UK-based AFA Systems plc, which acquired former JSE-listed Smacsoft in February this year, sees SA as a good place to invest, and hopes to make further acquisitions locally.
AFA Systems CEO Mike Hart, who was visiting SA recently, says SA "is a wonderful place to develop software".
"Why the government is not doing more to promote it, I don`t know," he adds.
AFA develops software solutions for the international financial markets.
Hart says the skill level in SA is very high, the culture is very similar to that of the UK, and the costs of development here is a sixth of the costs in the UK. Of the group`s 160 staff members, 100 are in SA.
AFA recently reported that its revenues for the six months to end-June 2001 increased 88% to lb4.1 million. That included a maiden four-month contribution of lb1.1 million from the former Smacsoft, now AFA Systems SA.
The group recently also acquired Common Knowledge from Neuratech, an Ixchange incubator company.
Hart says the group will acquire again in SA, but he stipulates that the acquired company must be in the financial services market and, since AFA is an international company with 120 customers in 20 countries, it must have a product that can travel.
JB Maree, AFA Systems SA development director, says the acquisition has also benefited the South African arm.
"We didn`t want to be part of a huge company, one we couldn`t add value to," he says. "The acquisition is really continuing the story of Smacsoft, because we wanted a partner we could work with, and not sell out to.
"There`s a lot of experience in the group, and it really has strengthened us. We`ve been able to take very bold steps we wouldn`t have been able to take before. We definitely were not in a position to buy Common Knowledge."
Hart says customer relationship management is the next area on which the financial services area will spend a lot of money.
"The key to performing well is to continue to position yourself where the spend is, and to do that you have to build good relationships with customers so you know where the spend will be.
"We are a lot more flexible than many companies in our sector, so if we know spending is moving to CRM the front office can quickly orientate the teams."
The group is planning to launch a new software product, AIMS, in the next few months. AIMS is to replace the Smacsoft product, SMAC.
"AIMS will replace SMAC, but we will offer a migration path, a smooth upgrade," Hart says.
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AFA Systems benefits from Smacsoft acquisition
AFA Systems acquires intellectual property rights to Ixchange`s Common Knowledge
Smacsoft delists after acquisition
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