The age-old maxim, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," does not exist in the vocabulary of the developers from Adexio, a Victorian-based systems integrator. Although a satisfied business partner of Sage Software's CRM SalesLogix software for the past 10 years, Adexio thought the software could be more useful if it interoperated with Microsoft's .Net platform.

So it created a bolt-on that allowed SalesLogix to operate hand-in-hand with .Net components. And when Adexio showed it to Sage, the software vendor liked it so much that it bought it and included it in the CRM software's global release of version 7.0.

"We're really happy that we can make a dent on the world stage," said Adexio director, David Rowswell. "And although we're only a small chunk of the overall application, it's a key chunk that makes deployment and management of updates and installation really simple."

Adexio's addition lets developers incorporate .Net compatible languages, forms and components into SalesLogix and then distributes these to remote users. So rather than building specified customisations and extensions for the product in its proprietary development environment, users can leverage the .Net platform and drop applications straight in.

Rowswell said the sale of Adexio's solution to Sage opens up the possibility of new business revenue streams through future development for other platforms. The company is now looking to add some additional capability to the Microsoft CRM platform.

"It's something we didn't plan, we fell into it through necessity and wanting to make SalesLogix system even better," he said. "But now we see there is good opportunity to look towards other systems and go out there and fill in all the holes."

Sage Business Solutions managing director, Mike Lorge, said Sage was excited about the possibilities that the Adexio add-on created for SalesLogix customers.

"It's great to see an Australian company like Adexio developing locally and exporting globally in this way," he said. "It indicates our IT industry is healthy and competitive on a global stage despite the skills shortage."

Rowswell said Adexio is working on a couple of other Sage improvements and has a number of "very exciting" developments in the pipeline.