Software company making money out of water management

21 minutes ago

WaterOutlook had been in business for 15 years, with customers in 20 countries around the world.

Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

A local software firm is doing its bit to not just organise company administration, but generate export dollars.

Long-established data management company WaterOutlook has a programme that organises how companies schedule compliance with regulations.

Founder and chief executive Peter Johnson said the product had been a couple years in development and was initially being sold through its reseller networks in New Zealand and Australia, targeting its existing client base of water management authorities.

WaterOutlook had been in business for 15 years, with customers in 20 countries around the world, including 70 percent of New Zealand's water authorities.

Johnson said ScheduleHub could be adapted to suit the management of any complex regulatory-heavy system, including tasks regularly managed by accountants or chief operating officers.

He expected the product to have broad industry appeal and to generate tens of millions of dollars in recurring revenue.

"Compliance software is not a new category, but what differentiates ScheduleHub from traditional enterprise compliance platforms is the orientation," he said.

"Other compliance platforms manage the rules. ScheduleHub manages the work.

"Most organisations manage their compliance programme across a mix of spreadsheets, shared calendars, and individuals' memory. That works until someone leaves, a deadline shifts, or a task slips," Johnson said.

"ScheduleHub replaces that patchwork with a system built around the specific timing rules each obligation carries.

"[It] enables water authorities and other highly regulated entities to turn complex regulatory obligations into structured, rules-driven schedules, all accessible from a single calendar console."

Johnson said ScheduleHub gave managers confidence that planned activities met the required compliance threshold.

How it works

The platform works in three steps.

"Users define an activity, the tasks it involves, the frequency, and the rules that govern its timing," Johnson said.

"The result sits in a shared calendar that gives the whole team visibility of what is due and when.

"If a scheduled activity falls outside its required timing rules, the system flags it. The compliance manager sees the issue before a deadline is missed.

"This is not a reminder system. Nor is it a generic task manager. It is a platform built around the specific cadence of compliance work such as the timing rules, the frequencies, the windows within which things have to happen."

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