Scottish technology companies make financial services ‘Connections’
Three Scottish technology companies have secured contracts worth approximately £60,000 following an event organised by Scottish Enterprise to develop business relationships between financial service companies and Scottish technology suppliers.
At the ‘Connections’ event, held last November in Edinburgh, Scottish Enterprise facilitated one-to-one meetings between a group of seventeen Scottish technology companies which are developing innovative business and technology solutions, and nine key financial services providers.
One of the companies to have benefited from the Connections event is Agenor Technology, an independent IT professional services consultancy and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution provider. This borders-based company was introduced to Baillie Gifford by Scottish Enterprise at the event to showcase its software application, ICEflo. After a successful BETA testing period, Baillie Gifford is now using the software to build a best-practice blueprint for IT upgrades, cutting time and cost.
Two other technology companies, performance management expert g2BS and web analytics consultant Lynchpin Analytics, have signed deals with other financial services companies as a result of the event, and several other Scottish technology suppliers have indicated that they are in ‘sales relationships’ and are hopeful of converting these encouraging opportunities into contracts.
Jim Watson, director of financial services, Scottish Enterprise said: “The Connections event is just one example of how Scottish Enterprise is helping to improve business to business collaboration in Scotland. In this case, we focused on helping the financial services industry to develop its supply chain by making the relevant introductions and connections.
“We believe there is a real opportunity for innovative Scottish technology companies to use their expertise in different sectors. By working with new technologies, these sectors become more competitive by improving business process and making efficiency savings, and the Connections event was an important step in facilitating the relevant introductions specifically for financial services providers.
“The feedback from the event has been excellent on all sides, and this has already been followed by another successful Connections event in London.”
Andy Smith, CEO at Agenor said: “This event represented a golden opportunity to make initial contact with senior executives of key target customers in our primary market – the Scottish financial services sector. The event itself was a model of efficiency in securing multiple introductions and in more than one case this has led to follow-on meetings and critically, new business opportunities”.
Richard McGrail, head of IS at Baillie Gifford added: “This event gave us a fantastic insight into the innovations coming out of the Scottish technology sector at the moment, and we were particularly impressed with Agenor’s product idea because it addressed a genuine gap in our IS operation without a ridiculous price tag. We have also had positive meetings with some of the other local companies we met that day and may well use their products or services too.”
ENDS