New management at Progressive Solutions International

Progressive Solutions International Limited has promoted Operations Director Arthur Duffy to Managing Director for all UK operations, at the same time inviting him to join the board of the North American parent company. Joining him on the management team is Neil Richards, newly appointed as Services Director for the UK.

Mr Duffy, 50, has been with the company for three years, during which time the company has recorded consistent growth – 40% in the last year and a turnover of more than £3.4m. He leads a team of 30 employees in the UK, has overall responsibility for business direction in Europe, and drives sales within the key markets in the construction supply industries. He commented: “Businesses are depending upon IT more and more, so we're in a strong position to provide a service, not only to support them through the current difficult times, but also to help them bring their ideas to fruition.”

Mr Richards, 41, joins the company from Hewlett-Packard where he was UK sales manager for technical sales and previously head of the computer giant’s 70-strong UK pre-sales division.

Progressive Solutions, based in Runcorn, provides a suite of software, called bisTrack. More than 100 builders’ merchants, timber companies and other construction supply companies now use the software, and Progressive’s strength is how well they understand the peculiarities of this specialised market. The bisTrack software allows customers to computerise the basics of their business such as buying stock, selling products, pricing, bar-coding and analysing sales. The company prides itself on providing business solutions, rather than just software — using the wealth of information available from the software as a tool to improve business processes, via bisTrack’s advanced management tools.

Commenting on the company’s investment in new management, Len Williams, President and CEO of parent company Progressive Solutions Incorporated, based in Vancouver Canada, said: “Arthur has a wealth of experience from the construction and IT industries and of growing businesses over many years. The company is in a new phase of growth despite the economic downturn and his passion for finding solutions to customers’ needs can only mean a great future for the business.”

He added: “Neil comes from a blue-chip background. He is firmly devoted to the notions of customer satisfaction and moving our organisation forwards. We expect his very results-driven approach to make a significant impact on how we service our customers and drive the development of new tailored software solutions for customers.”