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Agency software – it’s not all Greek!


We talk to Trevor Youens, MD of SPA Microsystems, about the future of agency IT and ask where the unusual name of their web-based software system, Aspasia, came from.


Most brand names in the industry have a logical association with estate agency. That cannot be said of Aspasia so where did the branding come from? Going right back to the early days, SPA Microsystems was an IT company specialising in databases using Oracle software which was then, and still is the world’s number one database technology. We were approached by an estate agent to work with them on developing a product and ended up creating a product that was web-based in a time where the industry was fully entrenched with Windows based software. The collective term given to this technology was ASP (Application Service Provider) and whilst there was a nice link in with the company name, SPA, it didn’t take long for us to find Aspasia – a Greek lady who in her time was trying to make her views heard alongside the likes of Socrates and Pericles. She had a lot


40 APRIL 2011 PROPERTYdrum


to contribute to society but had to change existing views and established practices. We were in a world dominated by Windows having to educate people on the arrival of a new alternative. It all just seemed to fit. Our creative designer had a field day with the logo design but after some severe censoring, we ended up with the brand we have today.


And 10 years on from that empathy which linked the product to the name, is it still relevant? We feel so, yes. Our product has never stood still and whilst competitors catch up, global technology moves so fast, we are constantly presented with new opportunities to move our technology forward and continually change boundaries. Just as in the Greek times, the great philosophers would debate and challenge each


other, our customers do the same, contributing greatly to the product’s development. We never cease to be amazed at how agents use our software to differentiate their business. Aspasia users London Executive for example gained a lot of press attention when they integrated Property Bird into their property details allowing customers to have an aerial view of the property and area, leading to new instructions. Steyns, an Edinburgh-based chain had been using Google Apps for a while and are delivering business benefits from Google based technology. They are using the web-based product but chomping at the bit for the release of Aspasia Cloud. We have a mechanism to collate enhancement requests from our users and unsurprisingly, similar requests come in from a number of customers and so we develop the software to accommodate the functionality that is clearly required in the industry. Thus all along


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