This, he claims, is because an escrow arrangement governing the source code, which is developed and maintained by the SMME, essentially nullifies tender evaluation and scoring processes dealing with company size and financial backing. With these criteria nullified, small software and systems developers can play on the same playing field as much larger companies, with their bigger reserves and healthier cash flows, he states.

Escrow Europe is currently offering local SMMEs the opportunity to place their products in escrow at very favourable rates. Details of the offer can be viewed on http://www.escroweurope.com/sa/salescopy.htm. Stekhoven explains how escrow can transform an SMME into a contender: "Often, smaller ICT suppliers are precluded from tendering for major projects despite their expertise and intellectual property. This is simply because the contracting organisation believes it is less risky to deal with large, established firms than smaller concerns which may have the best-fitting solution, but which do not have the resources to guarantee ongoing support, etc.

"In theory, it is more risky to deal with smaller organisations – the intellectual property often resides with just one or two people; what happens if they leave the company or are unable to fulfil their work obligations because of illness or death? The smaller company also does not have the financial resources to ride out turbulent economies and business cycles.

"However, software escrow is an effective method of minimising the risk of conducting business with smaller companies; in effect putting them on the same playing field as their larger competitors.

"A case in point is Terminal 4 at Schiphol Airport, the Netherlands' main air-gateway, and one of the world's busiest transport nodes. Each terminal at Schiphol operates as an independent profit centre, and Terminal 4 is infinitely more profitable than the others. This is partly because the terminal authorities were able to implement a powerful but low-cost access control system, developed and maintained by a team of only two ICT engineers, essentially SMME ICT vendors.

"A comparable system from one of the larger software houses would have cost significantly more to implement and maintain. Thanks to an active escrow agreement, which provides terminal managers with a guarantee of business continuity, it was possible to entrust this mission-critical application to a lower-cost supplier. The risk of relying on just two men for a mission-critical system was effectively taken out of the equation by the active software escrow agreement."