10 good reasons why you should choose Octopus

1> Octopus is user-friendly: The latest World Bank/CGAP rating assessed Octopus as “one of the most user-friendly solution with highly ergonomic windows display (intuitive use, universal search box, dashboard with essential data, alerts)”. Octopus offers an interface based on classical Windows visual that makes it easy to use. Octopus is compatible with the MS Office Suite, all the reports being exportable to Excel. Accounting module allows you to export your operations reports directly to your third solution (Sage, 1C, OpenERP…). Software ergonomics has been particularly well groomed for the loan products: the mechanism for granting credit is done intuitively via tabs for each stage (client profile, loan configuration, credit committee approval, disbursement, repayment, rescheduling…)

2> Octopus is robust: Octopus is developed in C#/.Net, a well-tested technology for banking software development. Octopus is developed according to IT best practices, including the AGILE technology that guarantees an excellent level of stability, reliability and fitness to your practices. Octopus benefits from technical and organizational support from OCTO Technology, information system architecture firm and Naxos, belgian IT services company. Octopus is regularly assessed by professional IT developers. Each Octopus version benefits from a triple control before its launch: a series of 400 “greenpepper” automated tests guarantees that calculations are correct, Octopus core team spends a week per iteration dedicated to tests and bug fixing, and each release is tested by tens of users, developers and resellers of our open source community.

3> Octopus is flexible: with Octopus, you are not limited in terms of clients, branches or data volume. You can easily add new agencies, create your own products & services without any limitation. You can make your products evolve quickly to adapt to your clients, your competitors and the market trends. Octopus is multi-languages, multi-bases and multi-branches. It generates more than 40 detailed reports, including CGAP-advised reports and it exports data to the solution of your choice. You also have the opportunity to develop your own reports for your internal management, your institutional donors and your investors.

4> Octopus is secure: you limit the risks of fraud thanks to segregation of permissions and safe access through password. The different levels of access can be 100% parameterized by role. You maintain control over the whole process thanks to the detailed monitoring of all the transactions you do in Octopus. You can secure your data thanks to a very simple and automated incremental backup management system.

5> Octopus adapts to your growth: Octopus efficiently covers the full range of standards financial management services, allowing to anticipate MFIs future needs, even for those forecasting a fast growth and expecting to become bank institutions. It integrates office management, current accounts management, deposits & term deposits, loans, guarantees and collateral management, fund transfers, fast disbursements and repayments. Octopus is especially adapted for average sized MFIs, from 5000 to 100,000 clients.

6> Octopus is professional: Octopus is developed by a team made of both software and microfinance experts. Our strategic partnerships with Europe renowned IT specialists allow us to optimize Octopus architecture and core calculation to ensure the best possible efficiency.  Octopus is overwhelmingly approved by IT microfinance experts, including Horus Development Finance & Planet Finance. Octopus has allowed Oxus MFIs to gain more transparency and have easier access to institutional donors.

7> Octopus is collaborative: Octopus is supported by an open-source community (developers, users, consultants, resellers, partners) that contribute to its improvement. Each month, we develop new functionalities for one or another user that benefits to the entire community. In 2010, Octopus has been installed more than 5,000 times and supported by more than 500 active members on the forum and the wiki.

8> Octopus is AGILE: thanks to its new development methodology, AGILE, Octopus adapts quickly to your new business-model practices and evolutions. A new version of the software is released each month with new functionalities and improvements: you detect a bug, we correct it in the next version. You need a specific development plan, not covered by Octopus? We integrate it into our development plan. Thanks to AGILE, Octopus improves constantly with the user’s needs, faster than any other microfinance software. Octopus updates are immediately available on our website and are very easy to install for the client.

9> Octopus is transparent: with an open-source code, you benefit from a guarantee of transparency thanks to a 100% control over the way your data are being treated. The code is documented and the whole documentation is fully available on the Wiki. The Octopus open-source community performs each month to hundreds of manual tests to guarantee a total reliability in interest rates calculations, timelines establishment and reports generation. Octopus transparency & reliability help the MFI to gain an important competitive advantage thanks to improved customer satisfaction.

10> Octopus is free ! There is no commercial license over the software. You can download for free here. You can install it yourself or thanks to our certified consultants. You are neither dependant of a software editor, nor of a reseller. You don’t have to pay licenses when you install Octopus on new computers, you only pay technical assistance and maintenance to the reseller of your choice.