Excel4apps: Taking the World by the Wand

The growth of Excel4apps in its three short years is a testament to the company's ability to identify market needs and execute viable solutions that are literally thrilling both IT experts and financial professionals worldwide. With a young and vibrant leadership team and an enviable knowledge of how businesses really work, Excel4apps is poised to continue to make life easier for finance departments in businesses both large and small.

As a company borne in the internet age, Excel4apps was created to sell and support its products globally and harness the knowledge and skills of a globally dispersed workforce all joined by the internet. Originally launched in South Africa and with its first GL Wand customer being a UK listed bank, the path to globalization was set in motion. After opening offices in Johannesburg, Sydney, and the heart of England, and with a new presence in Dubai and the United States, Excel4apps is servicing the world.

The company's original founders Michele Buson and Shaun Pendrigh, and key executives like Warren Brugger, all have extensive experience working with Oracle in dozens of different business situations. A recurring theme they'd always seen was the desire by financial professionals to use Excel.

"We saw early on that accountants do not want to move away from Excel, yet so many companies were trying to create business intelligence tools that were Excel-like. We thought, 'Why not just create the interface so they can use Excel?' and that is exactly what we did," says Buson.

Oracle's open framework architecture welcomes independent software companies to design applications for their users, and Microsoft Excel is also extendable, so the Excel4apps team set their sights on building the seamless integration that was so desperately needed.

The result: one of the fastest growing software tools available: GL Wand.

Acceptance of GL Wand has been fueled not only by need and its ability to perform, but by its ease of installation, ease of use, and unbeatable customer service. The company has built a worldwide presence quickly by developing a tool that offers an inexpensive option that allows users to work with tools they are intimately familiar with.

"Our success continues to be based on our understanding of what business users need. The flexibility of GL Wand means that ad hoc reports can be created in minutes from data in Oracle financials. IT professionals appreciate the ease of installation and deployment, which can take less than an hour," Buson says.

As the history of this company continues to evolve and awareness spreads through the global business network, one thing is certain: though the past is relatively short, the future is going to be long and exciting.