Taking the credit for software innovation

A VISIT to the World Credit Union conference in Ottawa, Canada in July is expected to yield dividends for Kerry company ViClarity.

The first to develop specialist risk management software for credit unions, the company has grown sales in Ireland and is making plans to sell in Canada, which has more than 3,000 credit unions — the highest number worldwide.

ViClarity has already entered the British market with specialist compliance management software for the nursing home sector and is now targeting sales in the US.

Company founder and chief executive John Ogie Sheehy believes there are global opportunities for these two niche products and is aiming to establish ViClarity as a world leader in the provision of risk, compliance, governance and performance management software. Employing a staff of four, the company expects to achieve sales of €800,000 this year.

A physicist, Mr Sheehy worked in IT management for Hewlett Packard, IBM and Dell before setting up ViClarity in 2008.

Despite the arrival of the recession, he saw an opportunity to develop a company offering software which would enhance business performance.

“The aim was to design and develop simple, effective software that solved the needs of business users and delivered a cost-effective, timely solution,” he said.

He saw a specific gap for software which would address a need for accountability in business.

“There can be a lack of clarity in terms of what people are responsible for and I initially looked at the idea of developing software for accountability in the area of human resources,” said Mr Sheehy.

Taking a leap of faith, he resigned from Dell and set up ViClarity with the support of Enterprise Ireland, enrolling in an enterprise development programme in Tralee. He started by designing general compliance and performance software and signed up Boston Scientific, RTÉ, Allianz Worldwide Care and many more as early customers.

While talking to a number of companies in Kerry and Shannon, Mr Sheehy identified a specific gap in the healthcare market and decided to concentrate on this.

Mowlam Health Care, one of Ireland’s largest providers of nursing homes, wanted software that could help it manage compliance with Health Information and Quality Authority standards in nursing homes and as a consequence, ViClarity’s health care product came into being.

“This is a compliance auditing tool which helps managers ensure that nursing homes are managed in accordance with nursing standards. It’s used by Mowlam Health Care in 19 nursing homes in Ireland and since we entered the UK market in late 2011, has gone into over 150 nursing homes,” he added.

The company’s second niche product was designed for the financial sector.

Observing the difficulties surrounding risk management in banks and financial institutions, Mr Sheehy saw an opportunity to develop software that manages risk in credit unions. “There was a lot of operational software available for this market, but nothing which does what we do,” he said.

“Around 90% of credit unions were using spreadsheets; we created an advanced way of showing accountability and visibility to the board.”

During 2012 ViClarity had its first sale, to Bishopstown Credit Union in Cork, and has since sold to more than 30 credit unions around the country.

Taking the product to Canada in July is expected to lead to global sales.

“Canada has over 3,000 credit unions and we will also be targeting Poland, which has more than 2,000 credit unions,’’ said Mr Sheehy, adding that there is still scope for developing sales in Ireland, which has 408 credit unions in the 32 counties.

Progress is also being made with the healthcare product in Britain and ViClarity is now working on developing a specialist product for dementia care management in nursing homes and products for care for adults and children with learning disabilities.

“As a result of an increase in ageing populations across Europe and in the US it has been predicted that the nursing home market will grow exponentially. We see huge market opportunities in this area,’’ said Mr Sheehy, who is in discussions with a number of potential reseller partners for its nursing home product in the US.

Having used his own funding to start ViClarity, Mr Sheehy received investment of €400,000 in late 2011, which came from Angel investors as well as Enterprise Ireland, which recognised the company as a High Potential Start Up.

During 2012 this funding was used to hire staff and to continue with ongoing research and development.

This year the company expects to take on an additional two staff and continue development of a new product for the insurance market

This month ViClarity won the Best Innovation and Emerging Technology award in the Munster round of the Ulster Bank Business Achievers awards.