The ProntoForms mobile app does away with paperwork and redundant data entry, allowing field workers in the retail inspection arena, for example, to fill business forms out of the office from all major device platforms such as Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad, RIM's (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSE:RIM) Blackberry, Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform and Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Mobile platform.

The simple to add app, is meant to improve overall business productivity, and allows users in the field to create forms, generate reports, as well as capture signatures and photos within minutes.

The Windows phone release is an important step for ProntoForms since it will give the app interconnectivity to Microsoft Office File formats and to Microsoft cloud computing and management services, like SharePoint and SkyDrive.

"With the launch of new and innovative mobile devices by Nokia, and with AT&T's use of ProntoForms for businesses and organizations of all sizes, we couldn't be happier to ensure that our mobile forms solution is optimized for Windows Phone users," said TrueContext’s CEO Alvaro Pombo.

"We've been very pleased with the launch so far and see great promise in this platform for strong growth in multiple business segments."

Data on the mobile form is maintained securely in a data-center, and can be turned into emails or PDF reports, instantly accessible with an internet connection or connected to back office systems.

The rapid growth of smartphones and tablet devices in businesses has generated enormous interest in apps that maximize productivity for field workers, TrueContext said.

TrueContext announced a reseller partnership with AT&T in early 2010.

"ProntoForms from AT&T is one of our most popular mobile applications for businesses," said VP of advanced mobility solutions at AT&T, Chris Hill.

"The easy to use, yet highly scalable functionality of the application has been of interest to many different types of companies, from one person in operations using it for construction project cost estimates to large enterprises using it for facility management inspections, merchandising audits and insurance adjustments."

TrueContext  has a proprietary patent portfolio, from which the ProntoForms mobile app and web reporting portal are developed.

ProntoForms integrates quickly and easily with custom or standard back office systems, as well as popular cloud computing services, through the ProntoForms API.

The app hits the sweet spot in terms of what small and medium businesses desire for mobile applications - it is a tool that will help their mobile workforce increase productivity in the field, helping businesses save time and be more effective.

"We're excited about the release of ProntoForms for Windows Phone. This is the result of a collaborative relationship that, ultimately, brings strong value to our business customers,” said Microsoft’s general manager at Windows phone division, Eugene Ho.

"ProntoForms harnesses the power and productivity of Windows Phone, Nokia and AT&T to mobilize business in the field."

Earlier this month, TrueContextannounced a Canadian carrier agreement with Rogers Communications (NYSE:RCI) (TSE:RCI.B), that will see the company broaden its distribution for its ProntoForms app.

Under the deal, Rogers will offer its business customers across Canada the option of being billed by Rogers for TrueContext's suite of mobile form solutions, in addition to Rogers' products and services.

Shares were changing hands at 9.5 cents on Wednesday morning.

Henry has spent the past nine years working with multiple start-up and growth businesses, in various investor, advisor and operational roles.

Prior to that, Henry spent six years with e-learning company SmartForce – now known as Skillsoft - where he was credited with building its international business, growing its revenues to nearly US$100 million in five years. He then moved to its Silicon Valley-based headquarters as executive vice president of marketing and business development.

"(Henry) brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, enabling the company to forge ahead with its global growth strategy and will be a great asset to our sales, marketing and business development teams,” said chief executive Andy Hasoon.

"Plus his experience in successfully executing buy and build strategies will be of great value to us over the coming months.”

DLM was called Intellego when it acquired Digital Learning Marketplace in November 2011 but changed its name in January to reflect the new focus.

The Digital Learning Marketplace is being built as a learning platform for companies to access day-to-day and future learning requirements online.

The company has embarked on an aggressive but selective programme of mergers and acquisitions to consolidate what is a very fragmented market.

Late last month, DLM acquired learning firm Accredit and appointed its chief executive and largest shareholder Mark Savinson as chief learning officer, which is a non-board position.

Accredit has supplier relationships with BT (LON:BT.A), Thomson Reuters, Lenovo and Vodafone (LON:VOD).

DLM's chief executive said at that time that the firm was currently negotiating several acquisitions.

