Newcastle software firm, BusinessCraft is celebrating 30 years in business. While much has changed in terms of technology in that time, the company and its Founder, Steven Parish have stayed true to their vision to create easy-to-use, innovative software that puts their customers first.
BusinessCraft is a software development firm that creates industry-centric solutions for building and engineering firms. Headquartered in Newcastle, BusinessCraft has partnered with many of the Hunter’s and Australia’s big businesses, including Metricon Homes, AlFabs Group and McDonald Jones Homes, growing as it helps its clients to grow.
The company has come a long way from humble beginnings, with the two founders adding functionality to accounting software by creating a fully integrated business software that takes care of accounts, payroll, contracts, job progress and so much more.
Steven Parish, a Co-founder of BusinessCraft and today’s sole owner said that the business was built off a gap in the market.
“My partner had a software that designed kitchens and one of the kitchen designers also wanted to have accounting software,” Steven said.
“After the client acquired the accounting software, he needed somebody to look after it, and that’s what I took on. I got in there, I tidied it up, and started to add more functionality to it; that’s how we got started.”
Steven was halfway through his engineering degree when he started BusinessCraft (originally named Computer Systems Development). It was a time when computers were new to the world, but that would soon change.
As demand for technology grew, so did the need for BusinessCraft’s expertise. Companies all over Australia turned to them for help, especially in the building and engineering industries. As computers became more common place and more user-friendly, the scope of possibilities grew.
Starting with accounting software, the BusinessCraft product grew to incorporate more and more functions to allow companies to run more efficiently. Features such as time sheets, document management and portals for customers to get regular updates on their projects all helped improve efficiency and customer service. As the software for home builders and engineers grew more powerful, it also became more intuitive for people to use.
Steven highlights the increase in customer technology knowledge as one of the biggest changes in his time at BusinessCraft.
“Back then, if you put a new system in you would expect that somebody would go and do a training course for three weeks off-site and read a whole lot of manuals before they could use it,” Steven said.
“These days, people expect to take their iPhone out, turn it on, and have their two-year-old be able to use it – and the scary thing is they do.”
With 30 years already under his belt, Steven is looking to the future and another 30 years of growth for BusinessCraft. Building on its solid base of clients Australia wide, the business aims to have more presence in more regions across Australia.
“We’ve done everything out of Newcastle so far but recently we’ve engaged a new team member who is based in Sydney so that he can help with that market. I also think having a presence in Western Australia, Queensland and Victoria to service our existing and new clients would be great,” Steven said.
“Our vision statement says we want to be a world leader, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we will be based around the world, but we do have a lot of involvement with other software developers around the world.”
IMAGE | The BusinessCraft team.
