Harvey Grant, CEO of Elypsis, a 25-year-old Napa-based winery software company, announced Monday its merger with Admiral IT, effective Oct. 1.

“We are excited to take our winery solutions to the next level, which benefits our customers, and provides expanded opportunities for our employees,” said Grant, who created the company in 1987.

Elypsis introduced software solutions for wineries beginning in 2000 and emerged as a wine industry solutions leader. The company has continued to lead through innovation by focusing on the consumer-direct, distribution, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) needs of wineries.

“We introduced and pioneered Microsoft Dynamics NAV for wineries, where it has become the standard accounting/ERP solution,” said Grant. “This is the time to again set our solutions apart by speeding up the delivery cycle of the newest software innovation and thereby solving the rapidly changing needs of our customers.

“Technology advancements are accelerating at a much faster rate than previously seen and wineries are finding creative new ways to build their customer relationships, increase sales revenue and control costs. We need to deliver technology advances in a way that will allow wineries to get their hands on the pulse of their business to enable fast and smart decision making.”

For example, Grant said, Elypsis will continue to deliver software solutions that are installed at the winery but will also deliver Software as a Service (SAAS), featuring software solutions that are sold as a monthly service rather than being installed at the winery.

“We will take advantage of recent shifts to SAAS demand, which can eliminate a winery’s need to invest in server infrastructure,” said Grant. “Microsoft has also recently committed to a yearly release cycle of NAV and it is important to keep pace with that delivery of innovation and provide a defined roadmap that customers can depend on. This move will enable us to provide all of this at an early-adopter pace.”

“Our customers will continue to have contact with each of us as they have in the past,” said Grant.

Admiral IT, established in Denmark in 1981, has eight offices serving 3,500 customer installations in four countries and has developed multiple vertical software solutions in Retail, Accounts, ERP and CRM for various industries throughout the world, including fashion, electronics, retail, banking, payroll, golf, automotive repair and manufacturing.

“Admiral IT has a great reputation, along with vast resources to facilitate making our goals a reality,” said Grant. “Developing expertise and knowledge in the Microsoft suite of products takes a great deal of time and gaining access to a large existing team is the most efficient way to leverage the knowledge and resources. We are also excited to bring this well established, global organization to Napa Valley.”

The Elypsis winery team will continue to be headquartered at 1957 Sierra Ave. in Napa. Grant will transition from managing day-to-day corporate responsibilities to focusing on vertical strategy and growing the winery vertical, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Elypsis Vice Presidents Jeremy Grant, ERP Solutions, and Ryan Grant, Retail Solutions, will continue in their current roles in managing their respective teams in the new company.