Web Exclusive: Q&A with John Bureau of Wynne Systems

In May United Rentals sold Wynne Systems to Volaris Group, a subsidiary of Canadian software company Constellation Software. IRN asked Wynne's president, John Bureau, about the implications of the deal for its customers around the world.

IRN: There were benefits in being owned by a large company like United Rentals. What are the benefits of being owned by Volaris/Constellation?
John Bueau, Wynne Systems: We're excited to be a part of the Volaris Group as they bring extensive experience building and growing software businesses. Software is their core business and we believe Volaris is the right home for Wynne Systems as the company is committed to expanding and growing our solutions and offerings within the Rental Management market.

Add in the financial strength of its parent company, Constellation Software, whose revenues exceed $700 million, and we feel this is an all around win for our customers, our employees, our solutions and the market.

IRN: Some potential customers in the past may have been worried by the fact that you were owned by United. Do you see this as a side-benefit of the change in ownership?
JB: Although we were previously owned by United Rentals and it is one of the largest players in the industry, we always operated as a separate company. We are happy that United Rentals remains a valued customer of ours to this day. We think all of our other existing customers and any potential new customers will be just as excited as we are about our new home with Volaris.

Volaris possesses substantial domain expertise in rental management market, has a long-standing record of successful software implementations and is well positioned to leverage the core capabilities and opportunities Wynne can bring. We look forward to being part of the greater Volaris team.

IRN: What does Volaris/Constellation want to do with Wynne? Does it have the resources to invest in the business?
JB: Volaris' goal is to further expand its presence in the rental management market segment and eventually become the technology partner of choice for the industry. Their success with this will depend greatly on growing our company and investing in our future.

Volaris does have the resources and desire to continue to expand and improve our future developments.

IRN: Volaris also owns Solutions by Computer (SBC), another rental software company in the US. Will Wynne and SBC continue to be run as two separate brands, or will they segment the business, with Wynne taking large customers and SBC focusing on the smaller companies? Will you cooperate on technology and product offerings, for example, offering InfoManager to SBC customers?
JB: Our plan is to continue running both businesses in an independent manner while sharing best practices across groups. This is an approach Volaris has used for other market segments where they have more than one company delivering solutions to that particular vertical market and it has proven to be a successful formula. Our business intelligence and reporting tools, InfoManager and Axiom Reporter, will continue to be available to both Wynne and SBC clients.

IRN: As part of the sale does United Rentals have preferential terms in regard to technology? Does it have exclusive access to certain features for a period of time?
JB: As is commonplace for transactions such as this one, the terms of the deal are not being disclosed, but I can assure you that United Rentals will continue to be a valued customer of Wynne Systems and there are no product feature constraints that will hamper our ability to serve the rental management market.

IRN: Wynne already has offices in Belgium and Paris, while Constellation also has offices in Europe. Will these offices will be combined, or will Wynne's European operations be unchanged?
JB: There are no planned changes to our office locations in Europe or in North America that result from our new home with Volaris/Constellation.

IRN: Is there anything else you think it is important to say about the transaction and what it will mean for your customers?
JB: I think it's important for our customers to understand that Wynne and its employees are now part of a worldwide network of more than 3500 software and technology professionals whose sole focus is on delivering mission-critical, vertical market software solutions.

Being able to leverage that network is a fantastic opportunity which can only help improve the solutions and technology products we deliver to our customers.