What happens to a company when its status as a dark horse begins to transform into something brighter and more mainstream? eGov monitor speaks to the CEO Lagan on the journey from a start up to an internationally renowned public sector partner.
Software provider Lagan and its 250 employees are successfully taking on the giants of customer relationship and Enterprise Case Management™ solutions in the UK and the US and the firm’s profile is being recognised more widely than ever. If you judge a person by the friends he or she keeps, the same can be applied to a company and who its clients are. In the case of Lagan, the list is quite staggering – the State of Tennessee, the Scottish Parliament, the City of Westminster, Los Angeles County (population 10 million) – the list goes on.
The company now faces the next stages of growth: expansion and even broader recognition among venture capitalists, potential recruits and potential clients.
For Lagan chief executive Des Speed, this is a tightrope walk he has mastered in the last two years since the company’s explosive entry into the North American local, state and federal government markets with its leading Enterprise Case Management (ECM) technology.
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“Establishing Lagan’s’ credentials among the fast-changing and efficiency-driven local, state and national governments has happened quickly and this is down to a mix of having the right product at the right time, an innate ability to innovate and also to provide solutions which are economically rigid,” says Speed. “The perception of Lagan as a dark horse still lurks in some corners but this can be as helpful as it can be a hindrance.”
When Lagan signed its first major public service contract seven years ago with the biggest metropolitan council in Britain, Birmingham, Lagan was tiny in comparison to the other contenders for the project which included IBM, Oracle and others. Yet it was to deliver a customer relationship management solution for Birmingham’s one million rate payers in record time, and, through clever, innovative thinking, by making use of the council’s existing computer technology (rather than foisting a multi-million pound investment in new hardware on the council.)
The project worked and won awards and Lagan now serves more than 100 UK local authorities helping them achieve stringent customer satisfaction levels.
“What we deliver are communications channels which the ordinary rate payer can access at all times in whatever language they choose and using whatever means is most practical for them be this the internet, the phone, email or even in person,” says Speed.
The success of Lagan’s UK developments blossomed while Speed looked elsewhere in the world for applications of Lagan’s brilliant solutions. He pursued potential markets throughout the world but his instincts drove him back to the west. With a clear view on the social needs of the USA, Speed aimed for the north American market and spent months researching the state of local government services, how they were delivered, communicated and managed and developed Lagan’s ECM solution.
Convinced Lagan had the right products, Speed set up base in Washington DC two years ago. Fifty contracts later, Speed has crossed the border into Canada where he has struck deals with five large-volume local and state governments and government agencies including the City of Toronto.
“‘Over 37 million citizens around the world are supported by Lagan solutions and when you consider Los Angeles County, one of our clients, and the fact that it is responsible for 10 million citizens, you start to get a different perspective on volume communications and its management,” says Speed.
“We have convinced a broad range of local and state governments including Tennessee and Virginia as well as public sector projects such as the New York City-based Seedco which encourages people from underprivileged areas into employment and business through strict incentivisation schemes, that they can achieve their objectives more efficiently through the implementation of our solutions. This has then established us as a centre of excellence, capable of providing very effective solutions more cheaply, more intelligently and in an accessible manner when compared to our competitors in enterprise case management,” says Speed.
Speed now lives in Washington DC but returns to Belfast every month. This continuity of leadership is enhanced by a team of directors who have been there from the start. Chief technology officer David Moody and chief architect Sean Montgomery are the engine of the firm, creating the software which is then implemented. Stuart Connolly, vice president professional services, and Stephen Bronte, customer services director, ensure the transition of an organisation moving from the old systems to the new happens without trauma . Likewise, the guiding hand of chief financial officer Mark Evans and company secretary Joanne Ross assure levels of governance so high as to exceed US company law requirements.
“This is one of the best teams a company like this could hope to have,” says Speed. “When you combine the team with the business growth and development and the vision Lagan has firmly in sight, then inevitably one becomes an attractive proposition to the venture capitalists.”
“We have been through three rounds of VC in the last six years and we recently secured a $10m venture fund from US investment firm Bluecrest which will finance our pursuit of federal projects, ie working for the US Government itself.”
“Large scale projects such as those we are interested in have cycle times of 18 months or so. We need the pre-investment to research and test our products so that they are exactly to requirements when the tenders arise,” says Speed.
“One such scheme is the venture we have entered into with BearingPoint’s motor vehicle agency solution which is radically changing the way such agencies will manage their processes and provide services. The fact that BearingPoint is one of North America’s most significant management and technology consultants is a huge validation for a relative newcomer like Lagan.”
Meanwhile, Lagan continues to pursue more central government work in the UK. Its success in Scotland where it has been appointed by the Scottish Parliament to deliver a citizen communications programme throughout the country is a glimpse of Lagan’s future south of the border.
“All we need now is for the governments north and south of the Irish border to adopt these efficiencies and then you’ll see how competitive we can help Ireland on both sides of the border become!”
