Workplace Systems International (WSI)
ISR viewWhilst the recession has had a signficant impact on Workplace, the weaker financial performance has masked substantial strategic development of the company with the launch of the SaaS product WorkPlace OnLine. Whilst it is early days, prospects for this new product look very encouraging.
The SaaS transition can’t come soon enough for Workplace
Workplace Systems International | Published on 16/03/2010Rostering software vendor to the retail sector Workplace Systems has announced this morning that it will not make market forecasts for the year to March due to contract slippage. Nevertheless, Workplace’s performance in the year should still show a marked improvement in 2009 with a modest profit compared to a £0.3m loss. The statement also stresses that the company was cash generative in H2 and ended the year with £2.0m of net cash. The statement also talks of a ‘substantial and growing pipeline’.
First thoughts
Whilst this miss is clearly a blow for investors, it should not detract too much from the underlying progress being made at Workplace. The main area of growth for Workplace is its new SaaS offering Workplace Online. The product has already been rolled out in 4,000 locations for one of the US’s very largest retailers which, by all accounts, is extremely happy with the new system and is already acting as a reference. Consequently, Workplace Online is generating a real buzz in the market. However, we need to remember that the SaaS business model takes time to build and, in the mean time, Workplace will continue to be at the mercy of year end contract negotiations.