ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland and Labrador, July 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Quorum Information Technologies Inc. (TSX Venture: QIS) (“Quorum”) announced today that the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (“ACOA”) will be providing a $1,500,000 interest free repayable investment to assist Quorum with the Lead Generation Data Hub project. The Government of Canada, through ACOA, is providing the investment from the Atlantic Innovation Fund (“AIF”) which is designed to help companies develop and commercialize new or improved products or services.
Using its advanced XSellerator tools as a foundation, Quorum will develop a data hub that integrates information about the customer from the DMS, the automaker (“OEM”), and 3rd party partners. Over a two-year span, Quorum will build the architecture required to mine the existing DMS data, augment it with Original Equipment Manufacturers (“OEM”) and existing Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) data opportunities, and build features that present dealership staff with easily actionable sales, service and parts leads.
“The XSellerator Dealership Management System (“DMS”) is focused on streamlining operations and on dealer revenue generation and customer satisfaction,” said Dan Ichelson, XSellerator’s Vice President of Operations. “The data hub project will focus on revenue generation by providing sales, service and parts leads to the dealership. Taking a more holistic view of the entire automotive ecosystem, we plan to use a combination of XSellerator DMS, OEM and 3rd party data. With that complete data set, we will apply AI tools to generate customer specific leads that will be presented to dealership staff within the XSellerator DMS. The leads will be very easy to action and in many cases dealership staff will be able to automatically allow the system to action the leads.”
“We are delighted with the support from ACOA,” said Marilyn Bown, Quorum’s Chief Financial Officer. “The XSellerator division is constantly innovating with the OEMs at a significant cost to the XSellerator business unit. These funds will allow us to leverage that development and integration with other 3rd party partners to deliver a truly unique lead generation approach for dealerships.”
Key terms of the ACOA Repayable Investment:
- ACOA will contribute 75% of eligible costs up to a maximum of $1,542,245;
- Quorum’s interest expense related to the loan is 0%;
- There are no principal repayments required under the loan until September 1, 2022, at which time the loan will be repaid with installments calculated based on a percentage of gross revenues over 5 years; and
- The repayable investment is unsecured.
“Innovative companies like Quorum know that Newfoundland and Labrador is a gateway to global markets,” said the Honourable Seamus O’Regan, Minister of Indigenous Services and Member of Parliament for St. John’s South-Mount Pearl, on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for ACOA. “Today we’re investing alongside Quorum’s dedicated leaders and employees; competing with the world from right here at home.”
– About Quorum Information Technologies Inc.
Quorum is a North American company focused on developing, marketing, implementing and supporting its portfolio of software and services for automotive dealerships that includes:
- XSellerator, a Dealership Management System (DMS) that automates, integrates and streamlines key processes across departments in a dealership, and emphasizes revenue generation and customer satisfaction.
- DealerMine CRM, a sales and service Customer Relationship Management system and set of Business Development Center services that drives revenue into the critical sales and service departments in a dealership.
- Autovance, a sales desking system that increases sales department gross margins and improves customer satisfaction for dealerships.
- Advantage, a full showroom system for both franchised and independent dealerships and a comprehensive operating system that includes accounting for the independent market.
Quorum Information Technologies Inc. is traded on the Toronto Venture Exchange (TSX-V) under the symbol QIS. For additional information please go to www.QuorumDMS.com.
Forward-Looking Information
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (“forward-looking information”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “plan”, “intend”, “objective”, “continuous”, “ongoing”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “project”, “should” or similar words suggesting future outcomes. In particular, this press release includes forward-looking information relating to results of operations, plans and objectives, projected costs and business strategy. Quorum believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking information should not be unduly relied upon.
Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and involves a number of risks and uncertainties some of which are described herein. Such forward-looking information necessarily involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause Quorum’s actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed this release and neither accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contact: Maury Marks
403-777-0036
MarksM@QuorumDMS.com
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