Sponosored by Bolton Trust, DCU and PDC March, 2006 DataKraft, an innovative rapid software development house, has been awarded a Highly Commended at the annual Project Development Centre (PDC) awards ceremony. This is the second year in a row that dataKraft has won this award.

The awards were presented by Minister Tom Kitt at a ceremony which honoured nine companies in total. The overall winner was Ripple Software which produces market research and intelligence for online retailers.

DataKraft is the brainchild of Jacques Lefebvre and was borne out of a frustration of not being able to create database applications quickly. “I wanted to develop professional database applications quickly that could be amended and extended without any coding or development,” says LeFebvre.

At the heart of the company is dataKraft Studio, a software platform based on .NET technology, which is used to design database applications without coding and development. Designing any database solution with dataKraft Studio is 20 times faster than traditional development.

Following the successful acceptance of the company into the Hothouse programme at PDC twelve months ago, LeFebvre was joined by Carol McKeon. Today, the growing software company has live customers in a number of vertical markets and has also moved into new offices in Shankill.

“In just five days we built a fully functional CRM solution for eco-friendly heating provider SystemLink,” says McKeon. “And in ten days we built a HR system for Dalkia to manage more than 400 employees. These solutions are proven, robust applications at work in commercial organizations.

“If we were to characterize our company’s USP (unique selling proposition) it would have to be that dataKraft can build custom database applications within days – proven, delivered and working,” she says.

dataKraft uses the DataKraft Studio to design bespoke applications for SMEs, focusing on CRM, HR, Project Management, and Sales solutions. The application supports multiple databases (MS Access, SQL Server, SQL Server Express, My SQL, Oracle) ensuring that clients are not tied to any one database vendor and allowing for future migrations.

“As there is no coding, our solutions can grow easily as the needs of our clients change over time. They know that they won’t have to pay for development and that getting the solution that matches their business processes is now easily achieved and affordable,” says McKeon.

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The Project Development Centre (PDC), an initiative of DIT, has to date supported 150 entrepreneurs through the Hothouse Programme, which is fully funded under the National Development Plan 2000 – 2006 through the Department of Science and Education. Supports available to participants include incubation space in an entrepreneurial environment, assistance in their bid to raise investment, access to a network of professional experts, business counselling, monthly workshops affording them the opportunity to improve their capabilities in key business areas and the support of an organisation with a track record of supporting businesses.

Participants receive a monthly training grant of €550 and they also have the opportunity to qualify for additional support funding from Enterprise Ireland in the form of a CORD grant, which can be worth up to 50% of their previous year’s salary.

The Bolton Trust encourages and promotes new business enterprise in Ireland. It was established in 1986 by staff of the Dublin Institute of Technology, and currently has over 200 members. This membership is largely drawn from the various disciplines of DIT, Ireland’s largest third-level technological Institute, and also from Ireland’s entrepreneurial community.

The primary resource of the Trust is Docklands Innovation Park, a 14,000 m sq. facility located on East Wall Road with ready access to the city centre and Dublin Port. It consists of 17 large industrial/office units ranging in size from 400 m sq. to 1800 m sq. Over 40 small companies are successfully based on the estate.

For more information, please contact:

Carol McKeon DataKraft 01 239 32 70
Jillian Godsil PRG 055 294 55

February 2006

DataKraft, an innovative rapid software development house, has moved to new offices in Station House Business Centre in Shankill. dataKraft, which is the recipient of two commendation awards from the Docklands Business Centre, emerged from the collegiate incubation programme twelve months ago and already boasts a formidable customer base.

Jacques Lefebvre, CEO of DataKraft says: “Proof of concept is very important when moving from an academic environment into a commercial sphere. Many fledging companies fail to cross the bridge from idea to product. At DataKraft we are fortunate to not only have made this transition while still in the incubation centre, we also secured a number of commercial customers at the same time.

“Today, DataKraft has customers in a range of vertical markets from large corporates (such as Dalkia Ireland) to smaller service driven SMEs. We have also managed to win business in both the public and private sector. We expect to double our turnover by the end of 2007 and have employed 15 new more people at the same time,” he says.

DataKraft is the brainchild of Lefebvre and was borne out of a frustration of not being able to create database applications quickly. “I wanted to develop professional database applications quickly that could be amended and extended without any coding or development,” says Lefebvre.

At the heart of the company is DataKraft Studio, a software platform based on .NET technology, which is used to design database applications without coding and development. Designing any database solution with DataKraft Studio is 20 times faster than traditional development.

dataKraft uses the DataKraft Studio to design bespoke applications for SMEs, focusing on CRM, HR, Project Management, and Sales solutions. The application supports multiple databases (MS Access, SQL Server, SQL Server Express, My SQL, Oracle) ensuring that clients are not tied to any one database vendor and allowing for future migrations.

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For more information, please contact:

Carol McKeon DataKraft 01 239 32 70
Jillian Godsil PRG 055 294 55

February 2006 TEKenable, the specialist software house delivering high-end software and consulting solutions to Government, Finance and Healthcare sectors, has won a four year development contract with DataKraft. TEKenable will undertake ongoing product development of the dataKraft Studio platform and, in particular, will provide integration with Vista and Office 2007.

Earlier this year, dataKraft won, for the second time, a Highly Commended at the annual Project Development Centre (PDC) awards ceremony in Dublin. The company has customers in a number of vertical markets from large corporates, such as Dalkia Ireland, to smaller service-driven SMEs. It has also managed to win business in both the public and private sector and is currently engaged with potential clients in Northern Ireland.

Nick Connors, TEKenable Director says: “We are delighted to win this contract with dataKraft. We specialise in .NET development and our team has extensive experience integrating products on the Microsoft Platform.

“The DataKraft studio is developed for SMEs that are comfortable working with MS Office. Our development partnership will focus on tightly integrating dataKraft solutions with MS Office and Outlook in particular.”

At the heart of the company is dataKraft Studio, a software platform based on .NET technology, which is used to design database applications without coding. Designing any database solution with dataKraft Studio is 20 times faster than traditional development.

DataKraft uses the DataKraft Studio to design bespoke applications for SMEs, focusing on CRM, HR, Project Management, and Sales solutions. The application supports multiple databases (MS Access, SQL Server, SQL Server Express, My SQL, Oracle) ensuring that clients are not tied to any one database vendor and allowing for future migrations.

Founder and CEO of dataKraft, Jacques Lefebvre says: “To accelerate our product development, we examined a number of options including outsourcing to Poland, India and China. We also met a great many software development companies on our recent trip to Hong Kong. We wanted to ensure that we choose a partner with proven experience integrating with Office and significant .NET expertise so TEKenable were the obvious choice.

“We also felt that they understood the DataKraft concept and its importance as a new choice for SME information management.”

The custom development landscape is changing as SMEs demand the flexibility of bespoke development but faster and cheaper. “Flexibility, speed and cost are the three mantras of the SME,” continues Lefebvre. “Our customers are no longer bound to expensive development or fixed packages. All DataKraft solutions can be extended without coding and we also support multiple databases so they are never constrained to a single Database vendor.”

The four year contract was signed in June following negotiations between the two companies.

Director, Peter Rose, commented on the underlying technology and approach taken by dataKraft: “Fortunately the approach that dataKraft has taken in Product development to date was one of flexibility and simplicity which will enable my team to create the maximum value for their customers leveraging their existing systems, and allow us to take full advantage of the benefits of WPF, WinFX, Vista and Office 07 releases going forward into the future.”

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For more information, please contact:

Carol McKeon DataKraft 01 239 32 70
Jillian Godsil PRG 053 94 294 55