South African software developer, Ultimate Connection, has launched a major business drive into the retail industry in the UK and Europe.
The company, a member of the JSE-listed Connection Holdings Group, reports a significant breakthrough in its plan to become established as a leading provider of software applications to major international retail chains.
Spearheaded by ActiveRetail, Ultimate Connection`s enterprise resource management suite of software products, the company expects to announce details of its first major multi-million rand offshore contract within the next month.
"Although it`s too soon to announce details of this confirmed contract, the foundation has been laid in Britain and in certain key countries in Europe for Ultimate Connection to launch a major business drive into a market that is conservatively reported to be worth more than R20 billion a year," says Neels van Tonder, president and founder of Ultimate Connection.
Less than a year after introducing the ActiveRetail software suite into Britain at the annual Retail Solutions trade show and exhibition in Birmingham, England, Ultimate Connection has formed strategic partnerships with two UK-based specialist retail IT resellers and systems integrators.
"Lenton UK and Resource Corporation are the first two British-based companies to have made a substantial investment in ActiveRetail. Both are fully established as certified business partners capable of providing retailers with the highest possible levels of service and support for the successful implementation and integration of ActiveRetail into their operations," says Van Tonder.
Sonja Leoncini, Ultimate Connection channel and sales director who has been managing the company`s business development drive into the UK, says negotiations to appoint at least two more strategic business partners in Britain are at an advanced stage.
"Through these carefully-structured business alliances, Ultimate Connection will be well positioned to challenge major software rivals throughout Europe. Backed by the unrivalled value of the rand-based development and support costs provided by Ultimate Connection from its head office in Pretoria, ActiveRetail is poised to take the offshore market by storm. We are confident of establishing a small but very significant market share within the next three years," she says.
Van Tonder attributes the company`s early breakthrough into the UK market to the power, flexibility and unique features of ActiveRetail.
Winner of the international Microsoft Retail Application Development `99 award for the most innovative retail solution, the company says the software is widely regarded as a world leader in the Windows operating system environment.
"ActiveRetail as a solution has a significant lead over all other retail applications in the Microsoft arena. Not only has it proved to be extremely robust, but it outstrips the competition with its flexibility, scalability and the power of integration into workflow and data warehousing applications," says Nick Mead, MD, Lenton UK.
"Based on Lenton`s successful track record as a well-established systems integrator and provider of services and solutions into many of the leading retailers in Britain and Europe, I am confident that our partnership with Ultimate Connection will result in significant growth for both companies for the foreseeable future," he says.
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