Earlier in April, DLM raised more than £100,000 via a placing to fund organic growth and cover acquisition costs.

Under the deal, Rogers will offer its business customers across Canada the option of being billed by Rogers for TrueContext's suite of mobile form solutions, in addition to Rogers' products and services.

TrueContext, which in early 2010 announced its reseller partnership with AT&T (NYSE:T), invented the ProntoForms business application.

The app does away with paperwork and redundant data entry, allowing field workers in the retail inspection arena, for example, to fill business forms out of the office from all major device platforms such as Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad, RIM's (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSE:RIM) Blackberry, Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android platform and Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Mobile platform.

The service is simple to add, and is meant to improve overall business productivity. The app allows users in the field to create forms, generate reports, as well as capture signatures and photos within minutes.

Data on the mobile form is maintained securely in a data-center, and can be turned into emails or PDF reports, instantly accessible with an internet connection or connected to back office systems.

The rapid growth of smartphones and tablet devices in businesses across Canada has generated enormous interest in apps that maximize productivity for field workers, TrueContext said.

"Rogers has always embraced innovation and played leadership role in mobile business solutions - and we're very pleased be working with them," said founder and CEO, Alvaro Pombo.

"Our product has already positively impacted thousands of field users across the United States and we're expecting a very speedy and positive response from Canadian businesses looking to improve their productivity."

Indeed, the app hits the sweet spot in terms of what small and medium businesses desire for mobile applications - it is a tool that will help their mobile workforce increase productivity in the field, helping businesses save time and be more effective.

Subscribers can also download templates and customize forms as they wish through the TrueContext website.

Ottawa-based TrueContext, formed in 2001, has a proprietary patent portfolio, from which ProntoForms' mobile app and web-reporting portal were developed.

The company is a member of the Rogers Data Alliance, an affiliation of technology companies that develop, integrate or enable business-focused, wireless data solutions for a range of vertical markets and business customer segments.

In a statement prepared for today’s AGM, the group said the sales pipeline for StatPro Revolution continues to build and it now has 80 clients for the product. 

It is also making good progress with custodian banks and fund administrators, who it believes will provide an important gateway for future prospects.

StatPro provides portfolio analysis and asset pricing services for the global asset management industry.  

Sales of StatPro Seven have remained strong during the quarter. While the company has switched its sales focus to StatPro Revolution, it maintained a similar overall level of new sales for StatPro Seven compared to the comparative quarter in 2011. 

Renewal rates remain high and are currently projected to be around 90 per cent or better for the full year.

StatPro opened its Hong Kong office in September 2011 and has had an “excellent first quarter” in the Asia/Pacific region with several new sales and a growing prospect list.

The reorientation of the business announced in our January 2012 - to focus on its cloud-based Revolution analytics package - is now completed.

It is progressing well with its development plans for StatPro Revolution Plus, the cloud-based replacement for StatPro Seven, and it expects the first modules to be launched in 2013.

Chairman Carl Bacon said: “StatPro has made the strategic decision to switch to cloud services because of the tremendous growth potential available with this new technology. As a result of our large client base and high levels of recurring revenue, we are able to maintain a significant level of investment in new products while generating good margin and paying down debt.

“The board remains confident of a successful outcome for the year.”

Vin Murria, ACS’s chief executive, said that Fabric was “entirely complementary” to its existing managed services business.

“The skill sets are absolutely spot on for what we need and it takes us into two areas that we were going to gong to grow into anyway.”

Fabric has about 160 UK mid-market customers in banking and other professional services sectors and offers outsourced managed services and implementation and unified communications, which brings all forms of mulltimedia toegether.

Murria added that the business is making £0.5 million annual operating profits but ACS would expect to get at least £0.5 million in synergies and efficiency savings “pretty much from day one” from items such as using the same office, “we are only a mile apart” and sharing ACS’s data centres.

“It allows me to ramp up managed services capability without having to hire 100 people, but also brings 58-60 per cent recurring revenues and all of the contracts.” Murria added.

Fabric recorded revenues of £11.2 million in 2010 and Murria is confident that ACS can replicate the growth seen at its existing managed services arm.

