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CompanyConvenient BV“We control approximately 80 percent of the market. If we assume that 3,200 practices represent some 9,000 physical therapists, there’s a good chance that our software — and with it Pervasive.SQL — manages the medical details of almost every Dutch person.” Donald Pagrach, President, Intramed (Convenient Subsidary) About Convenient BVConvenient BV is a software company based out of The Netherlands that develops and supports software packages for physical therapists, kitchen and bathroom specialty stores and high school book supply. Customers include the Formido Group, Voortman, Pontmeyer, Raab Karcher and Nieuwenhuis. Despite the failing economic climate, Convenient continues to grow year after year due to its superior technology. Business ChallengeConvenient’s target base is concerned about the economic bottom line. When choosing a data management solution, cost is always a factor. With other database products the cost per individual user is high, especially for lower number of users, which can be typical for Convenient clients. Oracle was seen as too high of a priced solution. Microsoft.SQL is complicated when applying for separate database licenses, one reason being that their products are mostly bundled in back-office packages. Since smaller user groups are part of Convenient’s target segment , the expected user friendliness and ease of installation and maintenance of the solution is extremely high Users also are the ones who frequently activate the updates. According to Gerard Boschman, Convenient’s business unit manager of research and development, “Among our customers, system administrators are rather the exception than the rule. That’s why it’s important for updates to be simple to install and not alter the existing software. Pervasive’s SolutionShortly after its inception, Convenient began developing its products using Pervasive.SQL, which is obtained through Q-RY and Artefact, two Dutch Pervasive Software distributors. A major reason for this move is Pervasive’s industry-known speed and stability. Economics was also a major factor. Oracle licenses, for example, comparatively cost as much as 30 percent more than those of Pervasive and that percentage is even higher for single user licenses. Ease of installation enable Pervasive.SQL to be included in Convenient's software package, while being installed separately by users. “Even after installation, Pervasive customers can rest easy: The database system needs no administrator and once installed it runs itself,” Boschman said. Pervasive is also cross-platform and works extraordinarily well with Borland Delphi, the environment Convenient uses to develop its solutions. Among the three current software packages developed with Pervasive, Intramed and WinDesign are the most business-critical. IntramedIntramed, the subsidiary created by Convenient has been delivering standard software to physical therapists for 11 years in The Netherlands. It is a Windows-based application and runs on networks (Novell NetWare, Windows NT/2000) as well as stand-alone units (Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, professional and XP). As a company support system, Intramed software coaches all actions of medical staff -- from administration processing and statements to creating statistics, annual accounts, protocols and links to the banking system. The program shows screen-by-screen, step-by-step, which data must be entered for a patient and/or treatment. Intramed includes more than 3,200 paramedical practices in its customer base in The Netherlands and is therefore the market leader in this area. Donald Pagrach, Intramed's managing director, said, “We control approximately 80 percent of the market. If we assume that 3,200 practices represent some 9,000 physical therapists, there’s a good chance that our software — and with it Pervasive.SQL — manages the medical details of almost every Dutch person.” WinDesignWinDesign runs on a Windows 95/98 workstation on a Novell or Windows NT server. Large kitchen chains such as Voortman, the Formido Group or Raab Karcher use it to visualize 3D-designs of kitchens and/or bathrooms. A module for processing orders and offers is integrated. Furthermore, Convenient has added extra replication technology, enabling users to take their designs home and continue working on them there. Klaas Eriks, manager with Convenient, said, “The possibilities with WinDesign are endless. In addition to the visualization function, the application provides the management of client as well as product information. Some of our clients manage details of some 200 brands this way. When you consider that a single top brand has 2.5 million details available, the total number of product details puts heavy pressure on the database which handles this information. Pervasive can and keeps delivering the required stability and speed.” Pervasive's scalability is currently the most important asset for Convenient. The standard software can be offered to larger as well as smaller companies and customers can grow without having to switch to another product. Bottom LineThe result of 11 years of cooperation between Pervasive Software and Convenient BV has led to a worldclass software offering. In the paramedical field, for instance, approximately 80 percent of all patient details throughout The Netherlands are managed in a Pervasive database. Gerard Boschman summed it up, “Pervasive Software is one of the companies that has enabled us to grow. Their technology is a vital part of our software solutions with which we can call ourselves specialists in the respective markets." For more informationTo learn more about Pervasive Software and our solutions, please visit www.pervasive.com. To reach the North American sales office, call 1.800.287.4383, extension 2. For Latin, Central and South America, Australia and New Zealand, call +1.512.231.6000. In Europe, for Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, call +800.12.12.34.34. For any other European, Middle Eastern, African or Asian countries (excluding Japan), call +32.70.23.37.61. For Japan, please call +81.3.3293.5300, or visit www.pervasive.co.jp. |
