Meet Michael McNamara, Founder at SaaS Software Company: Macmarts

Macmarts is a unified SaaS software system for Spend and Project Resource Management, in real-time. Our core product ‘SpendBooks’ allows corporate-wide teams to track and control spending in real-time. It is trusted by procurement, finance, engineering and project management teams, because it helps them perform their work more efficiently, releasing them from spreadsheets to control their Opex (Operating Expenditure) and Capex (Capital Expenditure) budgets in real-time.

The great thing about Macmarts is that it was developed to solve a real everyday problem, a problem that is evolving at the same pace as globalisation, a problem faced by every business every day, that is: optimising their spend. When we talk about spend optimisation, we are not referring to reducing spend, we are referring to reducing over-spend and efficient spend management. We are referring to maximising value in every aspect of planned spend in line with any business’s strategic goals and sustainability.

The way Macmarts works is that it provides companies with an aerial view of their budgets, giving the user real-time visibility of spending throughout the entire company. Our solution optimises control and provides visibility of what has been committed against a budget and what has been spent to date to ensure that those who use it get ‘exactly what it says on the tin’.

We are different to traditional spend management software which tends to provide general information overviews. With over 40 years of deep industry knowledge, we are spend optimisation specialists. Upheavals to the global supply chain caused by Covid19 and now the Ukrainian crisis causing severe challenges to global supply chains and price hikes. To overcome these challenges, spend management is no longer enough, companies now require ‘real-time spend optimization’ and that’s where Macmarts comes in.

We are pioneers when it comes to real-time spend optimization, not just spend management, as Macmarts allows manufacturing businesses to control their budgets in ‘real-time’. Macmarts help companies to make more informed decisions about their budgets and catch over and underspend earlier in the spending process. We ensure that companies get value for money by giving them control over their spending ensuring they get exactly what they paid for.

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

Macmarts was created out of a real business need while managing hundreds of project /equipment manufacturing and procuring for our engineering customers. The challenge of communications flowing from our customers to us, to vendors and then on to several sub-vendor specialists and back again through the same loop. We were overwhelmed with the demands from our customers requiring: information, data, reports, updates, specification changes, clarifications, etc.

We were managing these requests through spreadsheets, emails, meetings, Whatsapp, etc. Something was going to break; vital information was going to slip through the cracks. We could feel the intensity and frustration from the vendors on one side and from the requestor on the other awaiting critical communication updates. The old saying “keep doing the same thing every day and expecting different results” comes to mind.

Studies show that more than 70% of projects fail and 30% of those are due to poor communications. It is our experience that disconnected systems play a huge part in these poor statistics. Dispersed data and information falling through the cracks, resources not having vital information at their fingertips and having to go through several hoops to get what you need.

This can lead to a culture of ambiguous decisions and procrastination in dealing with issues in a timely manner. Our frustration with these issues led us to disrupt that status quo.

We needed something that would manage the complete A-Z of the spend management process. While at the same time meeting the challenges of our customers including cost saving, efficiency, clear concise communication, compliance, sustainability, accountability, and responsibility. We had to do something new, dynamic, and innovative to manage these issues, maximizing the digitisation of the process and taking emotions out of decision-making. The system had to be easy to follow, with no barriers, step by step process, and accessible to all stakeholders providing real-time data and information updates.

The first critical prerequisite was that our solution must include one single platform, one source of truth with appropriate access to all stakeholders including our vendors. Our golden rule is “if it’s not in Macmarts it doesn’t exist.” Every requirement, milestone, comment, change, and micro iteration must be on Macmarts otherwise it’s not relevant. Businesses and organisations are challenged on many fronts, such as cost, resource efficiency, compliance, and sustainability.

Their resources are fully loaded to deliver critical business goals mostly through disconnected systems. Macmarts is an innovative digital resource that was built specifically to help, enable and solve these many challenges, freeing up vital resources, and putting process excellence and lean methodology to the fore.

Macmarts was built to address all of these challenges and to date has successfully delivered hundreds of projects achieving significant cost savings and resource efficiencies with over $1 billion of spend under management.

What makes us unique from others in our sector is that Macmarts provides more control over each dollar spent and expedites the spending reporting process. Companies can get spend reports at the end of each day or as often as they want as opposed to waiting for the end of each month.
We are disruptors in spend optimisation and project resource management.

We ensure that companies get value for money by giving them control over their spending. With Macmarts, we are reinventing spend management and have shown our customers that there are smarter tools available than traditional software and spreadsheets. It is easy to implement and provides our users with the ability to identify opportunities for cost savings to reduce unnecessary spending, in real-time.

How has the company evolved over the last couple of years?

As well as being the founder of Macmarts, I am also the CEO of Macnovate Ltd, a value engineering manufacturing solutions provider. Macnovate initially developed Macmarts for its own requirements in 2009. Then in 2016/17, the platform was further developed in conjunction with a Fortune 500 manufacturing company in the MedTech industry.

Macnovate developed this innovative digital solution to solve real everyday challenges which have now been scaled out into a standalone software company called Macmarts. Macmarts has recently moved into its new 12,000 square feet headquarters in the National Technology Park in Limerick aptly named ‘Innovation House’.

We are continuing to expand our team at HQ and recently hired our new CTO who brings vast experience and many years in the industry. We also have an R&D centre in Mumbai and a team of consultants based in London.
Today’s current macroeconomic environment brings with it many opportunities as companies seek best-of-breed technology solutions to better manage their resources and supply chains.

What can we hope to see from Macmarts in the future?

Our ultimate goal is to be the go-to spend and project resource optimisation system for companies operating in heavily regulated industries. Macmarts can help to reclaim up to 75% of time spent on procurement-related activities while also delivering tangible cost savings. If it is not in Macmarts it does not exist. Our job is to mind every pound, euro and dollar spent, on every step of its journey.

Macmarts’ products are receiving great interest from manufacturing companies who are looking to fast-track their digital transformation and bring their spending under real-time control.

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