BUSINESS
Arantech scoops top software award
12-11-2007
by Ciara O'Brien
Dublin-based software firm Arantech was named Company of the Year at the Irish Software Association awards on Friday.
Arantech was one of five indigenous software firms who took home awards at the ceremony, which was held at the Burlington Hotel in Dublin. The firm has developed customer experience management software, Touchpoint, which gives mobile telecoms operators the ability to monitor and enhance customers product experiences, in real-time. The firm claims this can help increase average revenue per user by 1-3 percent.
Also scooping prizes were charity social networking site Ammado, which was named New Company of the Year, and Globoforce, which was recognised in the Sales Achievement category. Interactive software firm Havok, which was involved in the development of hit game Halo 3, won the Technical Innovation Award, while Partnership of the year went to Allfinanz, for its deal with Zurich Financial Services that saw the company provide Zurich with software to automatically underwrite large volumes of insurance claims, a process that was carried out manually in the past.
Chair of the ISA, Pat Brazel said it had been a great year for the software sector. "In contrast to the turmoil in the financial and property sectors, technology has performed strongly this year," he said. "This year's winners demonstrate this vibrancy and reflect the breadth of the new software industry, from enterprise software to games to Social networks to SaaS [Software as a Service]."
Meanwhile, University College Cork student Alan Holland was given the Student Medal for developing his work involving algorithms that determine winners of auctions where combinations of lots can be auctioned. This was classed as the most commercially viable piece of research this year.
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