Q&A: Dan Drum MD of Hardcat software company

As the company prepares to release its Next Gen product, a system generator, Jenny Eagle chats exclusively to its MD Dan Drum about the company and what 2009 holds.

CRN: What is Hardcat?

Drum: Hardcat Pty Ltd (the company) is a Melbourne based software house specialising in Fixed Asset Management Software

Hardcat (the product) is Fixed Asset Management software, catering for the complete life cycle of an asset.

Our headquarters are based in Melbourne with 35 employees and we have additional offices in the UK and the U.S.

CRN: What does Hardcat do?

Drum: Hardcat is Fixed Asset Management software.

It incorporates the following modules, Procurement, Purchasing, Barcoding/RFID, Depreciation, Stock Control, Help Desk, Preventative Maintenance & Mobility PDA.

The software is both client/server and web enabled. It controls the complete life cycle of an asset, from initial conception through to final disposal.

CRN: How many resellers does Hardcat have?

Drum: Hardcat has three resellers in Australia they are; Asset Track Australia in Perth, Rosh Tech in Townsville and Shumisoft in Sydney.

We want to take on more resellers this year in all major hubs where we are not represented.

CRN: Why should resellers partner with Hardcat?

Drum: Hardcat opens up a revenue stream for the reseller in not just the Hardcat software but the additional associated supporting products and services.

These additional products and services include, Barcodes, Barcode PDA equipment, RFID tags, RFID Fixed readers, RFID PDA readers, Data Capture Services, Training Services, Implementation Services, Integration Services.

Hardcat also supply its resellers with warm leads generated from the Hardcat web.

These leads will be controlled for the reseller via the company developed Sales Management tool, Hardpeople.

With a proven technology, solid software and large existing user base and few Australian resellers it is an attractive proposition.

Other products in a similar field do not have the broad offering of the additional products and services.

CRN: Why should resellers recommend Hardcat over other vendors?

Drum: Having been in business for over 20 years and dealing with resellers on the international stage, we are aware that both parties must have a win.

We have the experience in quickly setting up a profit centre for our partners. As well as this, Hardcat supply higher reseller percentages than our competitors. We are applicable to all industries with 100 plus employees.

CRN: What is Hardcat currently working on?

Drum: Hardcat is about to release its latest major release in January 2009.

This release includes multi language web, users selectable templates for web interface, GPS & GIS.

The expansion into user selectable web front ends as well as GPS and GIS, means that resellers are now able to broaden the potential client base as well as offering more products to sell into the existing client base.

With GPS and GIS vertical markets such as Councils are now open to selling into.

CRN: What does 2009 hold for Hardcat?

Drum: 2009 will see the release of the Hardcat Next Gen product.

This product has been four years in the making, and could be best described as a sophisticated system generator.

The product uses Microsoft Silverlight as the front end and allows the generation of new systems in a fraction of the time traditional system development is carried out.

This opens up Hardcat distribution to major consulting firms who traditionally apply to tenders of organisations requiring development of bespoke systems.

The Next Gen product is a modelled based software generation tool allowing the production of complex systems in a quarter of the time and cost to carry it out, if compared to traditional software development.

asset fixed hardcat management software