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1995: Redcastle founded by ex-Cimlinc CAD/CAM team
Jeff Proctor, ex-VP Europe of American CAD/CAM subsidiary Cimlinc inc, starts Redcastle to sell
Varimetrix 1995: Redcastle founder-team backgrounds Jeff Proctor teams with long-standing Cimlinc colleagues, Jim Wildey (Sales Director) and Cham Mistry (Technical Director) to form Redcastle. Prior to Cimlinc, Jim’s background was in PCB design where for 8 years he ran PowerTracks, a PCB design and assembly company. Cham came from Plessey, where he spent 7 years as a CAD consultant and business analyst. 1995: Vision for Redcastle
The team’s vision for Redcastle is to complement CAD sales with business systems extending beyond
design 1995: Building on previous experience – CRM at the hub Whilst at Cimlinc, Jeff Proctor bought Sage Accounting for internal use and began developing add-on programmes to run the business. He realised that with an SQL database and an alpha-numeric front-end his team could write a more complete and flexible system, tailored to the exact needs of the business. Customer applications for Bills of Materials and for preparing quotations followed. Jeff’s business plan for Redcastle is very similar. “We realised that by using a fully functional CRM system with the right underlying technology like SuperOffice, and with our experience of SQL and business systems from Cimlinc days, we could write an end-to-end business system, with the CRM software rather than an accounts system at the hub. It’s a customer-centric system that we are going to need in-house and it will be the same thing that we offer to smaller companies like ourselves, who see the same needs as us” says Jeff.
August 1996: Product Development gets fully underway After establishing the company, Redcastle commits resources to use SuperOffice open development tools to build a suite of application extensions for Quotes and Sales Order Processing. All applications will be prototyped and used in-house at Redcastle.
January 1997: New customer Bristol Fluid Systems Technology Orders first CRM licenses (by 2008, this grew to 20 users with ‘Quotes’, Sales Reporting and integration with SCALA - their Corporate ERP system).
November 1997: New customer Manchester Fluid Systems Technology Orders first CRM licenses (by 2008, up to 31 CRM users).
August 1998: New customer Maple Fleet Services Orders ‘AutoManager’ for adding security and tracking systems to trucks. The application is the first customer release of Redcastle’s Customer Quotes and Sales Order Processing system written in Visual Basic and running on SQL.
1999: Redcastle sells CAD interests after establishing a growing business in CRM and Business Management Systems Four years after starting the business, Redcastle have sold their CAD business in order to concentrate on CRM and business applications for smaller, growing companies. “CAD systems have become almost a commodity business for many resellers” says Jeff Proctor, Redcastle MD. “Our future efforts will be 100% concentrated on where we can offer the biggest value to our customers, which is flexible, but product-based, business systems for smaller, growing companies. Our simple philosophy is to fold into the standard product, at no extra charge, the functionality that we write for customer projects. So we aim to hit the sweet spot on cost and function out-of-the-box, while still offering pretty much open-ended flexibility to evolve the system with our customers’ needs. It’s win-win. Customers get what they need. We get the best level of standard functionality in the product”.
December 1999: New customer Charles Lawrence Group The artificial play surface company, orders 30 SuperOffice CRM licences.
1999: Swagelok Group Comprising existing customers, Bristol and Manchester Fluid Power Systems jointly commission bespoke Sales Call Planning and Reporting system called Scallion.
July 2000: Kennet Equipment Leasing Have engaged Redcastle to write a customised proposal system based on the QuoteManager product. Kennet plan to add automatic generation of customer agreements and integration of Leasesoft in the future.
July 2000: Redcastle implements 20th CRM customer Redcastle has established a significant customer base for CRM and Business Management System extensions. “Repeat orders are running at over 45% of total revenue, which shows that customers see value in additional products and services” says Jeff Proctor, Redcastle MD.
October 2000: New customer Concise IT Network Services Orders, QuoteManager and the new Customer Care application from Redcastle to work with Sage SOP. Concise’s vision is to grow their business and at the same time use the efficiencies of an end-to-end business system based on Redcastle's applications to avoid the need to recruit additional staff.
December 2000: Integrated Hydraulics, buy SuperOffice for 10 users Integrated, an existing customer for hardware and email management, adds 10 SuperOffice CRM from Redcastle.
December 2001: Kenrick and Jefferson Envelopes Buy 15 SuperOffice CRM licenses with plans to expand to over 20 users by year end.
January 2002: Spade Oak, the construction surfacing contractor, commits to an initial 5 licenses of SuperOffice CRM and Redcastle’s QuoteManager application Spade Oak plan to expand to 20 users in the future.
September 2002: Lutze Ltd, the electro-engineering and electronic component manufacturer Has contracted Redcastle to upgrade its SuperOffice CRM system and integrate their existing Opera system with Redcastle’s QuoteManager and PriceBook applications. (March 2007, Lutze Germany follows suit)
January 2003: Existing customer Concise IT Network Services Add HelpDeskManager application to their existing solution.
January 2003: Integrated CRM, Sales and Order Management system to be implemented by Stewart Signs, the outdoor graphics manufacturer This new customer has ordered SuperOffice CRM, QuoteManager and Order Manager (SOP) from Redcastle. This is the first fully integrated customer Business Management System from enquiry to delivery. For approaching half a century, Stewart Signs has built a reputation for value and innovation, producing high-quality, effective outdoor graphic solutions for some of the UK’s most image-conscious companies. Stewart Signs needed an integrated solution linking customer quotes to the ordering processes and factory scheduling.
September 2003: Panasonic Reseller Takeda Telecom Becomes first Voice & Data reseller to order CRM and QuoteManager from Redcastle.
