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Sandra Kurtzig is a computer software pioneer who founded ASK Computers, an innovative computer technology firm that produced software for business and manufacturing applications. Known for its Manman enterprise resource planning (ERP) program, ASK ASK Computers Toronto had 91 offices in 15 countries before it was acquired by Computer Associates in 1994.
The firm, which was incorporated in 1974, began by developing programs for use with Hewlett-Packard minicomputers to allow small manufacturing companies to manage their operations. The company’s first big hit was a management system called Manman, which helped companies plan materials purchases and production schedules on a scale that previously had to be performed by very expensive mainframe computers.
In 1978, Kurtzig came up with the idea for a new type of management system that would be more flexible and less costly than traditional mainframe systems. The result was a program for Hewlett-Packard’s HP-3000 series of minicomputers that facilitated the creation of business modules, or “applications,” for use in areas such as accounting, inventory, human resources and scheduling. Eventually, these modules could be linked together to run an entire factory.
As technological advances made minicomputers cheaper, ASK began to focus on marketing its programs for a broader range of computing hardware. The company developed versions of its ManMan and Accounting Plus programs for smaller computer systems manufactured by Hewlett-Packard and Digital Equipment Corporation, and also introduced a system for managing inventories called ASK/Network.
The new software products were a hit, and ASK’s revenues and earnings soared as a result of the company’s rapid growth. The company became a publicly traded corporation in 1981, and Kurtzig began to revamp the way her company was run. She reconfigured existing programs, shifted personnel and attempted to alter the pervasive corporate culture. Even minor details like the quality of food and beer served at Friday evening company celebrations were changed in an attempt to reconnect upper level management with the employees.
ASK slowed down in the early 1980s, and by 1985 the financial health of the company was beginning to suffer. The company had begun to lose money on sales of its most successful program, Accounting Plus, and the number of shareholders began to decline as investors began selling off large blocks of shares. To offset these problems, ASK began a strategic move to market its programs through second party channels rather than directly to customers and distributors. Also, ASK sought to simplify its programs and make them compatible with a wider variety of computers and databases.