Avenir is both the oldest IT consulting firm in Norway and the leader in its field. The company became part of EDB Business Partner in January 2006. Avenir reported revenue of NOK 266 million for 2007, with an EBITA margin of over 10%. Over the last two years, the company has generated organic growth three times faster than the market as a whole. According to figures from IDC, the IT consulting market grew by 7.6% in 2006 and 7.4% in 2007.

 

Dedicated focus on both new and existing customers and synergies with EDB, including major contracts and cross-selling, together with continual staff training, form the background for the company's growth over recent years. The philosophy behind all its customer projects is to deliver added value for the customer, with benefits realised quickly.

 

"Over the course of our 20-year history, Avenir's strongest foothold has traditionally been in the public sector. We intend to maintain our position here, but in 2007 we showed that we can also grow quickly in the private sector", explains Managing Director Lars Erik Johannessen. Avenir now has a good balance of customers between the public and private sectors and different industries. A number of the largest customers have chosen to enter into long-term collaboration agreements with Avenir.

 

"Total revenues from our largest customers increased by 30% in 2007. With 21 framework agreements and a list of long-term customer contracts, we can demonstrate that we enjoy the confidence of a number of major businesses. This gives us a sound basis for continuing organic growth", continues Lars-Erik Johannessen.

 

Avenir has developed its services around the key areas of BI/CRM, self-service, collaborative working and portfolio management, and the company is well positioned in terms of both national and international trends. The company sees IT portfolio management as an area of particularly strong growth over the next few years, mainly because of increasing demand from senior management for fact-based input to their decision-making.

 

Avenir has developed a unique expertise in portfolio management, and the solutions it offers include market-leading tools from CA. Even though Avenir does not have offices outside Norway, it has already established itself as one of the largest participants in this area in the Nordic region, and has carried out assignments to implement extensive projects for a number of major Norwegian and Nordic businesses.

 

"In today's climate of greater uncertainty, it is even more important that senior management and heads of IT have access to good data to support their decision-making. Our figures show that using portfolio management delivers a 20-40% improvement in customer satisfaction and a 25-80% improvement in project implementation. Portfolio management is a rapidly-growing area, and Avenir is well positioned to help both Norwegian and Nordic businesses to realise the benefits that portfolio management can deliver", adds Mr Johannessen.

A second area of growth in future years will be better use of corporate CRM systems.

 

"We have seen that in many cases CRM systems work well either for the sales force or for business processes, but not for both at the same time. This means that CRM is not delivering the level of competitive advantage that it should", comments Mr Johannessen.

 

Avenir therefore specialises in developing solutions that recognize both the sales function and general business perspectives, with a firm basis in the company's overall objectives and potential benefits. Its aim is to ensure that every function included in such a system is linked into the company's overall objectives.

 

"In many cases, companies have installed CRM solutions that have failed to realise the commercial benefits that this kind of system can and should deliver. The real benefits for the company as a whole and individual roles within it can only be achieved when technology is properly integrated with the corporate objectives", explains Mr Johannessen.

 

Lars-Erik Johannessen, Managing Director, Avenir. Tel: +47 970 36 256