Business Intelligence company QlikTech will move ahead with planned expansion into Western Australia from next year in a move to grow its local customer portfolio.
Executive vice president for global field operations, Leslie Bonney, and vice president of international markets, David Brierley, addressed a group of journalists in Sydney, with Bonney saying the expansion into WA was the next logical move for the company.
“It seemed to be the next piece in the puzzle,” he said.
Brierley said the company is looking to develop its business here, and intends to build on its 515 Australian clients that include Amcor, Toyota and Telstra.
“Our main operations in Australia are in Sydney, but we have expanded into Melbourne, Brisbane and as we develop we will go to Western Australia to stretch the company out."
Brierley said QlikTech decided to expand into Australia after seeing opportunities in the local market. While he did not say which industries the company would be targeting, he did hint that "it could be an industry like telecommunications or mining.
"It was in January 2010, due to the growth of our two major partners Inside Info and ABM, that we decided to really take a concentrated view of Australia in order to optimise the opportunities that we feel the market here has to offer," he said.
"At the moment we're adding seven new clients a week in the Australian market. Our corporate average globally is 13 new customers per day. We have some work to do, but with the infrastructure in Western Australia, we can extend one a day to more like 10 or twelve a day. We're able to do this through our key partners and our business model."
Brierley said QlikTech's call centre for the Asia-Pacific region has been moved from Singapore to Sydney in a bid to build up its market presence here.
"We're not just looking at setting up Australia as a sales operation or a 'smash and grab approach'. We're looking to develop our business here so it's sustainable and large."