In the early days we provided consulting services for finance houses, banks and technology companies such as  Microsoft, Tesco Ireland, AIB, Bank of Ireland, Scottish Provident, Mentec and Banque Nationale de Paris. We also produced our first consumer software that could be downloaded from the internet. Our experience in the banking and finance sector showed us that there was a need for quality payroll software designed specifically for the Irish market, and Payback is the result.

In 2004 we released the first version of Payback.

At the time competing products charged by the number of employees you could set up, so if you needed to set up more employees, you would have to pay extra. Many payroll products were modularised, so if you wanted extra features, you would have to pay extra for them. We also found that the user interface of a typical payroll product was designed by people with no experience in user interface design. Payroll software companies then made money training people to use their badly designed products. Win-win for them! The release of Payback turned all this on it head by:

1. Allowing our customers to set up unlimited companies and employees at no extra cost.
2. Not penalising customers for buying a licence mid-year. (You get a full 12 months with Payback)
3. A fully featured product. You do not have to buy extra modules.
4. Designing the interface to allow people with no payroll experience or training to process pay.

Mamut, the provider of business software for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), has teamed up with Kerry-based Payback Software to offer Irish customers payroll functionality tailored for the local business environment.

Under the terms of the agreement, Payback Software will be integrated into the Mamut Enterprise range of business software in Ireland and can also be purchased individually as Mamut Payroll. Payback will also provide support for Mamut software from its offices in Listowel.

Designed specifically for small businesses, Mamut’s software is currently used by more than 100,000 users across Europe and recently became available in Ireland. Mamut has already signed an agreement to make its products available through eircom total ICT, a division of eircom which provides IT products and services to the SME sector, Mamut’s business software products address a range of issues vital to any company including accounting, sales force automation, customer relationship management (CRM), logistics, project management and e-commerce sold as individual products or as integrated, all-inclusive solutions.

The agreement with Payback now gives Mamut a payroll software offering that has been written specifically to take account of Irish employment legislation and the local tax environment.

“Teaming up with Payback gives us the full range of functionality we need to bring the benefits of business software to Irish SMEs,” said Alan Moody, managing director for Mamut UK & Ireland. “Our Irish customers can now avail of software that is specifically designed to meet the needs of their environment, both commercial and regulatory. We are very excited by the potential of this agreement.”

Payback, of Listowel Co Kerry, was established in 1999 and its software package, also called Payback is in use by 3,000 customers in Ireland. “Mamut Payroll will be integrated into Mamut Enterprise and will have the same look and feel as other applications in that suite,” said managing director Eamon Honan. “It will be based on the same powerful software engine as Payback and will have the same features. We will support Mamut Payroll with our dedicated team of payroll technicians.”

Since its foundation in 1994, Mamut has received awards every year for its user-friendly and value for money solutions, among these Accountancy Age’s “Small Business Software of the Year” in the UK in November 2004 and again in November 2005.

About Mamut
Founded in 1994, Mamut (OSE “MAMUT”) is a leading European provider of complete, integrated solutions for small businesses. Mamut offers complete and user-friendly solutions at the best value for money integrating CRM, sales-force, logistics, accounting and e-commerce. More than 100,000 European users simplify their daily business with solutions from Mamut. Further information about Mamut and the company’s products can be found at www.mamut.ie

For more information, please contact:
Eamon Honan, Managing Director Payback Software
E-mail: sales@payback.ie
Web: www.payback.ie

Alan Moody, Managing Director, Mamut Ireland
1 Regus House, Harcourt Centre, Harcourt Road, Dublin 2
Tel: 01-4773406
E-mail: alanm@mamut.ie
Web: www.mamut.ie

Michael Delaney, Head of Development, CIT; Emer Cassidy, Colleges Branch Manager, AIB; Brian Quinlan, Director, Enterprise Ireland, South West Region; Eamon Honan, Janet MacCormac and John Honan, Payback Software,Lixnaw, Co. Kerry, winners of the Award for Market Entry Success; Sean O’Sullivan, City and County Enterprise Boards; and Michael Cotter,Director of Transactory Advisory Services, Ernst & Young at the announcement of the 2007 Genesis Enterprise Programme Awards, at Cork Institute of Technology. The Genesis scheme is a publicly funded incubation programme for knowledge-based start-ups.

Lixnaw’s Payback to go global

WITH CITY traffic and commuting a hassle for many companies, two Dublin brothers decided to pack up shop and head for the country, where they now run Payback Software from their office in Lixnaw

By Christine Allen

With 3,000 Irish customers in Ireland, the company is ready to launch its payroll software in the UK, which could mean more jobs in Kerry for IT students. The IT consultants behind the company, John and Eamon Honan, first launched the software in 2004, which offers a solution to staff who don’t have much experience in software or accountancy.

They were soon enticed to Lixnaw village by family ties, cheaper office space, no traffic congestion and an Enterprise Ireland grant incentive, which aims at encouraging more start up companies into rural areas.

”Here is a business that does not rely on location. We have internet and phone based orders and technical support, and all in a peaceful working environment,” said John. ”It made no sense to stay in Dublin, where we don’t rely on passing trade. So we took part in one of the many schemes targeted at businesses like ours. ”We did find it difficult to get broadband installed here though, but that has improved,” he said.

With the assistance of an employment grant, Payback Payroll arrived in August 2005, and took on team member Janet MacCormac. They are now hoping to create more jobs in Lixnaw. ”We will need one more support person per 500 customers,” John said. ”And we hope to sign up 1,000 by the end of next year. ”Companies such as ours are perfect for the many IT students that graduate from IT Tralee each year and find themselves having to move to the cities for work.

”We have found that there is no shortage of highly qualified IT people in Kerry, which makes it the perfect location for IT businesses,” he said. The company, who are already recruiting for support staff, received an Enterprise Ireland Genesis Market Entry Success award last April, and are all set to take on the global market.