New Software App, Exceed, Wants to Simplify How African Businesses Operate

New Software App, Exceed, Wants to Simplify How African Businesses Operate Vanessa Obioha Managing a business often means juggling several applications to keep track of employees, customers, sales and everyday operations. But what if all these functions could be managed from one place? Gurugeeks Royalty Limited, a UK-Nigerian technology company, has launched Exceed, an integrated business management platform designed to help African businesses manage their workforce, customer relationships and daily operations through a single application. Unveiled in Lagos, the cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform combines human resource management (HRM) and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions with tools for managing business operations. It also features an artificial intelligence-powered Virtual Assistant to help users navigate the application and make better use of its features. At the launch, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Femi Ade, demonstrated how the application could ease the burden on businesses that find managing multiple applications cumbersome and increasingly expensive. He also pointed to the limited visibility senior executives often have when information is scattered across different systems. “If you don’t have consolidated and holistic intelligent analytics, it’s difficult for you to make certain decisions,” he said. The challenge, he explained, was finding a way to bring “the beauty and capabilities of an HRM solution, the CRM solution, as well as the operational workflows into one unified platform.” Exceed brings these functions together, alongside tools for employee information management, customer and sales management, helpdesk services, workflow automation, project and task management, timesheets, staff scheduling, expense claims, asset tracking, learning management and organisational performance monitoring. Other features, including payroll, attendance and leave management, are available under selected subscription plans. Describing the thinking behind the platform, Ade said the company was focused on addressing local business challenges rather than simply replicating existing solutions. “This is thinking organically. This is thinking about how we can solve our own local problems in Nigeria and Africa at large. That is what Exceed is doing. We are not trying to repeat what people have done. We are taking HRM and CRM solutions further than where other operations stopped,” he said. He added that the broader vision was to make business software more useful to the people and organisations that depend on it. “Our belief is that business software should do more than manage processes. It should help people perform better, make work more organised and enable businesses to achieve their goals.” On security, Ade said the platform was built with security considerations across its infrastructure and network, adding that its architecture would support businesses as they expand. Hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Exceed offers four subscription options: Starter for businesses with up to 10 users, Gold for up to 100 users, Enterprise for up to 500 users and Custom for larger organisations or those with specialised requirements. Features vary according to the selected plan. With affordability and local-currency pricing among its considerations, Gurugeeks said the platform was developed with African business needs in mind, while retaining the capacity to serve organisations beyond the continent. The company is targeting startups, small and medium-sized enterprises and larger organisations.