Teaching tools have come a long way since the days of writing slates and chalk boards. Computers are now a key part not only of school administration, but of the way children learn.
Roger Larsen noticed this trend in education and identified a niche sector in e-learning. So, in 1998, he founded Fronter, a small technology company based in Norway, and developed the Open Learning Platform. This electronic framework has a range of features allowing students and teachers to communicate and work together online.
“I wanted to give educational institutions at all levels access to virtual learning technology,” explains Larsen. “So, we put together a system that is easy to use, and allows both teachers and students to do everything they need to, in one place.
All they need is a browser, and a short training session and they can then use the platform to set, submit and grade homework, sit tests, store coursework and do a whole host of other things.”
Exploring options
With a small home market of just four and a half million people, Fronter was thinking globally from the start. The company experienced widespread success across Scandinavia through a network of re-sellers, but the time had come to look overseas in order to grow.
The company researched countries all over Europe to find a suitable location for its first fully owned subsidiary, and found that a high percentage of schools in the UK used computers and had broadband. But what was particularly compelling about the UK was a new Government policy to make e-learning in schools a priority.
“Knowing that support for e-learning was coming from the Government itself, we began to consider the UK as an excellent potential market for us to explore,” says Larsen “I happened to mention this in an interview with a Norwegian newspaper, and soon after it was published, I received a call from UK Trade & Investment offering to help us to get into the UK market.”
Setting up in the UK
By 2002, the company had already researched the UK market. Now what they really needed was to make the right contacts to get their UK business off the ground. UK Trade & Investment introduced Fronter to Regional Development Agencies which helped the company to find new arenas for meeting with relevant people. UK Trade & Investment also introduced them to a sales consultant in the UK, who helped the company to get its first UK sales. This showed Fronter that there was indeed a market for its product.
The sales consultant was based in Newcastle, so this is where Fronter began its UK operations. In 2005, the company established a presence in London, which is now the main UK office. A further office was opened in Solihull, West Midlands in 2007.
“I received a call from UK Trade & Investment offering to help us to get into the UK market”
“Since every city has a wealth of schools for us to explore, our choice of location is mainly driven by the people we employ,” says Larsen. “We now have 50 people working for us in the UK, evenly divided between Fronter UK staff and consultants, across our sales, support and training functions.”
Recognition
The company’s work in the UK has gone from strength to strength. Their Open Learning
Platform has won the prestigious CeBIT European E-Excellence in Gold three times, and in 2006 Fronter was awarded Becta (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) accreditation as a Learning Platform Supplier.
“Becoming Becta accredited was a major coup for us,” says Larsen. “We were the smallest company to receive accreditation, and the only one from Norway. But, more than that, it resulted in us being chosen as the main provider of e-learning to more than 2500 London schools, under the London Managed Learning Environment program.”
Fronter’s success in the UK is only just beginning. The company is at the top of the list for local authorities across the country, and there are plenty of primary and secondary schools and universities to tap into.
“UK Trade & Investment really gave us a lot of care and attention,” says Larsen. “They kept in touch with us all along the way, giving us information that they knew would be of interest to us and making our job easier. They really made our initial steps in the UK much smoother.”
”UK Trade & Investment really gave us a lot of care and attention”
E-Learning for London
In May 2007, Fronter and the London Grid for Learning held a press conference at the British Ambassador’s Residence in Oslo, where they signed a contract confirming Fronter as the official learning platform for the City of London.
“I received a call from UK Trade & Investment offering to help us to get into the UK market”
Roger Larsen
Fronter
"The City of London has given us an enormous boost of confidence in choosing Fronter as the preferred supplier of the learning platform to London’s 2584 schools,” says Larsen. “It is, at the same time, a confirmation that Fronter’s solutions for the educational segment are considered to be among the best in the market. All our customers will now benefit from this contract, as our product and our organisation will be strengthened in all aspects.
Sector Focus
• The UK is Europe’s leading investment market for software and IT services
• The ICT sector accounted for 19 per cent of all inward investment in 2006/7
• There are more software start-ups in the UK than anywhere else in Europe
• The UK is home to over 100,000 specialist software houses
• The UK controls 20 per cent of the global market for IT security products
E-readiness in the UK
E-readiness is a measure of how well a country’s business environment is set up to make use of internet-based commercial opportunities. It is based on a range of factors, including online security and intellectual property protection. It is also increasingly about how individuals and businesses use digital goods and services.
The UK was recently ranked in seventh place in a global e-readiness index, well ahead of other European countries such as Germany, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium (Source: Economist Intelligence Unit e-readiness Rankings 2007).
Get in touch
UK Trade & Investment is the Government organisation that helps UK based companies succeed in international markets. We assist overseas companies to bring high quality investment to the UK’s vibrant economy. For further information, please visit: www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk
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