Previously published by The Courier
A growing e-commerce firm is hoping to replicate its success in Sweden and Ukraine by opening a Scottish subsidiary in Fife.
Forbytes, founded in Scandanavia in 2011, specialises in software development to serve a range of industries. The importance of Edinburgh as a financial hub and an attractive business environment in Scotland were key factors in persuading the firm to locate in Fife.
Recent projects for the company include the full digital transformation for Scandinavia’s largest online furniture and design retailer, which saw the delivery of a unique e-commerce platform and ongoing technical support for the client which has a turnover of more than $100 million.
The firm primarily specialises in e-commerce and helps companies to optimise their operations with products ranging from mobile apps to a fully integrated service which includes everything from online sales to stock and supply chain monitoring.
However, in the medium term, Forbytes aims to progress their offer by moving into the manufacturing sector to enable them to reach more business to business and business to customer clients, as well as improving internal efficiencies. Director of Forbytes in the UK, Marlene Lowe, said:
“The firm started in Ukraine and we have a knowledge hub there where our 75 specialist staff are based. Ukraine is very strong in mathematics which lends itself to high-quality coding and we are looking to build a similar hub here in Scotland. It is important that our clients trust us and know that we put their interests first, therefore we made the strategic decision to work with businesses across different market segments within a region; but never with two competing businesses. This enables to us share our technical knowledge across different industries and sectors.”
Ms Lowe added that Forbytes wanted to contribute to job creation and helping businesses use digitalisation as an investment.
“That will enable Scottish businesses to expand both within Scotland and internationally.” She added. “We see the business environment in Scotland as one we can contribute to and grow with. Innovation has been a driving factor in Scotland’s growth aspirations and we want to be part of that development. We also love the country and thought it would be a nice location to do business out of.”
The firm says that they are experts in tech, but their clients are experts in what they do and Forbytes use tech to streamline their clients’ business, but “tech is just a tool, it’s not the be-all and end-all.”
jimillar@thecourier.co.uk
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