Media

Pragmatic Approach Goes Global

Published in THE AUSTRALIAN September 2004

Kim Britton


Information and communication technology is one area that is under-rated in the Hunter. There are more than 150 small to medium ICT companies in the Hunter, many of which are succeeding nationally and internationally.

A government-funded project, Doing IT in the Hunter, is currently underway with the aim of highlighting the Hunter's ICT capabilities. Project co-ordinator Donal O'Shea says the Hunter has unique advantages for ICT providers.

"The Hunter has a very pragmatic, creative and practical approach to IT solutions and their design and implementation," he says. "There's a genuine can-do attitude in the region, where people tend to have a broader range of skills and are comfortable employing them, compared to other cultures that tend to specifically focus on a particular skill set."

O'Shea believes the region is particularly strong in automation and process control, as a result of its engineering focus and in response to major industry restructuring.

"They've had to respond to restructuring and as a result are now winning major contracts in China, America and elsewhere in the world, particularly in mining and manufacturing innovation."

One of the region's IT success stories in HRworkbench, a small company that has succeeded so well globally it has just opened offices in the UK and the US. The company recently won a contract, in partnership is Right Management Consultants Global, to implement a 360-degree staff profiling system with up to 8000 leaders in the UK's National Health Service, one of Europe's biggest employers.

Workbench executive vice-president (product development) for HR Christine Rands says her husband (and company CEO), Alan, realised a few years ago that the couple could deliver their human resource management solutions on a global scale by using the internet.

"We were originally a typical HR management company, offering on-site training and development, but then we began computerising our solutions about 10 years ago," she says. "Now we have just opened HRworkbench Europe from an office in Reading in the UK and another office in Spearfish, South Dakota."

When the couple developed their online product, myWorkbench, with its one-stop shop approach to HR management, they needed to move from their base near Forster/Tuncurry, north of Newcastle, to access programming expertise.

Although they were invited to establish themselves in Sweden, they took the advice of the NSW Department of State and Regional Development and decided to move to Newcastle.

"I'm a Novocastrian myself," says Christine, "so we love Newcastle, but we also benefit from having a better motivated workforce because the young people who are working for us realise we are providing them with the unique opportunity to work in an international company based in the place that they want to live.""

Another Hunter ICT company succeeding outside the region is Wallsend-based software developer, Qvalent. Begun in 2000 by five former BHP IT professionals, Qvalent now employs 20 people and does most of its business at a national level. The company is a subsidiary of banking giant Westpac, which rolls out Qvalent's IT solutions into large corporations and government.

Qvalent general manager Peter Ingram says his company's IT business solution provides a competitive advantage for Westpac.

"We offer a financial solution that is a market leader in streamlining the process of accounts receivable and accounts payable," Peter says. "We have two big advantages in the Hunter over Sydney, or other capital cities. Firstly, we have an extremely low staff turnover rate because of the lifestyle advantages offered by Newcastle and the technical challenges we can offer our staff. Secondly, we have a healthy source of highly skilled talent coming out of the local university, which we foster through student sponsorship and providing valuable work experience."

Peter Ingram worked for BHP in Newcastle for 19 years before forming Qvalent when the steelworks shut. He says staff are so committed to the company and the region that he has not had one reignation in the four-year life of Qvalent.

Despite the impressive capacity of ICT companies in the Hunter and their growing success outside the region, O'Shea says about 32 per cent of IT expenditure locally is spent outside the Hunter.

"The challenges we haven't yet mastered are accessing the local market and also the broader service sectors of government and financial services," he says.

"There are opportunities for the Hunter to play a more significant role in transforming the technology and processes of major government and business agencies, for example the health and finance industries."

As part of the Doing IT in the Hunter project, which is a Hunter-Tech initiative funded by the NSW Department of State and Regional Development and the Commonwealth Department of Transport and Regional Services, a capabilities portal was launched last month to highlight the region's ICT strengths.

To be hosted on federal and state government websites, the portal will promote the richness and diversity of the Hunter's IT companies and their markets.