What assets does your business own, where are they, and what are they worth? Papua New Guinea software company Kumulsoft has developed a solution that provides the answers, CEO Marsh Narewec tells Business Advantage PNG.

East Sepik Provincial Administration Staff training on Kumulsoft Online fixed assests management software. Credit: Kumulsoft via Facebook

Kumulsoft began in 2009 with a simple premise: to provide software to help Papua New Guinean corporations and the public sector manage their assets.

While asset management is not unique to PNG, local businesses can have issues if they do not  keep track accurately of their assets, whether that be office supplies, land or monitoring a fleet of cars and trucks.

‘You can avoid theft and abuse and misuse of assets,’ says Marsh Narewec, CEO and co-founder of Kumulsoft. ‘If you don’t keep a record, things go missing.’

‘We are going to upgrade and modify it to include the business and private sector, and we are going to put it in the Cloud.’

The company’s management software – Kumulsoft Fixed Asset Management System – also helps organisations keep track of things such as fleet services, fuel costs, the age of assets as well as aiding good purchasing practice.

‘It saves costs in the long term,’ says Narewec. ‘If you keep track of your assets you know which asset you need to replace, so you don’t go and buy things on impulse. And you can know which asset is no longer one – when it becomes a liability!’

Diversification

Kumulsoft’s Marsh Narewec

Narewec and his business partner, Paul Muingnepe, have had their ups and downs over the past decade and have diversified the company into email hosting and customised IT services to help keep the business turning over. But there is now a renewed focus on their assets management system.

‘Initially we designed the system for the public sector,’ says Narewec. ‘Now we are going to upgrade and modify it to include the business and private sector, and we are going to put it in the Cloud.’

The Cloud-based model means a business can simply go to a website and begin using Kumulsoft for a monthly fee. There’s no need to have a technician visit to install the software.

The Port Moresby-based software group will also switch its focus to small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), changing its pricing to make it more affordable – there is even a more user-friendly name for the software on the horizon, though that is still under wraps.

‘Kumulsoft is essentially selling accountability.’

Keeping track of assets as an SME helps reduce theft and to prove to potential financiers that the business is under control and there are enough assets to borrow against.

Many organisations keep track of their assets on Excel sheets. Kumulsoft has a deeper functionality, allowing businesses to record more information about each individual asset – and, in this case, more information means greater level of control.

Narewec says that Kumulsoft is essentially selling accountability.

‘It has great potential,’ he explains. ‘After 10 years, we have learned something. We tried it out on the government but there is even more potential in the private sector.”

Kumulsoft’s Marsh Narewec will be a participant at the upcoming Innovation PNG 2019 conference on 8 November. For more information, visit www.innovationpng.com.