Bromsgrove public sector finance firm snapped up by Astuta

Bromsgrove-based public sector finance systems company, Trojan Consultants, has been acquired by UK software group Astuta.

Trojan Consultants is a leader in public sector finance systems, which developed, supplied and supported specialist finance systems for social services, NHS and local government organisations for more than 30 years.

Howard Sears, Astuta’s founder and executive chairman, said: “We want to reassure all of Trojan’s valued customers and staff that we’re 100 per cent committed to continuing the success of the company and its products. This is a business which already has exemplary customer service and, by no coincidence, a very loyal customer base. Our plan is to protect and build on that.”

Astuta excels in identifying, organically-developed British IT companies with longevity and high-growth potential. Its plans for Trojan are to ensure smooth continuity for loyal customers, while unlocking more of its potential by investing in a new generation of features and functionality. Although there will be no disruption to the customer experience or every-day operations, Astuta’s outright purchase of Trojan will provide the business a timely injection of funds to finance a new phase of software enhancement and expansion.

Migrating Trojan’s systems to a state-of-the-art Microsoft development platform and the Azure cloud-based infrastructure will enable more frequent updates to the software, keeping pace with user expectations and making the user experience richer and more intuitive.

Specifically, Astuta will allow Trojan to migrate its software to a modern, cloud-optimised development and delivery platform. This will offer customers the option to run systems externally, as a secure, flexible and cost-effective alternative to maintaining fixed licensed products on their own premises.

Howard Sears concluded by explaining why Trojan was such a stand-out appeal for Astuta: “Trojan is a leader in safeguarding vulnerable groups. Key to the solution it provides to more than 80 local authorities is CASPAR, a system that monitors and records spending for vulnerable people. Ultimately this spending has to be reported to the regulator. All of this fits very well with the regulatory reporting-related activities of the other software organisations we have acquired and funded. The intelligent automation of regulatory reporting and compliance is a central interest of Astuta, and it’s one of the pivotal ways we add value to the technology companies we acquire.”