Cable Programming Giant Becomes 100th GL Wand Customer
Raleigh, NC – September 21, 2008 -- Excel4apps, an independent software developer focused on creating applications that work with Oracle® financial reporting systems, has reached an important milestone in the adoption of its GL Wand product with Home Box Office, Inc. (HBO) as its 100th customer. This brings the number of licensed users of the product to more than 2000 worldwide.
HBO, America's most popular pay television service, adopted the GL Wand package to allow their Finance department to run their Oracle reports directly in Microsoft Excel. They began working with Oracle and their E-Business Suite in 2007 to support their financial reporting needs for their growing business in the evolving media and entertainment industry.
"GL Wand lets us access our Oracle data with Excel in an easy and proficient manner. The way it is linked to the system makes reporting, pulling balances, and accessing detail much easier," said Michael Hinck, project manager, Finance Systems at HBO. "Just as importantly, the security remains intact, yet employees at all levels have the ability to do a lot more with the data they have."
Customer surveys by Excel4apps have indicated that GL Wand saves customers an average of two to four days per person per month on financial reporting, while enabling them to capitalize on their familiarity with Excel.
Oracle PartnerNetwork, which works with more than 20,000 companies that create innovative software solutions based on the Oracle software, has recognized the value of the GL Wand system and has listed Excel4apps on the Oracle ISV solution maps for Financial Reporting Analysis.
"Our customers are excited about the GL Wand offering. They already use Excel and when they see the ease of access to their information during the free trial stage it's not uncommon to hear excited exclamations during a demo. Our tool allows them to perform their jobs better by offering the best of the Microsoft Excel interface plus the security and performances inherent to Oracle offerings. GL Wand is simple to install, and employees have no problem learning to use it. They very quickly realize that they can save hours on routine and special tasks. They also have the ability to slice and dice their Oracle data in real time and drill down to ledger detail with a few clicks of the mouse," says Michele Buson, Global Sales and Marketing Director for Excel4apps.
GL Wand can be downloaded from the Excel4apps website and tested with a simple pass key from the online demo system. A 30 day free trial is available. Technical support is available to users worldwide.
For more information on GL Wand, visit the company's website at www.excel4apps.com, or call 919 882 2114.
-end-
© 2008 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. HBO is a service mark of Home Box Office, Inc. ®Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners
About Excel4apps
Excel4apps is a global organization with offices in the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, UAE. The company works with resellers in more than ten countries. Excel4apps currently has more than 2000 licensed GL Wand users at more than 100 E-Business Suite customers around the globe. Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, Excel4apps developed GL Wand exclusively for Oracle Financials so it is easy to install and maintain, easy to use, tightly integrated, and secure. The tool makes financial reporting using Excel simple, accurate and fast.
About the Oracle PartnerNetwork
Oracle PartnerNetwork is a global business network of more than 20,000 companies who deliver innovative software solutions based on Oracle software. Through access to Oracle's premier products, education, technical services, marketing and sales support, the Oracle PartnerNetwork program provides partners with the resources they need to be successful in today's global economy. Oracle partners are able to offer their customers leading-edge solutions backed by Oracle's position as the world's largest enterprise software company. Partners who are able to demonstrate superior product knowledge, technical expertise and a commitment to doing business with Oracle qualify for the Certified Partner levels.
About HBO
Home Box Office, Inc. is the premium television programming subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., providing two 24-hour pay television services – HBO and Cinemax – to over 40 million U.S. subscribers. The services offer the most popular subscription video on demand products, HBO On Demand and Cinemax On Demand, as well as HBO on Broadband, HD feeds and multiplex channels. Internationally, HBO's branded television networks, along with the subscription video on demand products HBO On Demand and HBO Mobile, bring HBO services to over 50 countries. HBO programming is sold into over 150 countries worldwide. Read the full story
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
See us in San Francisco!
Excel4apps is poised to share its "magic" with visitors to Oracle Open World 2008, Sept. 21 – 25 in San Francisco. Our international and U.S. teams will assemble in Booth 3920 in Moscone West, where we're excited to meet the best and the brightest of our industry to share our time-saving software products -- tools that are helping to improve productivity in finance departments worldwide.
If you're planning to be at Oracle Open World, please make a point to stop by and visit with Michele Buson, Shaun Pendrigh, Scott Stollwerk, Ryan Schmidt and the rest of the members of the Excel4apps team, and pick up your free demo copy of GL Wand, our premier tool for enabling Oracle users to easily and efficiently create reports using Microsoft Excel. We'll be in Booth 3920 in Moscone West.
If you're already one of our more than 2000 valued users, please come by and say hello. We always enjoy hearing from satisfied users and appreciate any feedback you can provide to help us add features or otherwise continue to make GL Wand the best product available for reporting out of Oracle.
This show also marks the U.S. debut of Budget Wand, the newest offering from Excel4apps for making budget creation a snap. If your team loves GL Wand, we've got the next tool you're really going to have to have. Stop by for a demonstration and to hear more about our plans for making your future budget cycles easier with Budget Wand.
