By the Numbers Pioneering technology firm caters to nonprofits, schools

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Gene Richardson, like Bill Gates, is a software marvel. He just doesn’t have the same name recognition. But he has a similar story to tell.

It was around the same time in the late 1970s that each man started a successful software company, and Richardson is more than willing to tell you that when he started writing software, Microsoft hadn’t yet hit the market with its disc operating system, coined MS-DOS.

“We were really pioneers,” said Richardson about his Bangor company, Advanced Data Systems, and Gates, too, for that matter. “There wasn’t any software available.”

What Gates has accomplished in the last 20 years has been well publicized. Just about everyone knows the story of how Gates grew Microsoft into an international powerhouse.

But not everyone knows how Richardson has grown Advanced Data into a national leader in accounting software for nonprofit organizations and schools.

Those who do, however, are referring customers to Richardson and his team. That word-of-mouth advertising is helping Advanced Data thrive during a time when the high-technology sector is faltering. Annual sales, Richardson said, are above $3 million.

Earlier this year, Advanced Data was among 13 companies in competition to develop and sell accounting software to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Advanced Data got word that the museum was seeking bids from someone Richardson said he had never heard of.

“It’s funny how such a small world it is today, that a company in California that we don’t even know contacts us and wants to know if we want to be involved with this museum in Chicago,” Richardson said.

To become the successful bidder, Advanced Data had to work at it. The company almost didn’t get the contract, according to Kathy Garant, chief financial officer of the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Advanced Data gave a presentation of its software to the museum’s staff one day in Chicago. The staff had a lot of questions for Richardson and his team, even more than what were asked of competing companies.

Garant questioned whether Advanced Data had the capabilities to make the software work for the museum. But she liked that the software was specifically developed to help nonprofits such as her organization. So she asked them back for a second demonstration.

Something happened, though, between the first and second visits. Back in Bangor, Advanced Data employees reconfigured the software to more specifically meet the museum’s needs.

“They had come back and they had listened to us,” Garant said. “It was that customer service piece that really sold my staff, just their attention to us. They understood what our needs are, and they have the accounting background. We were asking to purchase software. We were also looking to purchase a long-term relationship.”

Advanced Data president Duane Graves said the company knows the value of customer service. From a small, two-story brown building on Main Street next to a McDonald’s in Bangor, Advanced Data handles sales, software support, technical support, and development administration for schools and businesses throughout New England. Other clients include nonprofits such as the Audubon Nature Institute in New Orleans, New Hampshire Catholic Charities in Manchester, and the New Hampshire Retirement System.

“You need to take advantage of it,” said Graves about the importance of customer service. “Nothing replaces face time. You can talk on the phone and you can send e-mails, but seeing a person’s face is vital.”

Almost since the beginning of the company, Advanced Data has sought to be a “total solutions” source for its hundreds of clients nationwide.

In other words, Advanced Data has wanted to be its clients’ best friend by helping them with all their accounting needs and by being there when there’s a problem.

More recently, the company’s success has come primarily from its star software package, called ProFund. Included in it are modules for fund accounting, budget preparation, check reconciliation and professional invoicing, among other features.

“We try hard to be cutting-edge technology, not bleeding-edge technology,” Graves said.

But for years, this all-encompassing accounting software has been used in a COBOL platform. And now the development of a new version of ProFund compatible with Microsoft Windows environment is almost completed.

“For a small company like us, we’re developing a big package,” Richardson said. “We’ve got a couple hundred contracts waiting for it.”

With the introduction of the new product at the beginning of the year, Richardson said he expects his company to experience “a growth spurt.” Current clients will have their systems upgraded first, and then the software will be marketed to potential new ones.

Richardson said it’s too early to tell how much growth Advanced Data will experience. But he knows the “help wanted” sign will be going up.

“It’s going to increase our sales and a lot of stuff,” Richardson said. “We are going to have to hire a few more people.”

With the new version, Richardson and Gates, in an indirect way, are finally connecting after more than 20 years.

Richardson said he is aware that Microsoft is in the market for new software packages.

The behemoth has been contacting smaller software development firms and purchasing what they have come up with for use in Windows.

The software marvel of Bangor said he would be flattered if he one day received an inquiry from Gates about the ProFund software package.

But he has to be realistic, too. Although hundreds of nonprofits and schools are using Advanced Data’s software, and hundreds more are waiting in the wings for the newer version of ProFund, that market may not be big enough for Microsoft.

“We probably won’t be getting a call from Bill Gates,” Richardson said.