We want to make lives of entrepreneurs easier and see lots of opportunities

Paul Ramakers, Exact CEO, talking to Edwin Mooibroek during BNR Zakendoen

Making the life of entrepreneurs easier, give them more insight in and control over their company. That is what Exact is going after by development and supply of smart business software. But how does Exact achieve this? What is the strategy of the Delft company and how does Exact stay ahead of competition? During the radio program BNR Zakendoen presenter Edwin Mooibroek asked these and other questions to Exact’s CEO Paul Ramakers.

Since 2020 Paul Ramakers is CEO of Exact, the company he has been working for more than 27 years, had different roles and is still being challenged every day. The organization has set a clear growth ambition in 2019: A doubling revenue within five years. We have now been on the road for three years and Paul indicates that the organization is on track: “This is partly due to the conscious choice we made to focus our solutions on entrepreneurs in our home market. That’s where our strength lies. Business software is strongly related to laws and regulations and banking. Here we know those rules inside out. International players go less far in integrating with local laws and regulations. Until recently we focused on the Benelux, with the acquisition of weclapp in September we are now also focusing explicitly on Germany. In my view, it is a market where there are many opportunities, where SMEs still have to make a digitization move and we can help them with that.”

When asked whether Exact can only realize its growth ambition through acquisitions such as the recent acquisition of weclapp, Paul clearly answers: “No, it is precisely our two-path strategy, the combination of innovation and acquisition, that makes us successful. Innovation is our core business, and we are also constantly looking at possible acquisitions to strengthen our portfolio. Together, this means that we can optimally serve our customers. Because in the end it’s about helping SMEs with today’s technology and offering them an integrated platform with which they can easily manage their business.”

And there are still plenty of opportunities there, according to Ramakers. Because there are still many companies – also in the Netherlands – that are insufficiently automated. Especially at a time when all costs are rising and the labor market is tight, automation offers opportunities. Ramakers continues: “Automation gives you insight, as an entrepreneur you can see where money and goods go, where you can save money, and you can also better anticipate what is to come. Of course, automation cannot take over all the work of entrepreneurs, but we do see that thanks to automation, companies can do more work with the same number of people. This way they can stay ahead of their competition. How do we differentiate ourselves from our own competitors? For example by ensuring that our software is connected. This means that we actively connect with providers of other software programs, so that integrations are properly arranged and entrepreneurs can control all their business processes from one platform. That user-friendliness is extremely important.”

Do SMEs also take sustainability into account when choosing their business software? Yes, Paul thinks. “In addition to our intrinsic motivation to be involved in sustainable entrepreneurship, it is also becoming an increasingly important aspect for our customers when choosing a supplier. How are we involved in sustainable entrepreneurship already ? This is, for example, in limiting our travel movements, but also in the choice we make for more sustainable data centers that only use green electricity. It is still very difficult to compare data centers with each other. I therefore advocate that rules be introduced for this, so that everyone can make a conscious choice. Ultimately, it contributes to us being involved in sustainable entrepreneurship, but so do our customers, and together we can make so much more impact.”