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2018 May June Marina World

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The magazine for the marina industry

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MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE Taking Havenstar to the next level In January, Jonas Software purchased Havenstar, the marina package developed and owned by UK-based Star Marina Solutions. Marina World discussed the move with the new Havenstar managing director Kevin Morgan. Q: What is Jonas Software’s background and why has it bought the marina element of the Star product? A: Jonas is a leading provider of enterprise management software solutions to a number of vertical markets, with over 60,000 customers in over 30 countries worldwide. The company’s focus is on creating long term relationships with customers and ensuring it meets and exceeds their software and service needs. Jonas’s charter is to acquire and grow companies that are premier players in their vertical markets. A people focused business with a “we acquire great companies with great products and hold them forever” strategy allows for a well planned and ongoing development of acquisitions. Jonas has a fantastic, successful track record and is not a burn and churn type of acquiring business but is in it ‘forever’. Havenstar wanted to maintain a market leading status in its field and continue to expand, focusing on continued product innovation and enhancement, and best in class customer service. To achieve these goals, it needed additional financial resources which Jonas will bring, allowing Havenstar to develop. Q: What are the strengths of the brand and the product? A: Havenstar is the most functionally deep marina management tool on the market. It has a high level of business intelligence, which is specifically designed to meet the needs of the marina sector, and has been designed and built by software engineers who truly understand the needs of this market. The key aspects of Havenstar we identified as differentiating from the competitors are: • Single site and enterprise solutions • Deferred revenue and forecast analysis • Deep integrations to numerous accounting packages • Integrations to multiple pedestal brands including Meter-Macs and Rolec • Integrated ePos solutions • Direct debit management tools Q: What further development do you have in mind? A: Because the product is so functionally deep, we know that we need to focus our efforts on making the product more intuitive and easier for the end user to engage with. This is a major focus for Kevin Morgan the team and the next version of the product. We are also working on an app which is due to be launched very soon, which will bring Havenstar right up to date in terms of latest trends and user expectations. Q: How broad is your market reach and where are you currently making installations? A: We currently have a number of significant installations ongoing, primarily in the USA. We have found that the US market has differing needs from that of the UK, so we’ve been working closely with a growing number of US clients to develop the product to meet these criteria. Havenstar is an international product, with installations in the USA, Middle East, UK and mainland Europe. As it is now part of the Jonas Group, this global reach is significantly increased as we have many businesses around the world. Q: Where do you see the future for marina management software? A: I believe the marina vertical has been under served by its software providers over the past decade or so. We very much intend to buck this trend by investing in both the Havenstar product and the wider marina vertical to develop the technology available to marinas both in the UK and overseas. The demands of today’s consumers in general and boat owners have never been so high. We understand these demands at Jonas and have significant experience in developing software to allow companies serving these consumers to meet these expectations. We also understand that data is knowledge, and by providing tools to marina managers allowing them to access and understand the data they hold, we as software providers can add significant value to the marina sector. E: kmorgan@jonassoftware.co.uk www.marinaworld.com - May/June 2018 43

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