One of Scotland's leading technology entrepreneurs Tom O'Hara has returned to the sector with the launch today of a new IT venture.
Govan-born Mr O'Hara has invested a six-figure sum to create Kick ICT Group as the new owner of Talon Business Solutions, established in Glasgow 25 years ago by David Chazan, and says it will become a vehicle for further acquisitions.
Talon's portfolio of products and services will remain under its own brand, with bespoke 'On Dynamics' software developed in-house for sectors including food and drink, retailing, manufacturing, logistics and branch cash return management.
The business will offer Microsoft-based solutions, consultancy and software, with core products including accounting solutions, ERP, CRM, cloud and network infrastructure, systems maintenance and support.
Mr O'Hara said Talon turns over around £1m and he hopes to double that in the next year, with staffing also expected to double to 30 over the next few months.
He said: "We are very busy developing and winning new contracts in a wide range of industry sectors and will therefore need staff across a variety of disciplines including sales, consultancy and support.
"David and I can see considerable demand for a new independent full service IT group providing the core range of IT products and services but also capable of developing bespoke solutions for individual companies. The market has changed dramatically in the last five years with clients wanting consultancy and bespoke software and less commodity products 'out of a box'."
He said the new group had already landed a contract with the NHS which showed that despite public sector tendering issues, "if you are in the right place with the right product you can win business".
Mr O'Hara, an accountant who began his business career 30 years ago, played a key role in building up two prominent IT companies in Scotland.
In 1997 he and four partners bought out DataCAD, and won Bank of Scotland backing to create ISI as a holding company for a consultancy business, software development arm and computer-aided design (CAD) operation. In late 1999 ISI sold McLaren Consulting to Penta Capital for £14m, netting Mr O'Hara his first million, then in August 2000 it spun out Appropria, with Mr O'Hara promising ISI could incubate 50 to 100 new tech companies in Scotland over the next two years.
Mr O'Hara told The Herald in 2007 that when the dotcom bubble burst in 2001, his shareholding in McLaren plummeted from being worth £800,000 to 4p.
Then, after the original DataCAD business was forced to close, Mr O'Hara began again, acquiring a struggling Citygate Computers which he rebranded ISI Systems. Mr O'Hara built the new ISI with a string of acquisitions in the sector, trebling turnover to £3m in two years, and selling it in 2004 toTechnology Services Group (TSG), a creation of Graham Wylie who also founded the UK's quoted software giant Sage and had sold his stake for £100m.
TSG became a power in Scotland, with turnover above £10m, with Mr O'Hara first as regional managing director then from 2007 a UK board member, until he stepped down in March 2013.
He commented: "It would be fair to say we ended up wanting to go in different directions. My view was that you need a much more decentralised approach - local works better."
For the past two years he has been director of finance and technology at Enable Scotland, the learning disability charity.
Mr O'Hara said: "I have always investigated the opportunity of building a new IT group, and one option was going to someone like Scottish Equity Partners to get a fair bit of money and start from scratch." But after several months of discussions with Mr Chazan, Kick ICT began winning its first business a month ago prior to official launch today.
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