The Palringo Messaging Platform has recently been adopted by global technology company 3M in a bid to make its sales operations more efficient.

It will enable 3M’s UK sales team to pinpoint customers by location and share information on the road using a desktop or mobile device.

Rosinski said: “It’s a different type of connection. It doesn’t try to replace phone calls or text messages. It’s about keeping people connected in groups.

“It’s quite popular as an enterprise communication mechanism. Once users are invited, the group can record voice messages like a walkie talkie and share their location.

“We’re finding companies are recommending Palringo to their employees.”

Palringo has a group of 14 staff based in Cramlington and also employs server-side developers in Ipswich. It started in 2006 with a seed funding round that attracted investors like NorthStar Equity Investors. It has since raised extra funds from two additional rounds led by ePlanet.

Rosinski said: “We already have large cash reserves from the last round of investment. We’ve got at least another year and a half before we have to start thinking about future funds and it may be self- sustaining by the time we reach that point.”

The company is expanding its global profile with sales offices in California and Korea, and is also looking to boost its reputation in the North East.

Rosinski said: “We’re just scraping the surface of what can be done, so we’re putting a lot more research into the market. The opportunities are huge in terms of the mobile phone, which is so much more powerful now and is becoming a universal tool that can do much more complex things. Palringo was designed from the start to be used on mobile devices, unlike others which started on the web.

“Users of mobiles tend to use it in an ad hoc fashion and the conversation tends to be more interesting, as people are sharing an experience they’re having at that moment through photos rather than commenting on something they saw two years ago.”