and client information in one location,” Mr Groeneveld said.

“Ensuring you have copies of all records at another location is one way to protect yourself against losses, but relying on an off-site server is more practical still. It allows you the ability to not only retain your information and records, but continue to work regardless of any circumstances that may arise.”