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Albany Software appoints Andrew Byford as technical director

Published on Friday, July 18, 2008

Albany Software, the UK's leading e-transactions software author, has appointed Andrew Byford as Technical Director. Byford will direct the development of commercial products whilst also managing Albany's internal IT infrastructure.

Byford has already had deep involvement in Albany's ePAYMENTS offering and accounting systems, including the embedded Bacs facility, 'ePAYMENT for Microsoft Office Accounting Powered by Albany Software', which was released in November last year.

Albany has led the market in electronic financial transaction software for more than a decade, with its range of ALBACS e-business software products. Providing a broad range of powerful, integrated solutions for businesses of any size in any sector, Albany has held a consistently strong market position as the integrated e-business software solution provider of choice for companies nationwide.

Byford brings extensive technical and industry experience to Albany. After graduating from Oxford with a degree in Mathematics and Computation, he began his career as a developer/analyst at IBM in 1992 before freelancing. He later returned to IBM as senior analyst, working on year 2000 projects. It was while freelancing that he first started working for Albany, in 2004, on their internal CRM systems. Now Byford has re-joined Albany as Technical Director, managing the internal IT infrastructure and software systems, as well as working on the product base. He comments, "Albany is a very positive environment to work in and the company has a unique vision and portfolio of products. Albany represents continual development; as a business it is constantly striving to move forward."

Byford has been developing Albany's internal CRM systems, many of which have led to further development of the company's commercial projects. He explains, "Ever since I first worked with Albany, I've been involved in perfecting the company's in-house financial and CRM systems. I've worked with the teams to improve order processing, e-billing and accounting systems." He continues, "These have since been developed into products that are now available to Albany's clients."

Byford's expansion of Albany's IT resulted in total integration from sales through to accounts, and streamlined all office end-to-end processes. He expands, "The departmental systems are no longer isolated and to streamline processes company-wide is one of my ongoing objectives." The positive effects of these changes are reflected across the organisation, with resources maximised and processes simplified. Byford will continue to take inspiration from his 'in-house' achievements in order to offer Albany's customers the best possible solutions. Byford explains, "Understanding business needs is crucial to what we do at Albany. Our service extends beyond the products; it includes implementation and extensive after-sale support."

With the Faster Payments and SEPA initiatives already successfully rolled out this year, Byford is committed to ensuring Albany's new products remain at the head of the market. He says, "A key focus at the moment is Albany's new range of e-payment software. We are working really hard to make sure Albany has a consolidated product range to support both Faster Payments and SEPA." He concludes, "Albany will be continuously working with all of the major banks, as well as Bacs and Vocalink, to make sure that the software is compatible with both initiatives so that our customers achieve the best possible results."