Development Opinion South Africa

#CoCreate2Accelerate: Accelerating Polymorph in the IoT market

Innovative South African based mobile development company, Polymorph Systems (Pty) Ltd is one of the companies chosen for acceleration at #CoCreate2Accelerate, an initiative from the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, taking place at this year's Open Design Festival. The initiative will see five South African companies team up with Dutch counterparts to help them break new ground in their businesses.
#CoCreate2Accelerate: Accelerating Polymorph in the IoT market

Polymorph creates high-quality mobile applications for the global market. The company has been involved in big enterprise systems development since it was founded in 2001 and have been providing native and cross-platform mobile solutions since 2009, ideally positioning it to capitalise on a growing need for high-quality mobile products. Polymorph has worked on and executed a number of successful projects such as Capitec’s mobile banking apps, Internet of Things (IoT) product development in partnership with Bloodhound Technology, LifeQ Technologies wearable device apps and Energy Partners Icon Home Energy Hub App.

Becoming the IoT product development partner of choice

According to Polymorph, they help their clients and partners build innovative solutions to real problems. “New technology and innovation are core to what we like to do. Our clients don't just want a copy of something that already exists, we're always solving exciting new problems. We know how to build products in the right way and we focus on problems in the Fintech and IoT fields.”

Although SA seems to be embracing technological solutions, SA may be a bit slow to the IoT game. According to Richard Barry, CEO and director of Polymorph, “It is still very early for IoT in general. The boom is really still coming. In the meantime, we are positioning ourselves to be the IoT product development partner that everyone wants to work with, because of our track record and knowledge. As adoption accelerates, we'll have more and more opportunities to build awesome IoT products.”

The challenge

Having proven their mettle and skill in product development, Polymorph is looking to broaden their reach into Europe with the Netherlands as a good starting point. The question is how are they going to make it happen?

Barry says, “It's difficult to break into markets outside South Africa, because of the lack of a network effect that we have in South Africa. We need a more focused strategy for breaking into the European and other markets.” Ultimately, Polymorph and their Dutch counterpart’s challenge will be to find ways in which Polymorph’s overseas marketing strategy can be improved to position Polymorph as the ideal mobile product development partner for Dutch companies developing products in the IoT sector.

Jabbo Smulders
Jabbo Smulders

The aim is to:

Review, update and improve their existing overseas marketing strategy,
Implement gains within a short period of time,
Find tangible networking opportunities in the Netherlands

The networker

Polymorph will be teaming up with Jabbo Smulders - motivational speaker, business strategist and a sportsman to boot. Smulders is a former professional ice hockey player in Switzerland, formed part of the Holland Heineken House team at the Olympic games in London and Sochi and is the project manager Sports and Charities, Netherlands Lottery.

He has an extensive network in Holland and hopes that, after spending some time together, Polymorph will have a greater understanding of the Dutch market and the connections made.

About Cari Van Wyk

Cari Coetzee is a contributor to Bizcommunity Tourism, Agriculture and Lifestyle.
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