Auckland software firm Idiom sells to UK company in $10 million-plus deal

Idiom co-founder CEO and major shareholder Mark Norton.

Auckland “business rules” software firm Idiom has sold to UK-based Heywood Pension Technologies - after a call to sell its product turned into a buyout offer.

Idiom founder and chief executive Mark Norton says the number of New Zealand staff - currently nine - will grow as a result.

A person close to the deal told the Herald it ran to eight figures, but that Overseas Investment Office approval was not required - indicating it sat in the wilds between $10 million and $100m.

Hitting the Marks

Ahead of the deal, Norton was the largest single shareholder with a 47 per stake, followed by co-founder Mark Hamilton (20 per cent) and director Mark Midwinter (13 per cent).

The privately-held firm has never revealed any financials, but there were no venture capital or other outside investors - indicating it paid its way from close to the get-go. Before founding Idiom, Norton and his wife Leonie ran their own IT services business.

‘More fun than golf’

So what does Idiom do, exactly?

Since 2001, Idiom has pioneered the development of decision automation software, which allows business users to automate algorithms in software systems at the heart of large organisations, a rep for Idiom told the Herald - inexplicably resisting the common urge to apply “AI” to anything involving an algorithm.

“Customers worldwide use Idiom’s plug-n-play rules to automate business algorithms on an industrial scale, to reduce development cost and time,” the rep said.

Norton had his own stab, saying, “The core Idiom concept is for business experts to codify business decision-making know-how using a drag-and-drop tool that is ‘more fun than playing golf’ according to a longstanding customer.

“The major beneficiaries are sectors with high calculation intensity or complex data transformation requirements like finance, pensions, health administration, clinical health and government at all levels.”

Clients include several of the world’s largest insurance firms, Norton said.

Idiom has picked up industry awards, including work (with Deloitte) on police payroll remediation after Holidays Act bungles left officers some $40m out of pocket over a six-year period.

Footprint in UK and Europe

“Our new owner has given us a footprint in the UK and Europe, and the backing of a larger corporate entity,” Norton said.

“This will help us expand our traditional market which spans insurance, finance, pensions, health administration and clinical health, and government at all levels.

“As our client base expands, we will expand our NZ team to service them, particularly in Asia/Pacific where most of our current customers are located.”

Who approached whom?

“Idiom approached Heywood as a sales prospect,” Norton said.

“The relationship evolved to the point where Heywood saw value in the source of the innovation itself, hence the acquisition.”

Manchester-based Heywood Pension Technologies makes dashboard and other software tools for organisations that run pension funds.

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.