Established in 1995, Shaftesbury Systems was an early entrant into the billing software market. The company was acquired by Chess in 2010 and, at that time, over 150 communication providers were using its ebillz platform.
The news comes soon after Union Street’s merger with fellow billing provider Aurora. That deal brought the two companies under the Union Street banner with serial tech entrepreneur, Matthew Riley, as chairman and Vincent Disneur as managing director of the combined businesses.
Disneur commented, “The significance of this consolidation and the beneficial impact it will have for the channel cannot be overstated. By combining the great resources and talents of these billing businesses, we can provide unparalleled levels of service and support for our partners. In addition, the significant new investment and expertise will help us to significantly ramp up the R&D of our solutions. This will very quickly enable our partners to leverage even greater benefits from our solutions, whilst allowing them to capitalise on the many emerging opportunities in the channel.”
Following this acquisition, Union Street will now provide software services to over 900 partners that collectively bill in excess of £2bn per annum.
Disneur added, “If the unprecedented events of the 2020 have taught us anything, it’s that sourcing a business-critical service such as billing from an under-resourced supplier puts comms providers in an inherently vulnerable position. Throughout the crisis, Union Street has maintained its support services, development operations and adhered to its SLAs without any disruption. Our partners can be assured that no matter what the future holds in store, they can depend on us completely to provide this valuable service.”