Co-op teams up with Belarus software development firm

The Co-operative Group (Co-op) has appointed software development firm Gödel Technologies (GödelTech) as a strategic partner for the commercialisation of its InControl electronic point of sales (EPoS) system and to help develop new software for the firm in-house.

Co-op has recently made InControl – which the firm developed in-house – commercially available to other retailers.

The system has already been taken on by Day Lewis pharmacy chain across its 170 outlets and there are more customers in the pipeline, according to Chris Sproston, head of software development at the Co-operative Group.

He explained that the initial engagement with GödelTech was around the EPoS system, but GödelTech is also helping the software development team in-house as well.

"The reason we teamed up with GödelTech is because the Co-operative Group is constantly expanding, added to the work we're doing with the commercialisation of InControl, we wanted to strategically partner with someone who could give us the agility to meet our demands."

Like Co-Op, GödelTech is based in Manchester but also has two state-of-the-art software development centres in Minsk, Belarus.

Sproston explained that the firm explored various avenues before opting to team up with GödelTech, such as offshoring or nearshoring with other suppliers, but made the decision to partner with GödelTech due to its team's ethos and the high-definition videoconferencing that the firm utilises.

"Previously, when we dealt with other off-shore partners, the morning meetings would be held over a crackly Skype line. But actually being able to have face-to-face meetings via a high-definition connection between our UK team and the GödelTech team in Minsk is absolutely fantastic."

He added that the size of GödelTech also made the decision to partner appealing.

"For some of the other huge multinational firms, we would be one of their thousands of clients, whereas GödelTech is big enough to be able to deliver for us but small enough so that they'll take care of us."