EduTECH exhibitor, Double First Ltd, scoops 2016 Queen’s Award for Enterprise ~ Stand 110, EduTECH, 30 May – 1 June, Brisbane, Australia ~
EduTECH exhibitor, Double First Ltd, the developer of Engage educational software, is delighted to announce it has won a 2016 Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade, in recognition of its export growth since 2008.
The firm has seen exceptional levels of growth in recent years, most significantly in the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions, with sales to international schools now comprising in excess of half of its total activity.
Barry Anns (pictured left), CEO at Double First, says, “We are delighted to have gained this highest of all recognitions for our export growth, which has been driven by our own research, development and sales effort since 2008 when we were purely UK focused. Our dedicated team has worked hard and we couldn’t have achieved it without their commitment, enthusiasm and skills. Winning the prestigious Queen’s Award will strengthen our brand internationally and this, coupled with our close connections with key schools, in the UK and globally, will further drive our vision of becoming the number one provider of dedicated school management systems, worldwide.”
Firmly committed to Australia, Double First is well placed to support schools in the country with a wholly-owned support office in Singapore and local support based in Australia.
Silkwood School in Mt Nathan, Queensland, was the launch customer for Engage in Australia. IT Manager Andrew Kemp – who will be on-hand at Double First’s EduTECH stand – explains, “We were looking for a school management system at EduTECH 2013. We needed a system that is robust and scalable and could perform at least 90 per cent of our large wish list. We also wanted it to be flexible and open platform so that we could integrate easily with other tools. Double First’s Engage met the criteria. We also appreciated that Engage recognises learning is as important as record keeping and we were particularly enthusiastic about the various methods within Engage to measure student targets and to report on them.”
The company was founded in 1987 and later met the demand from fee-paying independent schools for a specialist management information system (MIS) and financial management package by creating ‘Engage’. Following self-financed research visits to the Middle East in 2008, the company rebranded to ensure its identity was fit-for-purpose for overseas markets. A breakthrough sale to St Christopher’s School in Bahrain was secured soon after. The close collaboration with St Christopher’s led to further understanding on how to sufficiently localise the software for other regions while retaining its core purposes.
Engage has international capabilities, offers in-region support and is backed by a passionate team that has developed specialist knowledge of the academic and administrative requirements of individual schools through meeting with them face-to-face, across the world.
Double First employs over 40 staff at its British operational base, which is where its products are developed, as well as a number of people in satellite offices around the globe. It currently operates in 33 countries globally and in four key regions – Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa. Within its integrated services, Double First offers consultancy, training, data conversion, best practice advice, expert support and free upgrades.
For more information, please visit: www.doublefirst.com.
