Business Connexion (BCX) is looking for distribution partners to help it get a foothold in the consumer geographic information system (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS) markets.
According to Dirk Nel, managing executive for BCX's GIS division, the company's roots may well be in enterprise, but its growth is among consumers.
"We are busy aligning with specific distribution partners," says Nel. "We will build and sell software and data, and will supply distributors in the market with packaged bundles."
Nel says as the company's core competency is in GIS and GPS software, it has never built or manufactured related hardware.
"We have hardware alliances, as a generic set of software not only creates support-related issues, but also make it difficult for consumers." He says BCX, therefore, pre-bundles and loads its mobile Handimap product at source with strategic partners, such as Mio Technology and Holux, where the product is still in its test phase.
Vehicle manufacturers
In 1999, BCX started creating underlying map data for car dealer BMW, which wanted an SA-specific system to load in its vehicles. The company has since reached a number of manufacturers, such as Daimler Chrysler, and government departments with similar products.
About three years ago it entered the mobile navigation market with its Handimap product, which can be loaded onto pocket devices or PCs.
In the previous financial year, BCX saw revenue of just over R2.5 million from royalties from its software and data for GIS and GPS. Nel explains that BCX's cut on a product that sells for between R3 000 and R4 000 is only R450 to R500, with the balance going to hardware vendors and distributors.
The company is targeting just over R3 million in royalty revenue for the coming financial year. BCX believes this will increasingly come from personal navigation devices, rather than pocket devices that are not dedicated purely to GIS functions.
Nel says the company is in a situation where "we were the only ones for a very long time. Now there is competition entering from Europe and the US, and we have to update and upgrade our software and maps constantly."
He accedes that the likes of TomTom and Garmin do enjoy some market share, due to their global brand awareness. However, he notes BCX's advantage is that its product is "born and bred" in SA with extensive local mapping data.
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