Commenting on the deal, James Palmer, CEO of Nine Telecom explained, “Whilst we are very proud of the Billie billing platform we acquired two years ago via our purchase of Club Communications, the platform itself was not capable of being developed to provide some of the functionality we now see as important for the future of the independent reseller. We therefore had two options; we could start from scratch and develop a new solution, or we could look at the best solutions already in the marketplace and make an acquisition. Having reviewed the marketplace over the last twelve months, we believe that with Dataflow, and in particular their web based “Cascade” billing solution, we have found the right platform for our resellers.
This deal represents a significant investment for Nine Telecom Group – not just the substantial sum paid for the business, but also as a result of our plans to invest and further develop the solution. We also believe this will give existing Dataflow customers some key advantages over the coming years, with particular focus on the Customer Relationship Management features of the platform.
We plan to increase the size of the development team and are pleased to confirm that all the existing Dataflow staff will be staying with the business, which will continue to operate from its existing base in Wells.”
Speaking about the acquisition, Fran Edwards, the former owner of Dataflow said, “I believe I have found the perfect acquisition partner for Dataflow, in the Nine Telecom Group, and in James Palmer. Dataflow’s future and growth is assured, allowing it to continue to provide the same quality service to its clients, retain all of its staff and focus on development of the Cascade WEB billing system, but now with the backing and support of a much larger and very successful group.”