BSoft

Bonev Soft Auditing Ltd. (BSoft) is one of the biggest accounting software companies in Bulgaria. Its flagship software, AJUR® is an integrated management system for Windows that is extensively used by government and non-government organizations globally and across a number of vertical industries - from manufacturing and financial services through to power generation. More than 5,000 BSoft customers use AJUR to provide financial reports to tax authorities and various other stakeholders; as well as to closely manage their supply chains. Customers include major enterprises such as Overgas Holding, Sinergon Holding, Armeets, Cargill, EY, PwC and the Bulgarian Military.

We evaluated many database technologies and InterBase had the right mix of ease of use, speed, high performance and scalability for our needs.

Valentin Bonev, Managing Partner, Project Manager and CIO

Challenge

BSoft first developed AJUR in 1990 as a DOS-based accounting system. Over time it added warehousing software using dBase as the database management system.

Unfortunately, dBase proved inadequate as it wasn't able to cope with big data volumes, says Valentin Bonev, Managing Partner, Project Manager and CIO of BSoft. "The speed of access wasn't fast enough and there were concerns about information security."

According to Bonev, database management and administration were also labour and time intensive, leading to additional project costs. "We needed to find a scalable solution that could help streamline administration functions and ultimately save costs."

Ultimately, the company transitioned to a Microsoft Windows visual environment and SQL database.

Solution

BSoft subsequently chose to implement Embarcadero InterBase. "We evaluated many database technologies and InterBase had the right mix of ease of use, speed, high performance and scalability for our needs," Bonev explains. "Being able to scale a database engine in response to customer requirements in terms of cost of installation and ownership and user count was especially critical given that their operations can range anywhere from one or two users into the hundreds."

As a software vendor with a distributed customer base, having a solution that required minimal administration meant BSoft could potentially pass on considerable cost savings to its customers, he adds. "By reducing the support overhead we require we have saved thousands of dollars a year in staffing and can provide better customer service and experience. InterBase's tiny footprint has also made it easy to use with AJUR even on the oldest of customers' hardware."

InterBase also enables real-time access to secure data. The InterBase Server comes with powerful encryption and disaster recovery capabilities, including point-in-time data recovery, to enable data continuity even in the case of server failure.

Bonev notes that security and reliability are critical to AJUR's success in the market. "InterBase has played a very significant role in AJUR's development and our reputation for being one of the most reliable accounting and enterprise resource planning solution globally."

Since some BSoft customers are ISO 27001 certified, they must adhere to very stringent information management rules. InterBase makes standard compliance possible through role-based authentication, data configuration, 256-bit data encryption, specific secure logins and granular / whole database encryption already provided in the solution. "In fact the high-level encryption in InterBase means AJUR user data is always secure, even when working offline on laptops," Bonev says. "Interbase is also ready to move with us as we progress to taking our data to new platforms such as tablets and other mobile devices."

Results

BSoft continues to reap added benefits each time InterBase introduces new features. "This solution has enabled us to transition AJUR from a finance and accounting offering to a fully integrated suite of finance and accounting, sales management, supply chain management, analysis and business intelligence products."

He believes that with InterBase, BSoft has the capability to scale to unlimited numbers of users. "We're continuously evolving in tune with changing customer requirements and at pace with wider technological developments. We are working on increasing the software speed; and adding capabilities for online connections to e-stores, smart apps and services related to mobile devices to make it a truly next generation product. The great thing is that InterBase is already on the platforms we want to reach, including Android and iOS, which vastly reduces our effort in reaching them."

BSoft is currently using InterBase to develop a 64-bit version of AJUR. This will provide customers access to more memory and speed up data analysis for more complex and large volume databases.

"It will work much faster and process bigger amounts of data at the same time," Bonev explains. "We're already planning new functionality based on mobile devices and online access for customers."

We needed to find a scalable solution that could help streamline administration functions and ultimately save costs. By reducing the support overhead we require we have saved thousands of dollars a year in staffing and can provide better customer service and experience.

Valentin Bonev, Managing Partner, Project Manager and CIO