Shares in ACS have surged following a bullish trading update in February when the software firm indicated ongoing revenue rose by 10 per cent to £98 million from £89.2 million, with organic growth at 8 per cent and managed services seeing 16 per cent organic growth.

Underlying profits increased by 9 per cent and will be at least £24m against £22.1 million, ACS said.

House broker Singer Capital said that ACS has a strong track record of integrating acquisitions and delivering cost and revenue synergies, with Fabric to be immediately earnings enhancing.

Broker Canaccord Genuity added the deal looks a sensible, earnings-enhancing acquisition that further enhances ACS’ growing managed services offering.

Earnings accretion for the first full year could be in the region of 4%, which should increase if the company can extract some revenue synergies over time.

ACS has three divisions: Advanced Health & Care, which services the NHS and private healthcare sector; Advance Business Solutions and Advanced 365, which supplies managed services.

Murria added the company is looking for further acquisitions in the Health & Care and Business Solutions divisions.

Shares rose by 5 per cent to 57.8 pence today.

Healthcare and business software group Advanced Computer Software (LON:ASW) is beefing up its cloud computing and managed services operations with the acquisition of Fabric Technologies for £4.6 million cash. 

Fabric has about 160 UK mid-market customers in banking and other professional services sectors and offers outsourced managed services and implementation and communications services.

ACS said the deal would be immediately earnings enhancing as Fabric has strong recurring revenues, while it would also strengthen its managed services division and gives cross-selling opportunities. 

Fabric, which has 95 employees, generated sales of £11.2m in 2010 and made £0.5 million profits. It will be integrated in ACS’s cloud-computing Advanced 365 Managed Services division based in London. The consideration includes £0.4 million depending on its performance.

Vin Murria, ACS’s chief executive, said: "This earnings-enhancing acquisition forms part of the group's strategy to identify and acquire high quality complementary businesses to strengthen its 365 Managed Services division. 

Fabric's market-leading offerings will help drive further cross-selling of managed services into the group's 7,000 strong customer base.” 

ACS has three divisions: Advanced Health & Care, which services the NHS and private healthcare sector; Advance Business Solutions and Advanced 365, which supplies managed services.

Murria added the company is looking for further acquisitions in the Health & Care and Business Solutions divisions.

Underlying earnings were US$1 million and operating profits US$0.2 million in the six months to March. That compared respectively to losses of US$0.4 million and US$0.9 million in the first half when DVD sales collapsed.

ZOO supplies cloud-based software to edit and add to films, TV programmes and other audio/visual and print content. The major Hollywood studios are among its largest customers.

As a result of the better second half, the creative media group now expects to report full year underlying earnings of US$0.6 million (2011: US$2.5 million) and an operating loss of US$0.8 million (2011: operating profit of US$1.5 million). 

Overall, ZOO said trading was as it expected in its second half. Sales for the year will be about US$11.2 million (2011: US$13.8 million), which includes an increase in the number of titles prepared using ZOO's Blu-ray and eBook platforms.

Measures to cut costs and an increase in the proportion of sales derived from ZOO's more advanced toolkits helped profits, Zoo added.

Stuart Green, chief executive, said: "We are pleased to report a stronger second half of the financial year. 2011 was a very difficult year for the home entertainment industry due to the significant changes that have taken place in consumer markets. 

The innovation and diversification within our business has helped ZOO to broaden its offering into complementary markets and we believe that the business is in a strong position to take advantage of growth in a number of areas."

The company had a gross cash balance of US$1.2 million at end March.

The firm has acquired exclusive global distribution and development rights to People First Ltd's programme entitled "An Even Better Place to Work".

In doing so, DLM also takes over on-going contracts with customers such as the NHS, Siemens, Emirates, and Black & Decker.

It also becomes the manager of a consultancy and reseller network of leading employee engagement experts.

The revenues for these on-going contracts is £100,000 and DML is paying for the deal through a revenue- spilt where People First Ltd receives 75 per cent of renewals and 50 per cent of new business, it emerged.

Digital's chief executive Andy Hasoon said: "Our customers tell us that employee engagement is a key issue for them."

