March 18, 2009
Boston, Massachusetts
Announcement: EquityTouch™ implemented at TA Associates Touch Ahead Software LLC, a Boston-based provider of advanced SaaS solutions, has announced that EquityTouch has been released into production at
TA Associates this week.
Sources at
Touch Ahead™ say that they are very excited about this announcement. They went on to point out that the deployment to TA gave them the opportunity to demonstrate the advantage of their advanced data conversions tools. Through the use of these tools TA was able to migrate from their old system into a fully populated
EquityTouch™ Application in just one weekend.
When asked about the installation, Matt Nerney, IT Director at
TA Associates said the following:
What was the Main reason for you choosing EquityTouch™? “That is hard to say because if I was someone that just showed up off the street, not knowing about Touch Ahead and their abilities it probably would not be the same. But because we have worked with Touch Ahead in the past and I was able to see the potential of what they could do, I guess I would have to say the fundamental nature of the platform: the AJAX Technology -- for the first time you can accomplish windows like application abilities. I would also say because of the distribution of the client.” The application is a web based application, with no client install. There are no revisions installed on the clients -- it is all done over the server. “It offers flexibility of hot fixes. I would also have to say because of the performance working across global environments. Touch Ahead has accomplished quite a lot in the new platform and interface, because really going back 2 or three years ago, none of this was possible.”
On the day it was installed what was the general reaction of everyone?
“Long anticipated, people were generally excited, a little apprehensive because they knew we were making a generational leap.”
What about today?
“Everyone is getting engaged and giving lots of feedback, people have a high level of interest in the application and have an interest in pushing in the right direction. I have hundreds of emails on ideas and questions on what we can do further with the application, and I am overwhelmed by which ones I should go with first.” As sources from Touch Ahead said “It is like Christmas morning with too many Christmas presents and not knowing which one to open first.”
What business challenges are you and TA hoping to solve using EquityTouch™?
“Well it certainly helps us to facilitate a collaborative approach of deal sourcing with potential deal companies and intermediaries. One specific thing is that it is helping us to understand our relationships with all the people we interact with. We have such a web of interactions with different people and it is hard to keep track of them all through all the different offices. I am seeing relationships today that I didn’t know existed. It is really helping us track all those relationships.”
Is there anything else that you would like to add?
“We are very happy with the performance and the stability. It has been an extremely successful roll out.” Hundreds of thousands of records were migrated into the new system from the old system at TA, and everything was processed perfectly. “There were processes in place that ensured that it was an easy installation, and it really was an effortless installation. There was so much satisfaction on the customer end.”
TA Associates is one of the oldest and largest private equity firms in the world, with offices in Boston, MA, Palo Alto, Ca, London England and Mumbai India. They are one of the most experienced private equity investment firms in their industry.
