Sophia Antipolis: Datacorp plans for another year of growth in 2012

Created in 2010, this start-up continues to develop its software publishing and integration business and is aiming for a TO of €1M in 2012

Interview with Sébastien FRAISSE, President of Datacorp.

1 - Can you describe your career? 

With a background in sales and marketing, I spent the first 11 years of my career at a large French ERP software publisher. Initially a junior sales person, I moved up the ranks to become an Agency Manager based in Sophia Antipolis.

2 - Can you tell us about your company? 

80% of Datacorp's business is publishing and integration of ERP software. We publish and integrate our own software suite, aimed primarily at SMEs, in the fields of sales management and customer relationship management.

We are also working distributing software for accountants and auditors. In this sector, we have implemented a distribution system for the AGIRIS-EIC ranges for south-western France. AGIRIS-EIS is France's third largest software publisher, and in 2011 achieved a TO of 120 million Euros.

Technology developments have resulted in us offering hosting solutions on our own servers (Private Cloud Computing) for the different software ranges that we integrate.

The observation of various problems with IT backups in accountancy companies and practices has led us to offer "insourced" or "outsourced" automated backup solutions, which enable accountancy firms to fulfil their legal obligations.

Finally, the last part of the company's business offers ADSL, SDSL and fibre optic type telecom solutions to interconnect different establishments to the "in-house" ERP software that we have deployed or installed for our customers.

3 - What are the specific characteristics of your company? 

We differentiate ourselves by being a "single, multi-publisher contact" for both companies and accountants.

Our experience has shown us that most ERP software has a "horizontal" type philosophy and satisfies only 80% of companies' needs, the remaining 20% being made up by internal processes, which results in a, sometimes massive, waste of time.  We therefore offer our customers the chance to add to the on-site ERP software in order to cover all operational requirements. Our involvement on this 20% can radically change the company's processes.

Our application is native HTML and can be interfaced with any e-commerce website, allowing us to meet all our customers' needs. This specific feature has met with great success and helped us to win many contracts in just a few months.

 4 - What elements of the Sophia Antipolis and French Riviera ecosystem are favourable for Datacorp's business? 

Our development has been facilitated by Sophia Antipolis, Europe's largest technology park and the Côte d'Azur ecosystem. The Côte d'Azur represents a significant pool of companies which has enabled us to establish our strategy and development. Today, 90% of our customers are in the PACA region. 

For more than 12 months, our growth has been very strong and in 2012 we are hoping for much more with the objective to turnover 1 million Euros.

5 - What are your latest or forthcoming innovations and your development prospects?

Datacorp currently has 5 employees and we are planning to recruit more people this year, both in sales and IT (systems and networks). This growth in the workforce should support our development in order to achieve a turnover of 2.5 million Euros by 2015.

We are also working on implementing a new economic model to distribute our software solutions. Our aim is to create a new brand in the world of ERP software solution publishers.

At the same time, we are aiming for the status of Young Innovative Company, indeed, we are developing innovative offers which will enable our future customers to make large productivity gains.

Contact email : contact@datacorp.fr
En savoir plus : www.datacorp.fr