He added: "This tool does not just survey. It is a diagnostic tool kit with set of interventions that deliver measurable improvement.  

"It perfectly fits our overall strategy of delivering products to our customers that provide them with needs assessment, targeted bite-sized solutions, and follow-up metrics that can measure the impact of those interventions."

Hasoon said that one customer had told DLM that after using the product they had seen a 75 per cent reduction in absenteeism, while another said it had achieved a 25 per cent improvement on KPIs (key performance indicators).

"Those are levels of improvement most firms can only dream of but which 'An Even Better Place to Work' is delivering every day," he told investors.

The programme measures 28 factors, which impact on employees' engagement levels, then delivers resources and activities to quickly create a well led, motivated and highly productive workforce.

DLM will now work on digitising and gamifying the product and developing digital learning content to support managers implementing the programme.

Shay McConnon, who owns People First Ltd and created 'An Even Better Place to Work' said he was "excited" to have found a partner, which has the "vision, talent and technological expertise" to develop the programme in a way that will fully exploit the potential of the concept.  

"DLM has the sales capacity to take what is already a successful product global and bring it to a much larger audience," said McConnon.

The company was previously called Intellego when it acquired Digital Learning Marketplace in November last year but changed its name in January to reflect the new focus.

The Digital Learning Marketplace is being built as a learning platform for companies to access day-to-day and future learning requirements online and the firm has begun an aggressive but selective programme of mergers and acquisitions to consolidate what is a very fragmented market.

Computer-based e-learning has shown that technology can be harnessed to bring the classroom into the workplace.

And while it has created a market worth £472 million, this is barely a drop in the ocean compared with the £19.4 billion spent annually on training by the employers here in the UK.

What Hasoon is now building is a one-stop shop for firms looking to train their employees.

It will deliver innovative and engaging methods of learning, such as serious games, which are proven to improve learning outcomes exponentially.

These serious games are at the cutting edge of education and appeal to the PlayStation and X-Box generation by replicating the experience.

Their interactivity helps students assimilate more information, more quickly, and transfer knowledge by ‘doing’ it. 

And the beauty of these serious games is they can be run on computers in the workplace, or on mobile devices.

DLM has teamed up with some big hitters in the education space such as FTSE 100 listed Pearson -  one of the world’s biggest educational publishers, and the prestigious Ashridge Business School in putting together the Digital Learning Marketplace.

And it has received a £750,000 government grant to fund the work creating the new platform.

“The Digital Learning Marketplace will be a one stop shop, it will be the Amazon for learning,” Hasoon has previously told Proactive Investors.

As at 8.20am, the firm's shares were up 8.33 per cent, to change hands at 0.13 pence.

Recently, the computer and software giant Microsoft purchased the patents from AOL for about $1 billion.

During the AOL auction, Microsoft secured 925 U.S. patents and patent applications including licenses to AOL’s remaining patent portfolio, which has 300 more patents that were not for sale.

Facebook, which is expected to go public in May, will own 650 patents and patent applications, plus a license to the AOL patents and applications that Microsoft will buy and own.

Once the deal closes, Microsoft will retain ownership of 275 AOL patents and applications, including a license to the 650 patents.

"Today's agreement with Facebook enables us to recoup over half of our costs while achieving our goals from the AOL auction," said Brad Smith, Microsoft’s executive vice president and general counsel.

"As we said earlier this month, we had submitted the winning AOL bid in order to obtain a durable license to the full AOL portfolio and ownership of certain patents that complement our existing portfolio."

Both Microsoft and Facebook will have a non-exclusive license to AOL's remaining 300 patents, which were not sold.

In a statement, Facebook's general counsel called the deal "an important acquisition" and another "step in [its] ongoing process of building an intellectual property portfolio to protect Facebook's interests over the long term."

Recently, Facebook agreed to buy the popular photo-sharing app maker Instagram for $1 billion in cash and stock.

Earlier this year, Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) sued Facebook, alleging that the social networking company infringed on 10 of its patents, including many that cover online advertising technology.

In turn, Facebook counter-sued Yahoo! in April, alleging that Yahoo infringed 10 of Facebook’s patents.

