Mike Chatha and Shrewsbury's mayor, Councillor Anne Chebsey, at the launch of Darwin

Shropshire’s Mike Chatha chose the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth to launch his new business software package.

He’s even named it after the great scientist – and hopes it will be just as revolutionary.

If it takes off – and with the support of giant Microsoft Corporation there’s every chance of success – Darwin could revolutionise the way firms manage their client databases, the bedrock of sales and marketing success.

He’s certainly set a tough goal.

“We want to make Darwin the market-leading customer relationship management software for small and medium-sized businesses,” he says from his HQ at Shrewsbury Business Park.

The Darwin logo

To achieve this aim Mr Chatha and his small team have developed a product which can be tailored exactly to the needs of each individual business, by the business users themselves.

Users can customise screens by dropping and dragging fields, and the software does the rest.

Darwin also integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office.

He hopes that Darwin will form the heart of any small business strategy, keeping all-important records and details in one place and presenting it “at a glance” – no more clicking between multiple screens.

“And, unlike other CRM packages, Darwin is totally user configurable,” said Mr Chatha.

Darwin, he says, is different because it is not another web application available through a web browser.

It is “connected software” – a Windows application which installs on to a PC like Microsoft Office, but stores its data on the internet (Team edition) or on the PC itself (Professional and Small Business editions).

Because it is fast, flexible and, because it’s internet based, a firm’s workers can access their client information, records and emails wherever they happen to be located. It also works both offline and online, and is available in four versions.

“We believe that everything you can do in any CRM package you can do faster in Darwin,” said Mr Chatha.

“We recently tested the software with the help of Microsoft in their Reading labs, and are happy to report we managed to make it even faster.”

Darwin also allows businesses to brand the software with their own logo and content, and then distribute the branded version freely to their customers.

“It’s a great way for any business to help their contacts survive the recession, while at the same time building better relationships with them.”

The developers also hope businesses using Darwin will be able to link through its network to find new customers and new markets.

“We are about to release a suite of added-value business tools built right into Darwin. While CRM is our main focus, no business is an island and we all depend on a constant stream of good information that we can dip in and out of.”

Some editions of Darwin will be available free of charge to local companies.

“These are challenging economic times, and we want to give help and assistance to the other businesses located in Shropshire. We are therefore giving a five-user network version of Darwin Small Business Edition (worth £500) free of charge to any business located in our county.”

The Mayor of Shrewsbury & Atcham, Anne Chebsey, who was guest of honour at Darwin’s launch, said: “Providing businesses with software that they can entirely configure themselves could potentially save the region millions of pounds of unnecessary IT expenditure, while making our companies more competitive and providing them with greater control than ever before.

“Your company has proved that where there is motivation anything can be achieved with dedication and hard work. It is wonderful to have such an enterprising firm here in Shropshire.”

Having founded and run international new media agency Webmastermedia for 15 years, Mr Chatha decided three years ago to develop Darwin.

Prior to his career in computing, Mike admits that at one time he couldn’t even turn one on.

“At 28 I decided to teach myself graphic design, then web design, then computer programming, all from books.”

He never placed an advert – clients, including Halfords and LloydsTSB, came to him on word-of-mouth recommendations.

“At Darwin we’ve done the work of 100 with only a handful of special people,” he says.

Darwin Corporation is a private limited company, with Mike Chatha having funded the development costs himself and the support of Business Angel Investment taking the business forward into the marketing phase.

His dream, other than to see Darwin become a business essential, is to see partner Microsoft incorporate Darwin into its Office package.

The software is available for download, along with further details, from www.darwin.co.uk