Canada gets the Answer

Dec 1 2009 by Karen McLauchlan, Evening Gazette

A DARLINGTON HR company is celebrating going global by breaking into the Canadian market.

Answers in a Box has launched its new human resource management system, Answers HR, into Canada by signing a strategic partnership with Ontario-based consultancy Engage human resources solutions, who will distribute the product, following support from UK Trade and Investment.

Husband and wife team, Alasdair and Julie Ross, have spent years in the development of Answers HR.

“Answers HR is a fully secure web-hosted employee self-service system offering employers everything from holiday and absence management to relevant policy and procedures,” said Mr Ross.

“A major difference to other HR systems is that it has been designed with the end user in mind making it easy and intuitive for employees to use and access, and all at about a third of the cost of similar HR software.”

Mike Bennett of Engage added: “Partnering with Answers in a Box on this project and helping the product grow in Canada made perfect sense to us.

“As a growing consultancy, we were seeking ways to support the smaller sized businesses more cost-effectively and Answers HR hits the mark.”

Answers in a Box is also planning to take the product into Australia and has received interest from New Zealand, the Netherlands and Austria.

Alasdair added: “Going global with the product has helped us access a whole new market that we wouldn’t have got into in the past. It offers new opportunities for growing the business,” added Mr Ross.

Answers in a Box is not only looking to expand globally, but locally, and is targeting local HR consultants who want help in increasing their client base.