Pioneer Application Developer Launches Airframe: An ''Off-the-Rack'' Approach to Enterprise Automation
Sept. 27, 2004 - Airframe(TM) is the creation of Robert Gryphon, a pioneering developer of enterprise and Internet-based applications and an adventurous entrepreneur. Gryphon, 34, co-founded Octane Software, where he invented a patented graphical language for developing business applications and used it to build the leading eCRM system of the 1990s. He has since parlayed his share of the $3 billion Octane sale into a portfolio of investments and new companies, including laundromats, business services, mobile device application company Dexterra Inc., and Gryphon Films--best known for executive-producing the William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin film The Cooler. He originally founded Airframe(TM) to develop software solutions to problems these and other businesses have in common, and soon, recognizing the tremendous demand for this product, shifted to helm Airframe(TM) full-time.
Airframe(TM) reflects Gryphon's observation that when it comes to enterprise software, Silicon Valley is producing complicated luxury ocean liners even though most customers really need a practical SUV. "Enterprise applications require huge expenditures in application platforms and months of customization and training up front," said Gryphon. "But what users really want is quite simple: affordable applications, designed for immediate use in solving each customer's most urgent problems. They want to track important records, structure their work, monitor their progress, and get some help to get the job done. On the other end of the spectrum, most hosted applications require customization for a different reason--the features just aren't there."
Airframe(TM) is designed to deliver 80 percent of the features an organization needs for 20 percent of the cost of a custom solution, right "off-the-rack." Airframe(TM) is fully customizable for the 100 percent solution some customers demand, but for many companies, no further customization is required.
Gryphon likens Airframe's hosted applications to a four-story department store. The four "floors" represent the four main functions of any organization: customer relationships, employee services, site services and operational. Customers choose the applications they need the most, and can add on other applications over time, with automatic, secure integration between departments. These applications constitute the critical third sector that spans the gaps between the software most businesses already have: office documents and accounting.
"Small and medium size companies can benefit immensely from the capabilities that enterprise business applications provide, but the cost of software and consulting services for traditional solutions have prevented most of them from considering them," said Chris Selland, vice president of sell-side research at Aberdeen Group. "I am glad to see the emergence of companies like Airframe(TM) who are focused on delivering to the larger market affordable enterprise applications that can make a real difference in their business."
Early Airframe(TM) adopters include Pandesa Corporation, Braun Media Services, Technology Credit Corporation, OutsourceIt, Crystal Bay Club Casino, Collection Bureau of America, Digital Forest, Elevation, and Gryphon Films.
"Airframe(TM) has allowed us to get our global R&D department up and running in just one week. In less than a month, we had expanded to Customer Service, and we are now planning to turn on more applications like Marketing and Sales Force Automation," said Jeff Halden, president and COO of Pandesa Corporation, a software company pioneering a new approach for searching and sharing knowledge content across organizations. "It is very cost-effective, works from anywhere, and the quality of the Airframe(TM) team made it an easy decision for us."
Common sense solution trumps spreadsheets and paper
Gryphon says that most hosted applications are too narrowly focused and not results-oriented enough to do employees much good. "There are a lot of applications that can track six or eight kinds of records, but leave gaping holes in the overall picture of information that has to be tracked. In addition, most applications don't help users organize the different types of work they have to do on a daily basis. A customer service rep might spend the day dealing with service requests, but forget to maintain the knowledgebase--because he or she was never prompted to review aging FAQ's."
Indeed, job priorities are often muddled because business processes go un-automated or under-automated, even at many mid-size companies. "You'd be surprised in this age of office automation how many companies are still doing critical administrative and customer-facing tasks on paper or with a hard drive full of spreadsheets," Gryphon says. "Occasionally a company will hire a consultant to build a custom package, only to find themselves paying invoice after invoice for a limited, proprietary solution."
As a result, Airframe's off-the-rack applications have a huge potential customer base. "While some companies will spend 12 months and pay top-dollar for a 100 percent solution with forced customization, many others prefer an immediate-use solution that can grow with their needs," says Gryphon. "Our research indicates there are some four million of these results-focused organizations in the U.S. alone."
About Airframe(TM)
Airframe(TM) is fully web-hosted, requiring nothing to install or download. It comes with a 30-day "no-nonsense" money back guarantee, and a guaranteed 500 percent return on investment. Subscriptions start at $70 per user per month, with no additional charge per application. For more information,
please see www.myairframe.com.