TOPS Software Partners with Trapp Technology to Quickly Create Hosted Community Management Solution
Working with Trapp Technology opens up more opportunities for us to secure new business. It gives our prospective clients another way to acquire TOPS that might be more budget-friendly.
— Mike Hardy, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, TOPS Software LLC.
Customer: TOPS Software LLC
Web Site: www.topssoft.com
Country or Region: Southeastern U.S.
Industry: Enterprise Software
Partner: Trapp Technology
Website: www.trapptechnology.com
With offices in Clearwater, FL, Phoenix, AZ and Gaithersburg, MD, TOPS offers a complete software suite for the residential community management industry. Their labor saving, integrated application manages every facet of their clients’ operations, including accounting, maintenance, rules, vehicles, owners, visitors, amenities, and customer websites.
More than 2,400 condo and HOA management companies and community associations experience greater freedom and control using TOPS to strategically manage their resources with less staff.
By partnering with Trapp Technology, TOPS Software, LLC rapidly deployed a cloud hosted version of its flagship Condo/HOA management software, generating new sales opportunities to continue its record growth. Due to a high level of professionalism, can-do attitude and small business accounting specialization by Trapp Technology, TOPS got their hosted TOPS Pro version to market quickly saving more than $500,000 in development costs while keeping valuable internal resources focused on core business objectives.
Business Needs
Realizing that Cloud Computing is the future, TOPS wanted to quickly develop a hosting capability to offer clients while avoiding the pitfalls of taking a back-office Windows application to the cloud. Considering the advantages of internal development vs. partnering with a cloud provider, they concluded that internal development would divert resources and delay deployment. “Developing our own hosting capability would have pulled people off of our core competency and goals,” said Mike Hardy, Vice President of Sales and Marketing.
Solution
TOPS began searching mid-2012 for a company specializing in hosting small business accounting applications. “They’re going to know exactly the hurdles every small business has,” said Mike, “they’ve seen it, and that’s the expertise we want.”
An Internet search identified four companies in the small business hosting space. The potential vendors all had similar experience but TOPS quickly zeroed in on one. “It was a lot easier to work with Trapp Technology right out of the gate,” said Hardy. “They understood small business pricing concerns, and worked with us to make a compelling cost structure possible”.
Seeking a high level of technical expertise, TOPS executives went to Phoenix to visit the Trapp Technology data center. “Coming from a web-based software company, I’ve been to data centers,” said Hardy. ”And, this one is built with ample bandwidth and ample technical resources. We knew that if we boarded 10 or more clients in a month we were not going to hit a wall.”
TOPS also found David Trapp, CEO, Trapp Technology and Josh Wiedman, Chief Technical Officer, easy to communicate with. They answered every question and aggressively looked for ways to help TOPS achieve its goals. Their can-do attitude and small business expertise made the difference. TOPS selected Trapp Technology to be their hosting provider in September, 2012.
Trapp Technology worked quickly to get the first TOPS clients up on the Cloud. According to Hardy, Trapp went above and beyond, “all the time, to make it easier for our clients. Their level of commitment is really appreciated.” TOPS’ Cloud offering is a big hit. In a little over 60 days they’ve boarded 34 clients exceeding their forecast and expectations.
Benefits
• The Freedom of the Cloud
Using TOPS Pro on the Cloud means clients enjoy less IT maintenance and the freedom of secure remote access anywhere they have an internet connection, even on Mac, iPad, or Android devices. And, no infrastructure is required for community management companies to expand into new markets. Daily backups and built-in Disaster recovery keep information safe and secure.
• Recovering from Expensive Failures
Trapp Technology went out of the way to assist a TOPS customer with costly hardware failures and a very expensive IT contract. Hosting eliminated the IT contract, stabilized their application and saved money in the process!
• Budget Predictability
“With TOPS Pro in the Cloud the client gets everything they need to run their operation and all the supporting services for one monthly fee,” said Hardy. “They know there’s not going to be a server acquisition down the road because it’s part of their monthly fee. They know they don’t have to worry about maintenance contracts or buying updates; it’s part of that fee. It gives them budget predictability; and for a small business that’s key. You’ve got to know where your money’s going, because if you have an unexpected $15,000 capital expenditure, that can really hurt you.”
• Reduced Development Costs
Partnering with Trapp Technology saved TOPS an estimated $500,000 plus in development costs including the physical cost of building the cloud infrastructure. “We’re leveraging their expertise,” said Hardy. “It’s a very good proposition for us.”
• Stronger Market Position
Creating a hosted version of TOPS Pro has strengthened the company’s market position, attracting new customers looking for a Cloud solution. “It gives us another compelling offering right out of the gate, something we couldn’t do before,” said Hardy. “It’s already making a difference in competitive situations.”
• Continued Sales Growth
Hardy expects to extend his three consecutive years of record sales. “Working with Trapp Technology opens up more opportunities for us to secure new business,” said Hardy. “It gives our prospective clients another way to acquire TOPS that might be more budget-friendly.”
TOPS is extremely happy they chose Trapp Technology to be their cloud hosting partner. “The people at Trapp Technology bring a high level of professionalism and a can-do attitude,” said Hardy. Asked if he would recommend Trapp Technology, he quipped, “If it’s a competitor I’d say don’t do it!”
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