Member Article

Middlesbrough firm breaks South African markets

A Middlesbrough-based business is celebrating after witnessing a five fold increase in revenue from South Africa, thanks to support from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI)

Online sales management firm i-snapshot helps businesses to quickly and efficiently assess its sales. Sales staff send information through to i-snapshot by mobile or smart phone, which is then collated and analysed to provide companies with realtime sales performance information. This helps businesses to reduce the amount of time they spend on reports, and enables them to better understand their sales model.

Prior to branching into the South African market, i-snapshot already dealt with over 20,000 sales visits daily from a range of businesses, from the UK, Europe, India and the Middle East. To develop their presence in South Africa, i-snapshot turned to UKTI, who were able to provide intelligence on market potential and a range of ongoing support.

According to i-snapshot’s chief scientist Alan Timothy, getting a distrobutor in South Africa was absolutely pivotal to the firm’s success.

He commented: “It has been hard work but UKTI has helped us all the way, and it was clear right from the outset that their whole approach was about making opportunities work for us, providing the right support and asking the right questions.

“In particular, the excellent relationship we have with Simon, our ITA, has been so important.

“He has spent a lot of time working with us and the advice that we got from him has made a real difference and helped us grow the company substantially.”

Looking forward, i-snapshot are hoping to break into Indonesia where they hope to work with some of the country’s banks.

The firms trade advisor Simon Crosby is now keen to stress the opportunities available to businesses looking to begin exporting overseas. He added: “Exporting can be hard work, even for experienced exporters, but i-snapshot has shown that if you take time to research your market and are prepared to put in the effort – including travelling to your target markets – the rewards can be significant.

“There are a number of high growth markets around the world, so even for small companies trading internationally can offer enormous opportunities for growth.Increased exports will be a key factor in the UK’s economic recovery and I urge local businesses to consider trading overseas as an integral part of their future plans.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .