An Irish accounting company established only three years ago has emerged as a leading finalist in the global Microsoft Partner Awards.
Relate Software is headed by largely the same management team that led Apex Software into a €25.4m acquisition by Sage in 2000.
The company is the only European company in the independent software vendor (ISV) section for the Technology Innovation Partner of the Year award, which will be announced next week in Boston. More than 2,700 Microsoft partners worldwide submitted entries.
Relate, which is headed by Ray Rogers, was established three years ago and claims to have won business with over 30pc of accountants in Ireland. The company estimates it has some 400 accountancy firms on its books out of 1,600 accountancy practices countrywide.
The company is estimated to be growing its share of the Irish accounts market at a rate of 15pc per annum.
Ian Lucey, sales and marketing manager of Relate Software, told siliconrepublic.com that the company’s software is based on Microsoft’s SQL and .Net platform.
“Our software platform, which covers areas like accounts production, tax returns, company secretarial, time and billing and CRM, is being picked up by about 25 to 30 practices in Ireland a month,” Lucey explained. “Most of this would be through referrals.”
He estimated that the company has also reached about 7pc of accountancy practices in Northern Ireland, up to 40 companies.
Lucey concluded by saying that Relate is the only European company to be listed in the ISV section of the Microsoft Partner Awards, of which there are five finalists in total out of 2,700 entries.
By John Kennedy
