By Computerworld Philippines Staff
April 19, 2010

Seer Technologies Inc., a 100% Filipino software development company known for its portfolio of enterprise software services, has ventured into the mobile applications space.

The recent unveiling of a BlackBerry app for Enjoy Philippines, the local edition of a global privilege card program that offers members hefty discounts plus various bonuses from leading hotels, restaurants and other lifestyle establishments, marked its entry into the rapidly growing mobile marketplace.

“Mobile technologies excite us and we see many promising opportunities there for the enterprise,” says Joseph Benjamin “Joben” R. Ilagan, Seer president and founder. “We are aggressively going into this field.”

Enjoy Philippines, meanwhile, is also excited by the prospects its smartphone apps are opening up (it also has an iPhone interface). Launched in June last year as the first international franchise of the Enjoy program which was started in Shanghai, the company sees the development of its mobile apps as a classic case of long-tail marketing.

“Numerically, the base of BlackBerry and iPhone users in the Philippines is small,” admits Alfie Sy, Enjoy Philippines marketing director. “But this is a base of consumers who are decision-makers, big spenders, business professionals and connectors – an influential group that we believe will have a multiplier effect on membership sales and the participation of new and better venues.”

Already, its mobile apps have enabled Enjoy Philippines to sign up a number of new merchants who will participate in its privilege program’s 2010-2011 edition. It currently has some 250 participating establishments in Metro Manila, Cebu and Boracay. (For more information on Enjoy Philippines, visit www.enjoythebest.ph).

Thanks to the EnjoyPH app for the BlackBerry that Seer developed, Enjoy Philippines was also able to bag the Globe Telecom account for the launch of the BlackBerry Bold 9700.

“This was precisely why we chose Seer to develop our BlackBerry app,” Sy says. “They have a talented team of software engineers who are not only committed to making EnjoyPH the best mobile app but who are also open to work on alternative revenue streams.”

Seer’s flexible and “very reasonable pricing” was another major come-on, he adds, since Enjoy Philippines, like most upstarts, have very limited resources to allocate to mobile apps.

Limited resources or not, Sy says their investment in mobile apps was well worth it as these are reaping huge benefits for the company.

“By making EnjoyPH for both the BlackBerry and iPhone available as a free download, it has also become a marketing tool for us,” he notes. “I see EnjoyPH being used by visiting tourists as a guide.”

For its part, Seer is likewise eager to further increase its mobile offerings which it sees as the next step in its growth as a software developer. Founded in 2003, the company began by offering high-level training, consulting and software development services to Oracle customers. It soon made a name for itself as a provider of high-quality back-end solutions that use a blend of Oracle and open source technologies.

“Early on, we decided to concentrate on the enterprise space, developing applications and solutions for businesses and other institutions large and small,” says Ilagan. “But while we have maintained this focus over the years, we’ve continued to grow and kept pace with the constant changes in the technology landscape.”

Thus, from the back-end of the software spectrum, Seer quietly expanded its services to cover the front-end as well, offering widgets for desktops and, now, interactive apps for hand-helds.

“Seer will continue to focus on its core competencies,” Ilagan says, “but we will definitely be venturing into other areas.”

At present, Seer, he points out, is concentrating a good part of its resources on the development of mobile apps. “We see tremendous opportunities for businesses in the mobile space and we are committed to helping our enterprise clients tap these for growth and profit,” he says.

Enjoy Philippines is one enterprise client that clearly shares Seer’s vision. “We are looking forward to working with Seer in making our apps available for a wider variety of mobile platforms this year and the next,” Sy says. “I sense a hunger in the Seer development team for delivering a user experience that is second to none.”

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