As always, Farsoft is hard at work on enhancing its products and services while looking for client value-add opportunities. In due course, the company will roll out pilot installations to boost business intelligence on its systems even further. The objective is to provide decision makers with meaningful information in a digestable format. No endless data lists to wade through. No reams of printouts. Just one simple customised dashboard.

Karsten Farms technical manager Willem van Aarde has experienced the business intelligence enhancement first-hand. He said management’s response about this invaluable tool had been tremendous. “For the first time we have a database with the necessary business information. Previously, information went missing continuously.” According to Van Aarde, the marketing team also was most impressed with the functionality of the business intelligence. They’re now in a position to predict harvesting dates and book retailer shelf space ahead of time.

ViTrax’s Quality Module will be undergoing some major changes. Devices such as touch screens will be employed to enhance efficient, accurate capture of vast data volumes. Farsoft MD Freddie Roux said, “We’ll be working closely with Fruitways-aligned packhouses, such as Chiltern Farms and Valley Packers, to fine-tune this module.”

Much effort is being spent on upping the interaction between packhouse and exporter/marketer. For more than a year, Farsoft has enjoyed a close working relationship with Prophet, who primarily focuses on the exporter/marketing side of the industry. Farsoft also is involved in aligning Fruitways packhouses (Valley Packers, MelPack, Chiltern Farms, Maluti Fruit, Swellenfruit, etc) to one another, as well as with the Fruitways central logistics and marketing systems. Commented Roux, “These product enhancements are bound to benefit all our clients.”

He continued, “After much hard work and persistence, we’re seeing signs that the quality of our software and associated services is increasing. Notably, our support times have been dropping – despite growing client numbers and system complexity. Our focus on quality was reaffirmed when, during our user meetings in August this year, 93% of our clients voted for quality above cost and delivery speed.”