New Innovators: SuperDisty

SuperDisty is a new software solution aimed at making life easier for manufacturers and distributors engaging with online markets. The product was soft launched in January of this year and so far has managed in excess of €5 million in transactions during its initial roll-out.

"Most of our competitors offer options such as product upload, catalogue management, logistics and order management tools – but all as individual solutions," explains the company's founder Elaine Ralph. "SuperDisty is an end-to-end solution that integrates a company's existing software with multiple leading online platforms," she says. "It provides companies with a very cost-effective way of entering new and emerging online markets and automates and integrates the associated business processes with an organisation's existing enterprise resource planning system."

Ralph has spent the last 20 years in the IT industry. She co-founded IT infrastructure distribution company Memory Bank with Gabriel Nolan in 1995, and the company has since become a leading player in its sector, with a multi-million euro turnover.

Inspiration

Over the years Ralph has been closely involved in the design and development of Memory Bank’s in-house distribution software and reseller etail stores and in 2014 she decided to bring this experience and the company’s software framework together to build a new business.

"The inspiration for SuperDisty came from my being very aware of changing traditional sales channels and the huge move to online trading with companies like Amazon, ebay, Google and Alibaba leading the way," Ralph says.

“It’s a big decision for a business to move to a new online marketplace and I wanted companies to be able to make the transition without disrupting their core activities or their tried and tested methods of doing business.

“Having had firsthand experience of trading with online global retailers over a number of years, I knew that traditional systems do not manage the processes very effectively,” Ralph adds. “I have lived through the pain and strain of adapting a business to suit the complexities involved in dealing with these multiple marketplaces and my objective with SuperDisty was to greatly simplify the procedure.

Overheads

“While many businesses are keen to embrace new online sales opportunities to grow their exports, the cost of doing so can be high both in terms of money and time,” Ralph says. “The increase in overheads to manage the processes involved can be substantial as companies may need to train staff in how to work with each of the different online retail platforms and they may also need to develop expensive internal software systems to manage new and different online requirements.”

SuperDisty’s potential customers are manufacturers and distributors across multiple sectors in domestic and international markets. The revenue model is software-as-a-service and the solution offers customers access to markets in the UK, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

Ralph recently completed the New Frontiers programme at the LINC at Blanchardstown IT, and her fledgling company now employs four people with a fifth hire imminent. While the financial cost of designing and developing the SuperDisty solution was around €50,000, Ralph says it would be impossible to put a cost on the amount of time that has gone into the project.

Ralph says SuperDisty is fundamentally different to other systems on the market because it takes a holistic approach to the multiple marketplace problem.

“We manage the required formats to transact with the online retailer through a single user portal,” Ralph explains. “Coupled with this we have developed finance, logistics and reporting modules to assist in business expansion.”

SuperDisty is now looking for more companies to participate in its 90-day trial process on a no sales, no fee basis.

– OLIVE KEOGH