October 2003: Staff Recruitment - Software Engineer Ed Carter joins Redcastle to provide Applications Development and customer support. Ed has a First Class BSc in Software Engineering from Nottingham Trent University.
March 2004: Norland Managed Services 56 users by 2008.
April 2004: Staff Recruitment – Admin and Support Gareth Bowman joins Redcastle in office administration and customer support. Gareth has a BSc in Applied Computing from East Anglia University.
January 2006: Avaya Reseller Q\DOS takes delivery of first full BMS (Business Management System) implementation from Redcastle Paul Deeks: Head of Technical Operations says: “We needed to replace a non-integrated system based on Goldmine, QuoteWorks and TSM. We wanted something easier to use in a single user interface to bring all our business data together. Using Redcastle’s system we now have much better access to all our customer information. With the new Scheduler we are managing the allocation of our installation resources more efficiently and also improving customer service”.
March 2007: Lutze Germany follow lead of UK daughter company Following the successful implementation of CRM and QuoteManager at Lutze UK, Lutze GmbH have contracted Redcastle to implement a 10 user solution for CRM, integrated with Redcastle’s QuoteManager and Pipeline Management applications.
May 2007: Staff Recruitment Redcastle has recruited David Lally, a professional trainer with CRM and ERP experience at Exel. David will manage the Redcastle Training Academy and provide additional office administration resource. David has a BSc in Chemistry from Nottingham University.
June 2007: Staff Promotion - Software Engineer Gareth Bowman moves from Admin and Support into the Development Team at Redcastle. Jeff Proctor says: “We are growing the business and need more resource in software engineering. Gareth has a BSc. in Applied Computing, so this is a good career progression for him”.
April 2007: Staff Recruitment – Sales and Marketing After 9 years with Convergys inc. in corporate sales of billing and customer care systems to Telecoms operators, Phil Morris joins Redcastle to lead additional sales through a segment-marketing strategy. Phil says: "It's good to be working again in the faster moving SME market place. I worked for 10 years with Jeff, Jim and Cham during the CADCAM days at Cimlinc, so when I saw what they've done at Redcastle with the latest applications in their Business Management System, I knew it was the right move for me. I’m really excited about the opportunity to sell a proven, end-to-end system to smaller, growing companies. The differentiator for me is that we can offer better value and service because we write and own the applications ourselves. This means we have a team of engineers who know the software inside out. We are going to focus on markets where we have several customers and where we have already implemented a complete Business Management System. Examples of this are Voice and Data Resellers, Software companies and companies in the broader sector of “Sales and Distribution”.
May 2008: Staff Recruitment – Development and Support Redcastle has recruited Imran Adam to join the development team. "We plan to transition Imran into a dual role within the development group providing first line support to customers" says MD Jeff Proctor. Imran has BSc. in Computer Science from De Montfort University.
May 2008: Staff Recruitment – Implementation and Project Management Redcastle has recruited Craig Ibberson, a Prince2 certified project manager. Craig came from Atos Origin, and was previously with Protocol Systems for 10 years. Craig will play a key role in the delivery of customer Business Management Systems.
May 2008: Evolve Telecommunications, the Mobile Voice and Data specialists go live with their Business Management System from Redcastle After a significant development effort to write the necessary product extensions to support their business requirements for Mobile Voice and Data, Evolve have gone live with an end-to-end system for Sales, Order Management and Customer Care. Amanda Barlow, Marketing Manager at Evolve, and Project Manager for the implementation, said: “We had quite a long list of specific requirements in order to fully support our business model. Redcastle proved to be very flexible and able to turn around our needs quickly. The system we now have allows us to provide a high quality service to our customers in the sales process, the handling of stock and fulfilling orders, and also in post-sale support. Redcastle have done a good job.”
July 2008: Redcastle focuses on Voice & Data Convergence Phil Morris – Head of Marketing and Telco Sales at Redcastle in Nottingham says: "Many Voice and Data Resellers have already extended, or are extending their offerings beyond traditional office phone systems into mobile phones or network services. They may not see the business processes as fundamentally different, but it’s certainly a challenge to maintain the efficiency of delivery and support when you introduce new products and services. The value proposition to Resellers’ customers has to be based on a one-stop-shop approach, but at less cost, and with better overall support. This puts a lot of strain on internal systems to keep up, which drains profitability. At Redcastle, we have customers in the three businesses of Voice and Data, Mobile and Networks/It. We have several customers who are traditional resellers like Takeda Telecom, Q\dos Networks and Odyssey Systems. We also have Evolve in Mobile Voice and Data; and we have Concise It in Networks. If we take Q\dos in Ipswich, as an example, they are broadening their phones solutions in the hospitality market, to offer hotel network and IT support, point of sale systems and even television equipment. Q\dos are growing, and Paul Deeks, Head of Technical Services, will tell you the use of our end-to-end Business Management System is fundamental in supporting that growth. We also have Concise IT, who provide Network Services and High Availability Server Systems. Many of their customers are asking for voice and data solutions, which would run on the networks and systems supplied or supported by Concise. The third and newest type of reseller, who went live in May 2008 with an end-to-end Business System is Evolve Telecom. Evolve provide Business to Business Mobile Voice and Data systems. We wrote a significant number of product extensions for this project and now have a full solution for mobile voice and data. The fact that we have Business Management System implementations in these three types of companies means we can offer any Reseller a proven solution which will support a converged or combined business model. We think this a valuable proposition to smaller, growing companies in Voice & Data / Communications Systems. We can help Resellers grow their business and, at the same time, improve efficiency and customer service. |
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