An Irish software company has beaten off competition from international competitors to see its flagship product named the top operational risk software by industry bible Operational Risk & Compliance magazine.
Through a deal with US financial software giant SunGard, Dublin-based Ci3 sells its Sword operational risk management software to global financial services firms as part of SunGard's BancWare suite.
BancWare powered by Sword swept the rankings in four of the operational risk categories and was named number one in the poll of Operational Risk & Compliance readers.
Ci3 began in 1995 as a subsidiary of Swiss group Comit supplying risk consulting services to banks in Switzerland and the IFSC, but this model started to become unsustainable due to consolidation in the Swiss banking sector and the rising costs of providing services from Ireland.
Based on a project carried out for asset management firm Schroders, it developed Sword. This left Schroders with a small stake in the product, but Ci3 director Richard Pike says this provides reassurance to other large buyers who may not feel comfortable dealing with a small Irish company.
Customers include Barclays, Swiss Re, Zurich Financial Services, and Anglo Irish Bank, while it still provides consultancy to Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank, which provides a useful source of cash to fund product development.
As a result of the 2005 acquisition of Comit Switzerland's by state telco, SwissCom, Mr Pike and fellow senior management led a management buyout and did so out of their own resources.
"We took the decision not to go down the venture capital route or approach the bank," explains Mr Pike. "We've always been profitable, had no debt and could finance it on our own."
As a result Ci3 is that rare beast in the Irish software industry - a profitable company that has global reach through a strong network of channel partners. In 2006 Ci3 had revenues of just over €3 million and was profitable while still managing to invest €750,000 on R&D.
Research spending this year will amount to €650,000 with revenues expected to hit €4.5 million.
