Multiplying Signs of Recovery in 2010

Martin Taylor MD of Impact Applications, a Wolverhampton-based Software company specialising in web-based enterprise software applications (http://www.impactapplications.com) found that the recession raised many challenges. Martin says

“As the market for new business slowed down – especially in the public sector where much of our business lies – we decided that more than ever we needed to focus on generating additional revenues from our existing clients through product innovation. I am happy to say that we have overcome these challenges by implementing strategies such as;

Emphasising the importance of retaining our talented employees through these difficult times, we recognise our staff are critical to the success of our business and the investment we have made in bringing on board and training the team has reaped it’s rewards for us in the good times. We are determined to protect that investment in the down time and have looked at other ways to ‘manage our costs’. This has included a focus on improving our software development processes and underlying software architecture to reduce the cost of future product development and reduce times-to-market.

We have also made sure that we have continued to offer improved and extended services to our current client base, our clients hunger for more functionality and improvements in technology has not slowed in the same way as the economy and we at Impact have been enhancing our offering. We have extended the integration capabilities of our flagship repairs and maintenance application, impactRESPONSE, adding new interfaces to builders merchants, housing management systems and finance systems to deliver true end-to-end systems integration.

It is refreshing to see that after the ‘doom and gloom’ atmosphere that dominated 2009, there is a slow but steady shift towards a more optimistic outlook on the IT market in 2010. The positive statistics recently published by Ernst and Young (please see article below) echo our own recent successes at Impact applications. I am particularly proud of our deployment of impactRESPONSE for the main contractor at Gloucester City Homes, Lovell Respond, where we integrated with Orchard’s arcHouse management system in record time. The ever multiplying signs of recovery are testament to those companies that forged ahead during the trying times of the past, and I am confident that with the right teams and care and determination in 2010 those of us leading IT companies will enjoy the pay off from the hard work needed to survive last year.

IT Sector Pulling Free from Recession

It seems that perhaps the recession is finally showing signs of fading for the IT Sector. One signifier is the record demand for IT Staff. A monthly report compiled by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG (with figures based on indices between 0 to 100, with a reading of 50 signifying no change) has shown demand for permanent IT staff growing from 32.2 at this time last year to 67.7, with demand for temporary and contract staff rising from 31.5 this time last year to 58.7. These figures hopefully reflect a change in trend from the budget freezes of last year, and show that companies are willing to invest in their IT departments once more.

Furthermore, Ernst and Young have reported a growth in the level of technology related M&A activity for the third consecutive quarter, with the number of deals rising by 13% and deal volume jumping by 32% globally.

(Source www.computing.co.uk)

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