Computility was recognized last month as being one of the top 50 emerging companies in the nation by a panel of 140 venture capital firms, a recognition reflective of the Urbandale-based company’s growth in the on-demand software marketplace, its co-founders say.

More than 400 companies competed for the recognition, which was organized by FundingPost. Computility ranked among the top 50 “VentureWorthy” companies.

“It was very exciting for Computility to lead the way in Iowa and be one of the top 50 nationally,” said Mike Stuart, the company’s president and CEO. “They evaluated our business model and said, ‘This is a company worth investing in.’”

Computility began five years ago through assistance from Growth Ventures Group, a local venture development company that focuses on seed-level technology companies. The company has built a name for itself as a provider of Web-based business management solutions for small to mid-sized companies. Its founders, Stuart and Brian Donaghy, say Computility is positioned now for a period of aggressive national growth, thanks to the sales momentum of its premier product, the Computility Management Suite.

“In 2004, we focused on direct sales, and we wanted to make sure we had the methodology working right and we were meeting the customers’ needs,” Donaghy, the company’s chief technology officer, said. “In 2005 now, we can expand outside of that model and grow our client base nationally.”

Over the past several months, Computility has nearly doubled its number of employees on staff, to 21, to allow for national expansion of the Computility Management Suite, a product the company originally developed as a way to run its business. It took five years and a significant amount of money to put the product together, and now, it is marketing to companies ranging from five to 500 employees.

“It works primarily for those business that we call professional service firms – those who have a sales process and some sort of customer service or project management component,” Stuart said.

The Computility Management Suite was launched in October 2003 as a Web-based software application to connect people, processes and information. More than 2,500 clients have purchased the program, not only in Iowa, but also in Indiana, New York and other states. The product, which Donaghy and Stuart describe as “like having all your business technology available at the flip of a switch,” encompasses everything from employee e-mail to managing sales and marketing to human resources and business administration.

“You can have disparate pieces of software – a system accounting works from, a sales management system, etc. – but unless these pieces work together in a customer-centric way, it’s not enabling your organization to be efficient and productive.”

Integrated systems also enable companies to have a “360-degree view of the client,” Stuart said. Everyone in the organization has access to all information about the client, which gives management a better idea of what is going on across the entire organization.

“The idea is creating a more customer-centric organization,” Stuart said. “When you type in a client’s name, you get any note that has been entered by anybody in the organization and any tasks that have been assigned to anybody in the organization, all the way from sales to accounting. It allows an entire snapshot of the customer from initial contact onward. It’s a pretty powerful tool for most businesses.”

John Davis, co-owner of Davis Life Brokerage in West Des Moines, said his company has become more efficient by using Computility’s software.

“Computility’s system saves us time by eliminating the need to enter data into multiple sources,” Davis said. “For example, before switching to this system, we were using multiple spreadsheets and databases to track sales and service information. Now everything ties together through a fully integrated system.”

Davis said the software has also given his company options that weren’t available through its old support system.

“For a long time, I had wanted to hire somebody to work remotely,” he said. “However, I did not have the systems in place to do this. Computility’s Web-based system gives us remote access and the ability to share information. I can now expand my sales force outside of Des Moines.”

Computility charges its clients a monthly fee based on the number of users it has, with $30 as a starting point. No software needs to be purchased to run the programs, because they are Web-based, and monthly upgrades and new process are automatically added at no additional charge, Stuart said.

“We are constantly adding new modules, reports, features and search capabilities to our system,” he said. “It’s customer-driven. They tell us they would like to be able to do something, and instead of customizing it for one person, we always look at if it’s something we can spread across the application.”

Customers can also personalize the program to work for their specific needs, Donaghy said. “Somebody can go in and build their own sales process, build their own reports and make it look and feel the way they want it to look,” he said.

Last month, Computility added business process management, a new area that is just coming into this market, Stuart said. Through process templates, best practices are broken down into sequences for others to emulate. Newer employees can see how seasoned veterans carry out reoccurring tasks, such as sales calls.

“You want to systemize all your processes, and this is another tool to do that,” Donaghy said. “The point is to make it easier for the customer. Business technology should be as easy having electricity or phone service. We’re trying to solve our customers’ problems and make business and technology applications easy for them.”