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Hedgehog hopes to trot the globe

SOFTWARE developer hedgehog lab is hoping to break into global markets after becoming one of few North East companies to be in the planning stages of creating an application for the Apple iPad.

The business, which was set up three years ago by Sarat Pediredla and Mark Foster and operates out of creative business hub Hoults Yard, Newcastle, has one of its two IT programmes ready for the iPad.

Hoults Yard managing director Charlie Hoult said: “‘The market for iPhone apps is exploding and several players at the yard are transforming their service delivery by adopting the technology. With the iPad coming to UK, I’m reckoning we will see a lot more businesses that are spawned from eBooks to automation tools.”

Solomon is a web-based CRM and contact management system which allows businesses to easily track customer relationships and conversations, will soon be available to download by anyone with a newly purchased iPad.

And both Solomon and fixx – an issue tracker that helps small businesses track and deliver projects on-time - developed by hedgehog lab are already available for the iPhone and iPod Touch to help small businesses with customer relationship management (CRM) and project management.

Both applications bring a revolutionary approach to the issues small businesses face in the modern business environment and are now being used by hundreds of clients, spanning the world.

Sarat said: “hedgehog lab was born out of my observations and frustrations from working within the technology industry. I realised that there was a huge gulf in the market for a product that was user friendly and based around the small business’ needs.

“We have recently had our second application, Solomon for iPhone made live on the App store, and I am confident that this simple-to-use web-based CRM system could with the iPhone application, help many companies.

“I am delighted that both our software products are now available on the iPhone, and we couldn’t have achieved this without the hard work and talent of the entire team.

“Following on from our success, we have plans for expansion over the coming year from recruiting new team members, moving to larger offices within Hoults Yard, which is a fantastic base for us as there are so many likeminded companies based here, to more software appearing on the iPhone and iPad market.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .