WS Atkins win boosts Hanon
Glasgow software developer Hanon Solutions has entered a partnership agreement with consultants WS Atkins that could lead to millions of pounds worth of contracts to supply its technology to local authorities in England.
WS Atkins, whose consultancy services on engineering, planning and IT account for £1bn of its annual turnover, selected Hanon as one of just two suppliers of integration software for public sector contracts.
Hanon Solutions is chaired by Gavin Gemmell, former senior partner with fund managers Baillie Gifford. They are currently working with WS Atkins on a £250,000 project in which its flagship software will join up educational and social services records within a local authority, to identify and track children at risk.
The system allows both departments to follow every event associated with a troubled child: including truancy and suspension records, child welfare checks and name and address changes.
According to Hanon’s technical director, David Rivett, that project is just the tip of the iceberg in a lucrative relationship that could lead to “millions of pounds in fees down the road.”
In the wake of the torture and murder of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie in London in February 2000, English local authorities have been directed by government to adopt information technology systems to help protect children.
Rivett added that the company hoped to target the multi-million pound Invest to Save Budget allocated by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to public body projects that deliver more innovative and joined-up, locally responsive and efficient services. WS Atkins is already working on a £1m initiative with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
North of the Border, Hanon has partnered with Anite Scotland – a major public service software supplier – to work with six local authorities. The teams are submitting IT-related proposals to a £30m Scottish Executive fund aimed at making local government more accessible and efficient.
Meanwhile, Hanon has also landed a “substantial deal” with the Ministry of Defence for its artificial intelligence analysis software. Confidentiality clauses preclude Hanon executives from revealing the nature of the project.
However the technology allows a user to correlate diverse pieces of data and come up with a predictive answer to a question.
Rivett explains: “In a medical application, for example, you could use the software to determine the life expectancy of a heart transplant candidate based on various information provided.”
“One department of the MoD has bought it. It’s a substantial deal. If the software is as good as trials have suggested, they might roll it out to other departments.”
The latest deals put Hanon, which also has David Fraser of Archangel Informal Investments as a non-executive director, on course to generate £1m in revenues this year – nearly five times its £225,000 turnover in 2003.
Established in 2000, the Glasgow firm has rapidly grown after raising £1m in three rounds of financing. Last year, it acquired PRL Scotland, a spinout of the Digital Equipment Company, part of Compaq.
Julia Fields, Sunday Herald 18 April 2004
