Though MVT is a
relatively young company, the majority of its customers and
staff have maintained business relationships for more than 20
years. Similarly, MVT's core product has been running in live
environments for 8 years, following almost 6 years of design
and development in association with its then customer base.
The Company was formed in February 2001, when a number of building societies got together to purchase the computer system that they were using at that time. Their intention was to guarantee the future of the system and its development whilst reducing overall costs and determining future strategy, according to the needs of its user base.
By February 2001, the then core product, Foresight, already had quite a history of ownership, going back more than 10 years, though the majority of staff involved in its development remained with it through those years and, indeed, still are. This element of continuity has played a major part in the success of the product as we see it today and the growth of MVT as a mutual business concept.
The original Foresight product was conceived in the late 1980's, as a replacement for the Omnia-NX system, installed then at nearly thirty building society and local authority sites. ICL took ownership of the product and its development in the early 90's and Foresight was eventually launched in 1995. The Omnia-NX user group were heavily involved in the original specification of the system and were kept close to the project throughout the development process.
The Chorley & District Building Society was the first site to 'go-live' on Foresight in 1996 and, over the next two years, the majority of the original Omnia-NX sites followed suit. However, the late 1990's witnessed a number of IT companies changing their business strategy from that of software development to service provision and, in October 1997, ICL, having spent in excess of £6 million developing the Foresight product, sold it to the Culloville Group.
Following a period of uncertainty as to the future of the Foresight product and the Culloville Group, 10 building society customers moved to purchase the product and set up Mutual Vision Technologies Ltd. and this venture was realised in February 2001. Since that time the Company and its customers have flourished under the 'mutual' ethos. Company finances and business plans are agreed and controlled by the Company's Board of Directors, elected from the shareholder customers of MVT. This ensures that all Company resources are entirely focussed and aligned to the strategic business requirements of its customers.
Today, Mutual Vision Technologies Ltd. offers its customers the ProVision system, which compares with the best in the market and, as a 'not for profit' organisation, at a price that our competitors would find it difficult, if not unwilling, to compete with.
