Jeremy Roche , CEO of CODA Group, the financials software house has been appointed as Chairman of the newly formed European Software Association. Roche has been instrumental in the foundation of the association and will act as its first chairman before standing for re-election at the first AGM in mid-2006. However, he told FSN that it will take some time for the benefits to feed through software users.
The Association which was launched last week in Brussels , by a group of 26 European Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) is a trade organisation representing the European software industry. It aims to become its principal interface with European Union institutions, the media and the general public, and at the centre of best practice and cooperation across the business community.
Roche told FSN that he hopes the association will be able to influence policy in the making. "At the moment we are always in catch up mode. The regulators introduce new legislation often without realising that it has serious software implication and so they set unrealistic timescales for implementation. When the next 'IFRS' comes along we hope to be a part of the process so that the benefits of the Association will flow through to businesses and end users."
"We firmly believe the IT industry can make a major contribution to Europe . It already provides economic and social benefits through the considerable revenues it generates and the large number of people it employs. By cooperating more closely with policy makers at the European Union level and with other trade organisations, we believe we can encourage competitiveness among other European businesses. To achieve this vision we need representation through this association, which is why CODA has played an active part in its formation."
Damian Traynor, Global Marketing Director at Systems Union Group, one of Europe 's 500 fastest growing companies agrees. He told FSN, "The technology sector is one of the growth engines of Europe and we welcome any initiative which raises its profile and demonstrates how it can contribute to economic growth whilst looking after the interests of customers."
Alan Coad a director of Logica CMG told FSN, "there is a need for European software houses to consider a whole raft of business issues such as their competitiveness against low cost R& D centres and increasingly how to protect their intellectual property rights. We welcome the opportunity to work with other European software houses to strengthen the industry, its competitiveness and to create jobs."
A wide variety of EU policy areas will be analysed and commented upon by the Association's Public Policy group. The software industry is directly affected by a number of issues currently on the EU agenda, including intellectual property rights protection, appropriate actions against piracy, public funding for research and development, interoperability of systems, increased online security and the contribution of the software industry towards the Lisbon Partnership for Jobs and Growth (aka the Lisbon Agenda).
The ISVs forming the Association include Business Objects SA, CEGID, CODA Group, Dassault Systèmes, Hogia AB , LogicaCMG, Mamut ASA, Microsoft, SAP, Unicorn, Unit4Agresso and Vidus. The European Software Association was born out of a number of meetings held for European ISV CEOs last year addressing software industry issues.
Roche told FSN that Microsoft's involvement in a European Association is largely based on its European development capability, for example, around the Navision software product which has a large user base throughout Europe .
Association members have already met with senior representatives of the European Commission who have endorsed the move. The public launch took place in the European Parliament building and was addressed by Mr. Jesùs Villasante, Head of the European Commission's Software Technology Unit.
In addition to its principle mission to shape the European software industry as a whole through contacts with EU legislators and other industry stakeholders, the Association will also become a focus for best-practice, common policy and cooperation across member businesses and in conjunction with other trade associations.
