Guy Holmes

IN just two years, Guy Holmes has guided SpectrumData from a business with five staff to a position where it is one of the world’s largest data migration, recovery and conversion companies. Now with 30 staff, SpectrumData has a range of multi-million dollar contracts with federal and state governments as well as large corporates. In 2001, while working full-time as a general manager of a software development company, Mr Holmes founded Access Information Management (AccessIM). Juggling both jobs, he headed up the management buyout of a division of the company he was working for. That division is now a separate company –SpectrumData. The business purchase and venture capital raising was complex and Mr Holmes had to sell his home to fund his portion of the transaction. The biggest turning point for the growth of SpectrumData was the opportunity to bid on a large contract with the federal government. Mr Holmes was solely responsible for the construction and preparation of this tender, undertaken while living at a hospital with his ill son. His hard work resulted in the company winning a three-year contract. “I would rate the risks and challenges of balancing family and work as one of the most difficult and complex that face an entrepreneur who has the hunger to succeed but also needs to know ‘at what cost’ that success will come,” he said. Mr Holmes attributes part of his success to an ability to recognise opportunities, compartmentalise tasks and surround himself with good people who share his vision.