Avangate, the agile eCommerce solutions provider trusted by thousands of Software and SaaS companies to grow their business worldwide, is announcing the addition of new localization capabilities – Dankort and UKash – to its roster of accepted payment methods. These additions help software companies improve conversion rates in EMEA and LATAM markets.

The Dankort is a Danish debit card used by 74% of Denmark’s population. In a region with a high uptake in eCommerce, Denmark leads the Nordic countries with the highest number of online purchases per capita. The VISA/Dankort is Denmark’s most popular card payment method, and can also be used at over 24 million outlets around the world as an international debit card. The Dankort adds to Avangate’s portfolio of Danish localization support, including order interface and my Account shopper area in Danish and the local Danish Krone currency.

UKash vouchers are distributed in more than 420,000 locations in 50 countries, and are popular in European, Middle Eastern, African and Latin American countries. They are issued online and through shops, kiosks, ATMs and telephone booths, and can be delivered as printed-paper receipts, single-use cards, SMS or email. Because every voucher has unique and secure 19-digit PIN, value, currency and expiration date, every voucher is guaranteed and prepaid, enabling both vendors and customers to avoid the risks of fraud.

“We continue to focus on providing our software vendors deep local capabilities to be able to expand to new markets, as well as optimize their sales conversions and ROI for existing markets”, said Michael Ni, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Products, Avangate. “With online sales growing exponentially worldwide, software and SaaS vendors are increasingly turning to commerce platforms like ourselves that enable them to quickly penetrate new markets and geographies.”

The Avangate eCommerce platform currently supports multiple localization capabilities for ordering software online and through channel partners, including the recently announced Middle Eastern capabilities. eCommerce capabilities also include 28 languages, 30 payment methods, 48 display currencies, shopper support in multiple languages and hyper-localization to present geographic-specific pricing, taxes, and appropriate global and local payment methods and support phone numbers.

Source:http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20120201006411/en/Avangate/eCommerce/UKash

Surge Consulting Group, a US-based software development and consulting firm, today announced the completion of a new SaaS-based software product for Senior Care Software, Inc. This new software product is designed to assist seniors’ housing operators to accurately and securely collect, analyze and report on all operational aspects, and was created using cutting-edge programming technologies and methodologies, including:

– “Specs Illustrated” design method, which produced visual software specifications that closely resembled the final product.

– The latest programming technologies, including MVC, jQuery, HTML 5, and JSON, resulting in a rich, highly responsive, and robust web application.

– Surge Platform, a development framework and code library that simplifies the development of rich internet applications and mobile apps.

– Industry-leading team of technology professionals.

Surge handled all aspects of the product creation, including design, development, testing, and deployment, and continues to provide ongoing support and maintenance services.

“Senior Care is the result of the perfect combination of Surge’s technology and our seniors’ housing operations expertise,” said Jeff Christie, Chief Business Officer of Senior Care Software, Inc. “Surge has been a fantastic technology partner for us. They successfully captured our vision and delivered a modern, web-based, software product that has no equal in the marketplace. Our project was completed in a few short months and even includes a tool to help migrate data over Senior Care’s web application when new clients decide to come on with us.”

“Senior Care is a good example of what can happen when art and science converge,” said Matt MacKay, CEO of Surge Consulting Group. “It is a beautiful software product, in both functionality and design. We are excited to help Senior Care Software grow their business.”

About Surge Consulting Group

Surge Consulting Group is a leading software development & consulting firm specializing in web, cloud, SaaS, RIA, mobile, tablet, and integration solutions. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in the Seattle area with satellite offices around the US and Canada, Surge has successfully delivered cutting-edge web and mobile software solutions to hundreds of clients in a variety of industries. For more information visit www.SurgeForward.com .

About Senior Care Software

Senior Care Software provides innovative, easy-to-use software solutions for private, public, and not-for-profit Seniors’ Housing environments. Based in Alberta, Canada, Senior Care has provided software solutions to hundreds of clients in Canada and the US.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/software-consulting-firm-delivers-new-saas-product-2011-10-04

Software vendors are going to have to get better at standing out from the crowd and with showing greater flexibility with their channel partners if they are to take advantage of changes happening in the market over the next few years.

According to Gartner’s latest insights into the global enterprise software market, which it expects to increase by 7.5% and go past the $253bn mark in 2011, the analyst house has made some predictions about the future encouraging vendors to modernise applications in the light of the growth of SaaS and the cloud.

Cloud, virtualisation and SaaS are all expected to grow as is the use of social media and networking but the emphasis will be on taking advantage of those developments without spending large amounts of money.

Gartner expects the current weakened global economy to persist this year with the focus from customers remaining on tight budgets and upgrading existing systems rather than splashing out on new technology.

“In this shifting landscape, vendor differentiation in more competitive markets is crucial to survival. This requires a fundamental understanding of the market forces and business models needed to achieve profitable growth and sustain products and service, marketing programmes and channels,” said Tom Eid, research vice president at Gartner.

“For 2011 through 2015, the highest instances of software market growth will align to the business requirements of attracting and retaining customers, enhancing business processes, improving collaboration and social networking, managing content of all types, reporting of performance and results transparency, and workforce effectiveness and flexibility

Source:http://www.microscope.co.uk/news/software-vendors-encouraged-to-modernise/