VTR&D is available for privately funded development initiatives in the field of electronic commerce with the UK, Europe, North America or Off-shore. Intellectual property rights and patent applications can legally processed within the E.U.

VTRAD has always pushed back the frontiers of e-commerce. Whether it involved setting government standards or providing innovative features for new e-businesses, the company has continually set new boundaries to best fulfil our client's needs. To this end, a special division of VTRAD was formed to develop new idea and solutions for the needs of small to medium sized businesses with an Internet outlet.

The VTR&D team consists of many of the company's most experienced developers, all of whom have had long term experience with some of our clients. This gives the team a direct knowledge of the practical problems facing businesses, placing the focus on solving real issues rather than abstract dilemmas. Over the past two years VTR&D has worked in conjunction with current consultants to provide large scale solutions for our clients. More recently the division has produced specifications for a new way forward in e-commerce.

UK government officials have repeatedly stated the aim of getting 50% of all businesses online by the year 2001. At present, this figure has little chance of being met. VTRAD has undertaken a number of surveys of business, whether currently online, going online or having no plans to do so, to see what barriers are preventing more companies from taking the advantages the Internet offers. The results suggest that the main cause of this vast amount of inertia is that e-commerce companies are unable to provide a complete solution designed for the small to medium size enterprise. The software solutions offered are both too complicated and too rigid to fulfil the complex and changing needs of an average SME. Bespoke solutions are beyond the price range of most SMEs and few have the staff or time to maintain properly a self-created web-site.

The VTR&D division was therefore tasked with creating a comprehensive solution environment for SMEs that allowed inexpensive access to e-commerce and extensive customisation without requiring large expenditures of time or money from either party. This solution should not rely on technical expertise from the clients, just basic computer skills.