Farm management software makers were shaken by the news that Farm
Credit Canada had bought the industry’s dominant player and intends to
sell its products through FCC offices.
Competitors to Settler Computer Technologies’ AgExpert programs are
trying to figure out what it means to them.
“It would be unfair competition, because (FCC) is part of the
government and it is competing with private enterprise,” said Richard
Messier, who owns SIGA Farm Software in Drummondville, Que.
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“On a scale of one to 10, it’s a 10 for unfair competition.”
Bill Albrecht, whose company Wil-Tech Software makes farm management
programs in Burstall, Sask., said FCC’s promotion of one company’s
software will hurt competitors.
“I think that anyone who is marketing a double-entry software package
like Settler would find it a bit of bad news,” said Albrecht, whose
company makes single-entry software that does not directly compete with
Settler.
“This would be rather startling news, because (FCC offices and agents)
are all over the Prairies,” he said.
“It will give them an advantage.”
But Mike Noullett, whose Alberta-based company AG Decisionpower Inc.
makes similar but differently applied software to Settler’s, said that
after initial worries, his company thinks FCC’s purchase won’t push it
out of the market. AG Decisionpower Inc. has been developing an
internet-based version of its farm management software that won’t be
hurt by the programs FCC will be promoting.
“In fact we are speeding up the process,” Noullett said.
“The move by Farm Credit will most likely lead to more alliances and
deals for software with other corporations in the agribusiness
community.”
Noulett said his company’s software could complement other software,
such as the type made by Settler.
“The move by Farm Credit may seem threatening to many, but we see that
Farm Credit has opened some doors by providing leadership and
direction.”
FCC officials said they are not trying to drive other companies out of
the market, although they know the programs they now own and will be
promoting will directly compete with other software makers.
But Paul MacDonald, FCC vice-president of alliances and business
services, said most farm management software won’t directly compete
with FCC’s products. Many of them are specifically designed for farm
sectors such as dairy, beef or grain management, while Settler’s
programs are designed to be applicable to all farms.
Combining an industry-specific program and a general farm FCC program
would help many farmers.
“We would like to know how we can actually ensure that farmers and
producers who use both packages are able to integrate the two so that
they both work together rather than against one another,” MacDonald
said.
“I think it’ll be great for producers, because rather than having a
fragmented software market with a bunch of packages that don’t talk to
one another, we already know that there are some very well-established
enterprise-specific programs that are out there in the marketplace that
we would like to see, for example, the AgExpert accounting package and
financial analysis program linked with very tightly.”
He said FCC hopes to encourage more farmers to buy and use farm
management software, because that will help them become profitable and
sustainable.
He also said FCC has a good track record of working in partnership with
others in the banking industry, and it intends to operate the same way
in the software business.
But for people like Messier, there are sure to be weeks of concern over
what FCC intends to do with its new computer software. FCC has
announced it intends to translate Settler’s programs into French so it
can market its products in all provinces.
Messier’s farm management programs are already bilingual and he doesn’t
want to see FCC use its larger and government-backed financial
resources to steal his market.
“It’s the people’s money badly spent, because it’s already being done
by us,” Messier said.
