MIS giant eProductivity Software (ePS) acquired UK developer Tharstern a year ago.
Ward joined Tharstern in 2011 as sales manager and was subsequently promoted to chief revenue officer, a role he held for more than a decade.
Following last year's acquisition then-CEO Keith McMurtrie stepped back over the summer after ePS took over the development of Tharstern’s new cloud-based MIS, now named Nubium, which is Latin for cloud.
“When ePS acquired us last March, that cloud technology was of great interest to them and the product grew inside of ePS,” Ward explained.
“We’ve been keeping customers updated as there’s been extra investment made into the development of the current ePS Tharstern product – since the acquisition we’ve actually released more features than we did in the previous twelve months. It’s a flagship product under the ePS banner.”
While Tharstern was incubating the cloud-based Nubium MIS the original idea was to target the labels sector first, but ePS has opted to switch the initial focus to smaller commercial printers.
“Since the acquisition ePS have seen the opportunity to further invest in it and bring it out to the commercial sector this year, and its official launch will be at Drupa,” Ward said.
He is now also the official 'Nubium evangelist'.
The initial target will be SME commercial printers with sales of up to £6m.
Subsequently Nubium will be rolled out to other markets including labels and flexible packaging, and ultimately to enterprise-scale customers.
“Nubium is a slightly different take on MIS. It’s a true cloud solution,” Ward added.
“Implementing a new MIS can be a bit like open heart surgery for a business. Well, this doesn’t need open heart surgery – it’s intuitive to use and the implementation programme is very much geared towards a quick realisation of the value.”
The UK will be one of the first target markets for the new product.
US-headquartered ePS employs more than 850 staff worldwide with more than a third of employees working in R&D, serving 4,500-plus customers around the world.
Annual turnover is in excess of $160m (£125m).
ePS is exhibiting in Hall 7a at Drupa, which opens its doors on 28 May.