If you're planning to be at Oracle Open World, please make a point to stop by and visit with Michele Buson, Shaun Pendrigh, Scott Stollwerk, Ryan Schmidt and the rest of the members of the Excel4apps team, and pick up your free demo copy of GL Wand, our premier tool for enabling Oracle users to easily and efficiently create reports using Microsoft Excel. We'll be in Booth 3920 in Moscone West.
If you're already one of our more than 2000 valued users, please come by and say hello. We always enjoy hearing from satisfied users and appreciate any feedback you can provide to help us add features or otherwise continue to make GL Wand the best product available for reporting out of Oracle.
This show also marks the U.S. debut of Budget Wand, the newest offering from Excel4apps for making budget creation a snap. If your team loves GL Wand, we've got the next tool you're really going to have to have. Stop by for a demonstration and to hear more about our plans for making your future budget cycles easier with Budget Wand.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Excel4apps in the Middle East
Excel4apps has recently established a presence in the Middle East. Shirley Mincher has been appointed to represent Excel4apps in the region and is based in Knowledge Village, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Shirley will support existing Excel4apps customers in the Middle East region through the provision of product training and by assisting new customers with evaluating GL Wand and Budget Wand for Oracle 11i / R12.
Excel4apps will be showcasing GL Wand and Budget Wand at the upcoming Gitex Technology week from 19 – 24 October 2008 in Dubai. This is the second year in a row that Excel4apps will be exhibiting at this event. As part of a special promotion launching the Middle East presence we will be offering special pricing on GL Wand for all those organisations that visit us at Gitex in Hall 5, Oracle Area, WS-1. If your organisation runs the Oracle E-Business suite then we would encourage you to contact Shirley to arrange a complimentary Gitex pass and come and see how you easily do your Oracle reporting and budgeting in Excel. Free trial software available to conference visitors.
Excel4apps is a global organisation with a presence in the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, UAE and resellers in 10+ countries. Excel4apps currently has 2000+ licensed GL Wand users at 100+ E-Business Suite customers around the globe.
Excel4apps will be showcasing GL Wand and Budget Wand at the upcoming Gitex Technology week from 19 – 24 October 2008 in Dubai. This is the second year in a row that Excel4apps will be exhibiting at this event. As part of a special promotion launching the Middle East presence we will be offering special pricing on GL Wand for all those organisations that visit us at Gitex in Hall 5, Oracle Area, WS-1. If your organisation runs the Oracle E-Business suite then we would encourage you to contact Shirley to arrange a complimentary Gitex pass and come and see how you easily do your Oracle reporting and budgeting in Excel. Free trial software available to conference visitors.
Excel4apps is a global organisation with a presence in the USA, United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, UAE and resellers in 10+ countries. Excel4apps currently has 2000+ licensed GL Wand users at 100+ E-Business Suite customers around the globe.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
GL Wand: Simply Magic?
We are very excited that one of our GL Wand customers has chosen to present a paper titled "GL Wand: Simply Magic". What more can we say, except that we hope you can make it there in person.
Francis Nocom, the Applications Manager at Cochlear Limited will be presenting this paper at the AUSOUG Gold Coast event 13-14 October 2008.
Paper Abstract
In today's challenging business environment, there is a pressing need to provide useful and prompt reports that will enable the business to make the right decisions in a timely manner. GL Wand provides quick and easy access to Oracle GL and subledger information which results in increased productivity and reporting efficiency.
The aim of this presentation is to provide the audience with an overview of the benefits of having GL Wand such as shorter reporting cycles, quicker month end closes and an enhanced experience when using Oracle Financials.
This session will show how GL Wand was implemented globally at Cochlear. It will demonstrate the different stages of implementation, from introduction to the tool, stakeholder's buy-in and how GL Wand was implemented in the Finance teams globally. Emphasis will be on the implementation experience and challenges of consolidating different requirements dictated by different needs across different countries. This will cover project management, ownership, design and development of reports, and user training and support. Each phase will be discussed in detail with emphasis on the critical success factors. The presentation will also illustrate how GL Wand is used in Cochlear and the benefits it brings to the Finance teams and its customers globally. It will demonstrate GL Wand's main features and functions, and show why GL Wand is…. simply magic!
More info
Francis Nocom, the Applications Manager at Cochlear Limited will be presenting this paper at the AUSOUG Gold Coast event 13-14 October 2008.
Paper Abstract
In today's challenging business environment, there is a pressing need to provide useful and prompt reports that will enable the business to make the right decisions in a timely manner. GL Wand provides quick and easy access to Oracle GL and subledger information which results in increased productivity and reporting efficiency.
The aim of this presentation is to provide the audience with an overview of the benefits of having GL Wand such as shorter reporting cycles, quicker month end closes and an enhanced experience when using Oracle Financials.
This session will show how GL Wand was implemented globally at Cochlear. It will demonstrate the different stages of implementation, from introduction to the tool, stakeholder's buy-in and how GL Wand was implemented in the Finance teams globally. Emphasis will be on the implementation experience and challenges of consolidating different requirements dictated by different needs across different countries. This will cover project management, ownership, design and development of reports, and user training and support. Each phase will be discussed in detail with emphasis on the critical success factors. The presentation will also illustrate how GL Wand is used in Cochlear and the benefits it brings to the Finance teams and its customers globally. It will demonstrate GL Wand's main features and functions, and show why GL Wand is…. simply magic!
More info
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