Facebook’s initial public offering could see the social networking site valued at as much as $100 billion, putting it in the top ten IPOs of all time.

The Chinese enterprise software firm says it continues to win clients for its Integration as a Service (Iaas) and Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings.

However, the trading update issued today, following the end of its financial year on March 31, showed that difficult trading conditions flagged in late February have persisted.

Because of the uncertain global economic environment in general and the effect of slowing growth in China in particular the company now expects to report full-year revenue materially below that recorded last year.  Operating profits will be affected too, it said.

Geong had originally anticipated strong trading during the fourth quarter based on an expectation of receiving high margin performance fee revenues on certain SaaS contracts.

Unfortunately these performance fees have been at a lower level than anticipated. It explained that because of slowing economic growth in China many of the key performance indicators set by the company's clients are too optimistic and as a result the level of performance fees has greatly reduced.

Also it says that a long standing global deal with a major partner was anticipated to deliver significant revenues in the final quarter of the financial year, but only a third of these anticipated IaaS contracts were delivered. 

Geong believes the shortfall is a direct result of the uncertain global economic environment rather than the quality and appeal of its offering.

Despite the significant revenue shortfall in the final quarter, the company had cash of £5.3 million at March 31 2012.

The board remains confident of Geong's business model and its potential.

Geong says it is still getting new IaaS clients in its core markets and new industries with two strategic partners, and it has not lost any IaaS clients during the quarter and no business partners have moved any business to the company's competitors.

The SaaS business gained 2 new SaaS clients during the final quarter of the financial year, a total of 16 SaaS clients during the year and is in current negotiations with another 5 potential new SaaS clients.

Planet Payment (LON:PPT) announced the launch of its Pay In Your Currency on Vantiv’s (NYSE:VNTV) ATMs in the US.

“This is the first implementation of Pay in Your Currency at ATMs in the United States, and we expect to roll out to over 5,000 Vantiv ATM locations in the next 60 days,” said chairman and chief executive of Planet Payment Philip Beck.

“Together, we deliver Pay in Your Currency through retailers and restaurants at their point of sale so it was a natural extension for Vantiv to offer this convenience to their EFT processing partners.”

Without the Pay In Your Currency service, if an international cardholder withdraws US dollars from an ATM, the amount is converted to their home currency by their bank of card issuer. Giving the timing of the conversion, the cardholder is unable to determine the amount to be debited from the account until they receive their statements.

The Pay In Your Currency service on an ATM offers the cardholder the option to convert the transaction at the time of the withdrawal, allowing them to see the amount that will appear on their financial institution's account statement on the ATM screen.

“For tourists seeking clarity in their vacation costs or business travellers looking to simplify expense accounting, Pay In Your Currency offers a powerful incentive,” Planet Payment told investors.

Earlier this week, Planet Payment teamed up with the Philippines arm of global banking giant Citi to provide Pay In Your Currency to its customers, while the bank’s hotel merchant partners will be offered the MICROS Payment Gateway.

Shares in Planet Payment performed strongly this week, rallying from last Friday’s close of 227.5 pence to 238.5 pence this morning, which gives the company a market cap of £118.7 million.

Planet Payment (LON:PPT, LON:PPTR, OTCQX:PLPM) annoiunced that it is teaming up with the Philippines arm of global banking giant Citi.

Planet will provide Citi’s customers with its Pay in Your Currency service, while the bank’s hotel merchant partners will be offered the MICROS Payment Gateway.

Planet Payment’s chief executive Philip Beck said: "The adoption of Pay in Your Currency service has increased significantly in recent years, as more merchants around the world view the service as a way to help increase sales, customer satisfaction, and net profits.

"We are excited to continue to expand the offering of Pay in Your Currency to the Philippines through our agreement with Citi."

With Pay in Your Currency, Citibank credit cardholders and other customers are offered the convenience of paying in their home currency at the point-of-sale.  

They are then be presented with a receipt which displays the transaction amounts in both Philippine Pesos and their home currency, together with the exchange rate and other service details.  

