Partner Article

Redcar firm goes transatlantic

A software company is expanding into the US market after the success of its passenger transport monitoring system in the UK secured a £100,000 investment.

Redcar-based Data Images and Solutions (DIS) developed web-based transport management and scheduling package, dial-a-ride-online.com.

The package provides a system for efficient route planning and scheduling, helping operators to increase the number of passengers, reduce so-called dead miles, provide effective statistical reporting and improve cost-efficiency.

The system is in use across the UK by transport providers ranging from small independents to local authorities, with Stockton Borough Council the first to take it up.

The company has started taking on US clients and recently secured an investment of £100,000 from UK Steel Enterprise, the Corus subsidiary that supports businesses in steel areas, enabling it to take on two software developers and an additional sales executive to support an expansion into the US market.

Tony Gatehouse, sales and operations director, said: “We spent six weeks in the US at the end of 2008 on a major sales push, giving demonstrations to transport organisations and talking to senior members of the federal government.

“It is a very competitive market, but we are confident that the simplicity of our system will win us substantial business there.

“We have been told that there isn’t anything in the US to compare with it.”

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