Auckland firm gets first grant from Technology New Zealand

An Auckland company specialising in sophisticated customer relationship solutions for the retail sector has been awarded one of the first technology grants under the government's new funding guidelines.

Visible Results Limited, a subsidiary of The Atlantis Group, has been granted $360,000 by Technology New Zealand for next stage development of its dynamic loyalty system project.

Visible Results markets and supports a customer loyalty system using a thermal read/write card technology - the only card currently available to update and display loyalty information to customers instore.

The funding is to develop enhanced solutions that will enable the technology to be used more widely and to greater effect. The enhancements include the ability to support Asian characters, along with significant configurability and scalability.

Once completed, the new system will allow global
deployment of loyalty programmes, enabling marketers to change these on the fly, specific people to be targeted with appropriate offers, and the maintenance of the loyalty programme centrally from one location.

The Atlantis Group Managing Director Michael Whittaker said the grant was tangible evidence that the government was serious about providing active support to technology development.

"The development of technology with a commercial face has never been easy or without risk. The government's initiative recognises the benefits of supporting technology initiatives that will capitalise on the
entrepreneurial spirit, commercial expertise and sheer doggedness of New Zealanders," Mr Whittaker said.

"The biggest risk the government faces in funding technology is the possibility that new products are created which, for commercial reasons, are
never brought to market.

"In the case of Visible Results, we had a proven
demand for the service and could show a track record of satisfying customers in four countries with this type of product. That allowed us to apply for
funding confident that it would be put to good use."

Visible Results' existing graphicard tm technology attracted considerable attention when it was chosen to power the Mobil MAX programme in New Zealand
in March 1999.

The technology and supporting loyalty programme won gold
medals in the 1999 and 2000 Direct Marketing Association Awards, and gold awards for the Best Loyalty Programme in this year's Australasian Promotional Marketing Awards.

The Visible Results technology is also used to support loyalty programmes for Caltex in Singapore and Dymocks in Australia.

The Technology for Business Growth TBG Scheme has been refocused towards projects that have the potential to enhance technical capability and enable firms to move towards high value, high margin technology-based products, processes or services, and / or markets.

Preference will be given to projects that have the potential to create an enduring increase in technical
capability within the firm.