Bea Tan, credit payment products head at Citi Philippines, said: "True to our commitment to provide the most convenient payment solutions to our clients in the Philippines, we are pleased to partner with Planet Payment and offer Pay in Your Currency service and the MICROS Payment Gateway to our merchants.

"These new services are designed to improve their operational efficiency while enhancing customer service for international travellers."

The company’s shares were trading down almost 13 percent Monday afternoon after the projected revenue for the three months that ended March 31 fell short of analyst expectations of around $23.35 million.

ClickSoftware, founded in 1979 with roughly 318 employees, provides software products and solutions for workforce management and optimization for the service sector. It makes its money from licensing software products.

"While first quarter revenues came in somewhat below expectations, I would not read into this more than a seasonal first quarter softness," said the company’s chairman and CEO Dr. Moshe BenBassat.

"We continue to make intense progress with our new mobility initiative and other growth plans, and are very excited with the opportunities in the market."

On Monday, the company also announced that it estimates its cash, cash-equivalents, short and long-term investments were approximately $54.3 million as of March 31, 2012.

ClickSoftware also reiterated its 2012 annual guidance for revenues of $100 to $105 million, representing about 15 to 21 percent growth over 2011, mostly due to growth in the enterprise mobility market, it said.

Analysts polled by Bloomberg expect sales of $97.8 million for the year.

The company said the outlook is based on about $30 million in backlog and deferred revenues and current visibility into a growing sales pipeline.

ClickSoftware will release its first quarter financial results on Wednesday, May 2, 2012, during pre-market hours.

HUML, through its GPAccess After Hours programme, is the first site in Australia to use Odyssey clinical decision support systems.

The project, which will offer after-hours virtual decision support services via tablet and mobile device technology, relies on Odyssey CareAssess migrated to the cloud in partnership with Melbourne-based cloud services company Australian Cloud.

The entire project is hosted on Ninefold, the Australian public cloud compute and cloud storage company.

Avia has said that having Odyssey CareAssess delivered by a cloud hosting partner means that homes that could not afford the initial capital outlay can now access the software through 3G or broadband on a pay as you go and/or monthly subscription basis.

“Odyssey CareAssess, delivered as a solution by Australian Cloud and Ninefold, will mean aged care homes that cannot afford the initial capital outlay can now access Odyssey CareAssess to provide essential clinical care to their residents  through low monthly subscription,” said director of sales at Avia Health Informatics Chris Coyne.

Odyssey CareAssess has been piloted in the UK, where care homes using the product have experienced up to 50% reductions in referrals on to hospital emergency departments or local GPs.

Today’s full-year report from the group showed a 29 per cent jump in revenues to US$12.3 million in the fourth quarter, taking the 2011 total to US$41.9 million, up 37 per cent from 2010.

The increase in full year revenues came as gross billings – a metric that includes gross foreign currency mark-up and revenues earned and reported on payment processing services - rose 58 percent to US$102.4 million, while foreign currency mark-up was up 69 per cent at US$87.8 million.

Net income for 2011 reached US$2.4 million compared to a loss of US$3.1 million a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) soared 226 per cent to US$5.9 million and earnings per share amounted to four US cents compared to a loss of eight cents in the previous year.

On the operational front, the company saw the number of its total active merchant locations rise 67 per cent to 27,887.

“We are very pleased to announce our strong year-over-year growth, capping what was an excellent year for Planet Payment,” said chairman of Planet Payment Philip Beck.

“We believe that Planet Payment continues to benefit from a "network effect" as we add more acquiring institutions, in more countries, using more products on our platform. We look forward to an exciting year in 2012.”

Other operational highlights included the launch of the MICROS Payment Gateway to support payment services for merchants in the hospitality and retail industries and an agreement with Vantiv to provide its Pay In Your Currency service at ATMs in the US.

After the end of the period, the company and MICROS Systems agreed to add support of China UnionPay into the MICROS payment gateway.

The year also saw the integration of Planet’s iPAY multi-currency eCommerce gateway with VendorShop's Facebook shopping cart application, allowing merchants to sell to a global market of over 800 million Facebook subscribers.