Eclipse Wins International Microsoft Business Solutions Partner Award

Sydney - Friday, 24 October 2003 - "Eclipse Computing (Australia) Pty Ltd has won international recognition as a leading business solutions provider after being named Outstanding Partner South Pacific at the prestigious global Microsoft Business Solutions Partner Awards.

The Microsoft Business Solutions Partner Awards were held in New Orleans on October 11 to acknowledge industry partners that delivered exemplary solutions for their customers during the past year.

Eclipse clinched the award for its outstanding success with Microsoft® Business Solutions–Axapta® that has seen the company become the largest regional Microsoft Axapta practice just six months after becoming a reseller.

The Award also recognises Eclipse’s overall success as a reseller partner of Microsoft® Business Solutions–Great Plains® and for the delivery of excellent customer service and a high degree of innovation with Microsoft Business Solutions technologies.

The honour follows Eclipse’s second consecutive listing in Microsoft Business Solutions’ international Inner Circle, an accomplishment earned by just 1% of reseller partners globally, in July this year.

Mr Bradley Stroop, CEO of Eclipse, said it was an honour to receive international recognition for the company’s success with Microsoft Axapta and Microsoft Great Plains.

“To be named Outstanding Partner ahead of the other 90 Microsoft Business Solutions partners in the region is a major achievement for Eclipse and is recognition of our achievements over the past 12 months in what has been a difficult period for most resellers,” Mr Stroop said.

“Many tier one solution providers have been experiencing significant downturns in sales, but each month we are surpassing our previous month’s sales records.

“This demand can be attributed to the gap that previously existed in the corporate mid-market for low risk, flexible solutions that are easy to implement as well as Eclipse’s focus on providing a level of customer service that is often lacking in this day and age.

“We are committed to gaining an understanding of our customer’s business needs and exceed their expectations in service delivery and post-implementation support. This is not only reflected in this Award but our ongoing business success in an increasingly competitive marketplace.”

Mr Stroop said the importance of Microsoft Axapta to Eclipse was reflected in its increasing impact on the company’s bottom line.

“In just 12 months to June 2003, sales of Microsoft Axapta made up 16% of Eclipse’s total revenue,” Mr Stroop said.

“In the first quarter of this financial year, that figure has increased by almost half again to 27%. We have such confidence and commitment in Microsoft Axapta that our goal is to make it close to one third of our revenue by the end of this financial year.

“When you take into account that our sales of Microsoft Great Plains have also continued upwards during this period, making up almost 30% of our revenue, our achievements are even more impressive.”

Flemming Beisner, Business Group Director, Microsoft Business Solutions Australasia, congratulated Eclipse for being a major contributor to the success of Microsoft Business Solutions in the South Pacific.

“Microsoft Business Solutions is a relatively young division and its success can be directly attributed to partners such as Eclipse who identified very early on the benefits of Microsoft Business Solutions technologies for their customers,” Mr Beisner said.

“Eclipse has an intimate knowledge of our solutions and has been a consistently high performer and this award is a suitable acknowledgment to the entire Eclipse team for their outstanding performance.”

Eclipse is one of Australia’s fastest-growing companies, ranked number 33 in BRW’s Fast 100 last year, and has built its business by providing high-level customer service to support a range of software solutions.