SERVICEFRAME, a developer of software for managing the quality of outsourcing deals, has completed a funding round of €950,000.

The investment was led by Bank of Ireland Seed and Early Stage Equity Fund, managed by Kernel Capital, which invested €450,000. The remainder of the funding was sourced from Enterprise Ireland and members of ServiceFrame’s executive team.

ServiceFrame’s web-based software monitors the outsourcing or shared services contracts that companies have with external service providers for functions such as IT, human resources or finance. Organisations can use the software to measure these agreements on an ongoing basis against several criteria, including cost or quality of service. ServiceFrame claims its software significantly reduces the manual effort involved in collecting and assessing governance information, allowing companies to spend more time on managing the relationships with suppliers more effectively.

ServiceFrame chief executive Traolach Collins said a typical customer is one that either outsources to external firms or that builds centralised organisations to provide shared services to the rest of the business. He said the timing is good because many organisations that outsourced for the first time several years ago are now renewing or assessing the success of those original deals.

Mr Collins said the investment would allow the company to focus on sales into the UK market this year, especially in the financial services and telecoms sectors. “Significantly more outsourcing takes place there than in any other European country,” he said. Other “logical” target markets are the US, where the outsourcing model is mature, and Asia because many of the leading outsourcing providers are based in India.

The funding will also allow ServiceFrame to build up its team. It employs five people and plans to hire five more in sales and software engineering. “The investment will support our growth through building up the sales force and enhancing the product so the value of individual sales becomes higher,” said Mr Collins.

The company was formed in 2009 and is based out of the NovaUCD business incubation centre.