opps, from a BILLION $ company shortly after listing to $200+ million today now that's S Her distruction, a BIL/CHASE/EURONATIONAL look a like !
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Couldn't hold the $1.34 level. New lows. Looking ominous...
I have had a number of conversations with IT people who have done work for OHE or are involved with implementing their systems. None have been particularly complimentary, to others that have completely bagged the company. In one conversation I was told that there was an archaic piece of software that was part of their core system which was buggy and produced incorrect results. Nobody could touch it though because it was so badly written and unmaintainable and nobody was willing to take the time to fix it/modernise it.
As an IT guy, OHE - bargepole. When I hear stories like this (as I heard from WYN, but they were more like "the software doesn't do what they say it does, not even close"), I bailed and advised others to as well.
If you want to invest in really really good software, go for Xero. I can't find anyone who has a bad thing to say about it when I talk to others on the inside...
Comparing Orion to Xero, a bit naughty dont you think? One is trying to fix a complicated industry with eight products. The other is focused on simple small bussiness accounting systems.
I remember many complaints about Xero, mostly around its lack of ability. Think it started off as expense capture, no payroll, no gst. The way xero have sold their unfinished software is incredible and deserves alot of credit. Really good business decisions have been made.
But Ohe situation is completely different one I'm enjoying leaning more about.
Always good to get views - positives or negatives, especially from those in the industry. As usual, a grain of salt helps!
Having warned of OHE from day 1 - I would not touch the company until a few things happen.
1. Capital Raising
Inevitable the company is going to need a massive capital injection. The company has grown bigger and lazier with the IPO - easy money spent with no heed of return!
What is worrying is that a soundly managed company does not leave capital raising to the last minute - unless it has already tried and is having problems convincing investors.
2. Management
Need a complete revamp here.
So typical of an entrepreneurial driven and managed company - gone great to a certain size but needs a different management structure if it wants to get into the big league.
Heck, even the late Steve Jobs recognized this basic truth although he appointed the wrong CEO, Scully, first time round.
Software requires the same management principles and change principles to maintain all the "-ability" factors of it (maintainability/usability/durability etc). It doesn't matter your industry, the same principles apply only with different emphasis. Management is responsible for these factors through the decisions they make (where to spend money). Refuse to make your software maintainable, for instance, you will end up with something that cannot be changed and is hence inflexible to new requirements.
Xero handles these with industry leading best practice as far as I have heard. Which makes their software agile, adaptable and able to be changed quite quickly with little effect on user experience and hence growth potential. I have worked in organisations and heard of many more where this is non existent - management only wants to push their software to as many customers or only care about new "lipstick on a pig" features. They tend to get bogged down in the end with monolithic silo software which is unchangeable and difficult to manage. Think IRD as I know for sure that is their current core systems fit into this category, hence the desire to upgrade to software that falls under modern software management principles.
Lower by the day $1.20 close !!