The initial engagement, worth A$250,000 (US$188,000) a year, will see Applaud IT deliver first-level POS application support and to a lesser extent, ISP support to 350 franchised Video Ezy stores.

"The deal is not a huge amount of money for us, but the initial commitment based on 350 franchised stores could easily double and the potential value to us will increase exponentially," said Applaud IT director Ricci Danieletto.

"There will also be an opportunity for us to provide value-added services to these franchisees, if they don't have other partnerships in place. So we were looking at a strategic partnership not only with the owners of Video Ezy corporate, but with the franchisees as well, because the franchise business model is a very different beast from a corporate engagement," he said.

Video Ezy developed its own POS application in-house and until now has had its own internal support organization from first- to third-level.

The company's general manager of IT, Julian Lamb, said he realized that he could not provide what was necessary to keep personnel in second- and third-level support.