Almancil-based software company expands to China

Concept Software Systems (CSS), a global software development and distribution company based in Almancil, has just signed a contract with Chinese corporation Shiji Information Technology to market and sell its software throughout China.
Founded in 1992, the Portuguese company has become one of the world’s leading leisure software suppliers, serving 62 countries and specialising in supplying spas, clubs, resorts, hotels and golf courses with a high-end software suite to manage operations.
Still, the importance of its expansion to China is present in the mind of president and founder of CSS David Spiers. “We are delighted that a company with the size and stature of Shiji has chosen to market and sell CSS’s products in China,” Spiers said about the deal.
“With the Shiji name behind our products, coupled with both companies having established partnerships with Micros [the world’s leading hospitality software company], we expect to secure many more clients together in the coming years,” the CSS boss added.
Vincent Lai, executive vice-president of Shiji, is equally hopeful that the team-up will provide a chance for development.
“We have been aware of CCS’s products for many years,” Lai said, adding that the agreement provides Shiji a chance to “expand its offer to the growing golf, spa and leisure industries in China”.
The vice-president also pointed out that CSS products are already translated into the Mandarin Chinese language, and that support and sales training has begun with a CSS Mandarin-speaking employee stationed at Shiji’s Shanghai office.
However, this is not the first time that these two corporations have joined forces.
They worked together on a number of software projects in China over the past few years, including software installations at the Peninsula, Shangri-La and Langham hotels.
CSS is also a software supplier for many other premier hotel groups, including Marriott, Starwood, Banyan Tree, De Vere and Fairmont, and already has a presence in Europe, Asia, North America, Africa and the Middle East.
Despite the company branching out into other international markets, a representative from CSS has guaranteed that Portugal and the Algarve are still “major markets” for CSS.