British company Fraser Eagle signed a contract on Thursday with Malta-based Crimsonwing for six years of development and maintenance work as Fraser Eagle’s chosen nearshoring software development partner.

The significance of this agreement goes far beyond an agreement between two companies. Up to five months ago, Fraser Eagle had never considered Malta for their software development needs: at that time they were considering British companies.

But then Malta Enterprise held a seminar in London in June and someone at Fraser Eagle got to know about it and attended. They were then invited to come to Malta to see for themselves and when they came they found, to their great surprise, not one but 11 companies all eager to become their software development partners.

“We found very high technical skills here,” Group Managing Director Kevin Dean told me after the signing at Marsa, “but what really attracted us here was the Maltese work ethic. The quality of work and enthusiasm, commitment and sheer friendliness of the Maltese we met in these 11 companies were far better than anything we encountered in the UK. This is what attracted us here.”

The Fraser Eagle Group has 85 years of experience in the passenger transport industry. Starting off as a coach firm, they now employ over 400 people in three sub-divisions:

• Fraser Eagle Management Services, which offers complete transport and passenger management services for the rail industry, airlines and ground handling companies, plus corporate travel, incident management and coaching services to the public and private sectors;

• Fraser Eagle Contract Furnishing, a recent development, offering commercial furniture manufacture and design, soft furnishings supply and project management of interior refurbishments and new builds for the hospitality and leisure industry; and

• Fraser Eagle World Choice, an independent travel agent based in Lancashire, offering independent, friendly travel advice to suit the individual requirements of its customers in tailor-made packages and coaching holidays, as well as all the major holiday brands.

Fraser Eagle works closely with over 9,000 coach and taxi operators throughout the UK.

The company is redeveloping its line of business software applications which currently runs through all aspects of its business 24 hours a day, seven days a week, spanning order taking, fulfilment, tracking, pricing and costing out, supplier delivery statistics, client/supplier communication tracking and invoicing.

Crimsonwing’s new application is expected to go live towards the end of March.

In an interview, Mr Dean, Darren Marsden, director of IT services, and Steve Ellis, procurement contracts manager, explained that when they came to Malta they met 11 companies engaged in software development, ranging from big companies like Megabyte, Philip Toledo and Crimsonwing itself to smaller companies and even some start-ups like 6pm and Datatrak. Some were software developers while others were in-house service providers. All had a high level of skills and all were equally and contagiously enthusiastic. The Fraser Eagle team had been looking at Frankfurt and India before, but Malta won hands-down.

Each company they looked at had the potential of getting the contract. The people they met were all young, all highly skilled, and all enthusiastic and dynamic. And above all, everyone in Malta speaks English, it is just three hours away from Britain, and we even drive on the “right side of the road”. And the work ethic – that people are committed to their work, ready to keep to their delivery times and delivering high quality work – is far beyond that which they found in Britain.

Although they chose Crimsonwing, as it catered for their specific needs, they are now ready to spread the word to their business contacts and associates in the UK telling them the unbroadcast secret of Malta. “Your investment in IT is starting to pay off,” they told me, “your IT people have very high skills levels.

Crimsonwing is a leading provider of e-business and commercial systems solutions, encompassing all aspects of IT development from consultancy and analysis to implementation and support. Founded in 1996, and established in Malta seven years ago with 30 people, it has enjoyed steady growth. Its expertise combined with a commitment to quality has allowed it to establish strong, long-term relationships with its clients.

Crimsonwing has offices in the UK, The Netherlands and in Malta and employ around 90 highly qualified IT professionals. All its IT development processes are ISO 9001: 2000 certified.

Earlier this month, Crimsonwing signed another contract with UK retail giant Morrisons which are implementing what is called Supplier Exchange – a collaborative supply chain solution developed by a team in-house at Crimsonwing. The product enables retailers and their suppliers to exchange information about the supply chain, which in turn helps improve their planning, problem response and collaboration and hence increase sales. The first phase will go live in October.

Another development deal has also been signed over the past weeks with Global IT UK, a Microsoft Gold partner. Tackled as a long-term project, Crimsonwing Axapta consultants will be adding flexibility and capability enhancements to standard Microsoft ERP – Axapta functionality.

Other contracts have been signed by Crimsonwing with companies such as DHL, IDIS Pharmaceuticals, Sunlight, Williams Lea, Planit International, Specsavers and Lakeland Ltd.