Kainos Group plc (commonly referred to simply as Kainos or Kainos Software) is a software company headquartered in Belfast, Northern Ireland that develops information technology for businesses and organisations. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.[5][6] The company has three divisions – Digital Services, Workday Services, and Workday Products.
Name
The word Kainos comes from ancient Greek, meaning "new" or "fresh".[7]
History
1986 to 2009
Kainos was founded as a joint venture between Fujitsu and The Queen's University of Belfast business incubation unit (QUBIS Ltd) on 14 April 1986.[8][9] In January 1987, the company began trading in the QUBIS building on Malone Road, Belfast and Kainos founder, Frank Graham, was appointed managing director.[10]
A spin-off company of Kainos was established in 1994 called Lagan Technologies, which grew to become a software supplier into local government in the UK and the US. It was eventually acquired by U.S. based Kana Software in 2010.[11]
By 1997, due to the expansion of the company, Kainos relocated and opened offices in Mount Charles, Belfast, and opened its main headquarters in Upper Crescent, Belfast.[12]
Historical logo used by Kainos in the mid-2000s.
After several years of business, in which Fujitsu was its main customer, the company sold most of its stake to ACT Venture capital in 2000.[13] ACT Venture capital later divested its shareholding in Kainos.[14]
In September 2004, Kainos entered into a partnership agreement with Mediasurface, the UK's largest content management provider.[15] The following year, Kainos entered into another partnership agreement in 2005 with TIBCO, a provider of infrastructure software.[16]
In 2007, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kainos called SpeechStorm was established, providing automated products for call centres, including touch tone, SMS, speech and visual IVR.[17][18] That same year, management in Kainos bought out Fujitsu's remaining 20% shares.[13]
2010 to present
Kainos expanded its operations and opened a research office in Silicon Valley on 18 October 2010.[19]
On 19 November 2014, Kainos announced its plans to expand the Evolve Electronic Medical Records platform into Ireland.[20]
On 10 July 2015, Kainos was admitted to the main market of the London Stock Exchange, trading as Kainos Group plc.[5][6]
As part of an extension of its US operation, in June 2020, Kainos announced plans to create 133 jobs in Indianapolis. The plans included expenditure of £650,000 to build new facilities in the area, marking the first venture into the US Midwest.[21]
Operations
Kainos has been a Workday implementation partner since 2011, providing management, integration, support and testing services for the Workday SaaS product.[22]
