IT Services: Sure and Steady for Triad Group

Computergram International, April 8, 1999

One financial analyst has dubbed London-based Triad Group "One of the most boringly consistent of all UK IT service vendors" - a reference to the company's persistent profitability and a revenue stream that has grown steadily and predictably. Even the challenge of breaking into Europe fails somehow to stir its passions. Unlike many of its competitors, it does not view any move into new territories as being 'make or break'. Richard Jeffrey Cook, principal consultant at Triad reasons that any overseas presence is simply a reflection of its multi-national client base. "Our expansion into continental Europe is inevitable really," said Cook. Triad will go wherever its customers take it.

Currently the company has clients in the Netherlands, it has a web development contract for Compaq underway in Munich and it has recently finished a 2m pound deal with publisher Blackwells to build it an extranet that also links the organization's Oxford, UK; Sydney, Australia; and Californian offices.

Cook claims that the company has 60% of the FTSE 100 as clients, and includes most of those operating in fast moving financial services, telecommunications, retail and pharmaceuticals. Here there's an increased demand for e-commerce work and customer relationship management systems. Most recently it has completed a 2,000-seat call center implementation for Ventura, part of the Next clothing chain, and a company that provides call center cover for some major retailers including Dixons and Cellnet. The implementation was delivered in six months and within budget.

Triad says that it has begun to update its labor pool to meet these new market demands. The company says it spends 1m pounds a year upgrading its consultants' skills, an aspect of its business it feels has helped contain staff turnover rates. With a staff of over 800 in 1998 Triad boasts a turnover rate of just 5%. Cook attributes this to the opportunities it offers staff to work on challenging projects. "We don't do Y2K," he said.

Results for the six months to September 1998 show revenues of 22.1m pounds representing an increase of 57% on revenues of 14.1m pounds for the same period in the previous year. Profit before tax for the 6 months ended September 30 1998 is given as 3.8m pounds. Although this up for the same period in 1997 (2.85m pounds) it actually represents a fall in margin to 17.2% from 20.6% for the same period 1997.

Triad delivers applications development and systems integration services. These range from the use of Rapid Application Development techniques, object oriented analysis and design, multi-tier client server applications based on Forte, and two-tier client server applications based on Oracle, Informix and Ingres, as well as traditional systems analysis and design.

The company has a dedicated support offering dubbed 'TriadCare', a service that offers systems and software support for applications developed by third parties. This support includes system audits, help-desk, change control and configuration management, software maintenance and an applications porting service. An IT contracting division known as Generic provides of IT consultant,s which together with a 60,000 strong database of freelance contractors gives it preferred supplier status with a good number of blue chip clients. Its consultants cover most IT disciplines including relational databases, network and system administration, project management, system testing and help-desk support. Triad's Strategic IS Consultancy services include program definition, feasibility and scoping studies, business requirements analysis and unusually for an IT services company, an IT investment appraisal service.

One of the company's latest software development contracts is with DriveSafe, a joint venture company involving Capita Group and JHP Group, to administer the theory test of the UK's learner driver program. The contract will see Triad provide IS support in business process definition, systems consultancy and software development. Another notable contract involves pan-European broadcaster MTV. Since 1995 Triad has provided business and IT consultancy services to specify, procure and test software systems, and oversee phased implementations of a replacement Advertising Sales and Traffic System. es/Routers)