From Cape Town to the world

In 1994 two relatively unknown Cape Town-based companies joined forces to form an electronic funds transfer (EFT) group that today boasts international offices around the world. It also expects to derive 80% of its income for the next financial year from these overseas markets.

Mosaic Software was born from the merger of Johann Dreyer`s EFT specialist software company, Software Collage, and Willem van Biljon`s Jigsaw Software, which specialised in systems integration projects involving networks, transaction processing and cryptographic security. These two now head up Mosaic as joint group CEOs.

After entering the US market in 1995, Mosaic formed a partnership with Comparex International in 1996. Comparex now owns 50.1% of Mosaic. Says Van Biljon: "A key benefit of this is the credibility the Comparex name provides."

The fact that Mosaic`s head office is based in Cape Town "is less of an issue than what it would seem at first. Our clients are spread across the country and we have structured our business accordingly. I must admit, however, that without the Internet and e-mail we would not have survived." He adds that because all Mosaic`s support is done on-line, it does not really matter where in the world the company is based.

Xhead = Land of the brave

"One of the reasons for entering the US market is that our competition hails from there. We wanted to be players in their markets as well."

Mosaic decided to base its offices in Fort Lauderdale as it provides access to both the US and the Latin American markets, which is another key geographical area for the company. "Our experience in SA puts us in good stead for other emerging markets," says Van Biljon.

"During our first year in the US we just tried to understand the market from both a product and marketing perspective. It was only in 1997 that we started to promote ourselves actively in the States." The company`s main business initially came from Latin America but it now also has clients and partners in the US. One of these is the GM Group, an information service provider based in Miami, Florida.

Another breakthrough deal for Mosaic came with the formation of a partnership with Mr Payroll, a US provider of cheque cashing automatic teller machines (ATMs). The two companies joined forces recently to supply customised casino ATMs and point of sale (POS) terminals for cash advances to The Venetian Gaming Resort in Las Vegas - the largest casino in the world.

Mr Payroll specialises in security technology and face biometrics, a system designed to confirm a person`s identity before cheques are cashed.

Van Biljon also adds that the US model for transactions is different to SA`s. "This is because of the decentralisation of the US industry. In SA, the banks own the ATMs but in the US they can belong to third-parties. This makes the whole process complex and the relationships far more intricate." He adds that this model is slowly being accepted in the UK and believes it will eventually take hold in SA as well.

In the UK, Mosaic has signed a distributor agreement with ICL. Says Van Biljon: "[ICL] has a new system called Global Store that is based on Microsoft`s Active Store architecture. This system provides a simplified POS solution."

Mosaic and ICL are busy with a roll-out at a large UK retailer, but Van Biljon could not mention any names. "We will soon have 100-plus stores running on the Postilion platform," is all that he would say.

Postilion is Mosaic`s flagstone platform. It has seven solutions: ATM driving, POS driving, transaction switching, e-commerce and Internet, home banking, mobile commerce and call centres."We find that our clients purchase a combination of these, with ATM driving, transaction switching and POS probably the biggest.

"We have a strong multi-channel approach, with a single architecture; everything runs on one platform. We believe we are the only company that runs on a pure Java platform and is being hosted on Windows NT."

Commenting on how SA compares to the rest of the world in the IT arena, Van Biljon says: "SA has always been a little shy to move its software into the international market. I believe that are our software is just as good and, in some instances, better than our international counterparts." He says the main reason for this is SA`s ability to see the bigger picture and not just focus on one aspect.

One of the areas that Van Biljon feels strongly about is that of mobile commerce. "This market has huge potential if you look at the way cellphones have taken off worldwide. There are far more cellphone users than e-mail users in the world," he says.

He adds that Barclays Bank and CellNet in the UK are busy with trials in Leads, which uses the Postilion platform. "Some of the newer cellphones now have ports for two smart cards; one for the normal SIM card and the other for a cash card or smart card. Money can be downloaded onto a cash card via the cellphone for smaller purchases - a burger for example."

Van Biljon agrees that this would be a good solution for SA, but adds that locally smart cards have had a chequered past. "We need to get a consistent smart card out here with consistent standards. I believe that the only way we will be able to really make it happen in SA is if retailers start to embrace the concept," he concludes.