PERTH-BASED web solution company Itomic is set to open a UK office in a bid to provide geographic diversification and non-stop service in this competitive field.
PERTH-BASED web solution company Itomic is set to open a UK office in a bid to provide geographic diversification and non-stop service in this competitive field.
The UK office will be opened within the next few weeks and follows the firm’s expansion to the eastern states via the launch of a Melbourne branch in 2008.
Itomic, which received several gongs at the Australian Web Industry Association’s 2010 awards, recently celebrated its 10th year in operation.
Managing director and co-founder Ross Gerring said Itomic has resisted the temptation to expand into service areas beyond its focus on websites.
“There’s no question that it is becoming easier and easier with less and less technical skills to build better and better websites; the specialisation helps us to be that cut above the rest,’’ he said.
Mr Gerring said the company’s Melbourne office had opened up the eastern states market in a way that otherwise would not have been attainable.
“As beautiful and wonderful as communication is these days with video conferencing and everything else, you still can’t beat that handshake, that look in the eye, the physical locality, that nearness to your market,” Mr Gerring told WA Business News.
He said one of the reasons for expanding into the UK market was to reduce economic risk in the current economic climate where the GFC had caused many companies to fail.
“We see it as a balancing mechanism, so by having three offices ... if we have a bit of a downturn in one area the other two can pick up the slack, so we’re spreading your risk.”
According to Mr Gerring the motivation is also a practical one – to be able to provide clients 24-7 service without having to pull staff members out of bed at 3am to achieve that goal.
“It can be a big deal if a site falls over for whatever reason for our Canadian clients and it’s their day. That’s a real problem for them,” he said.
With the current hype surrounding business and social media, Mr Gerring said Itomic has positioned itself to be able to train people how to leverage the best from this growth area.
“What you have in simple terms [is] technology and information ... and you have people, and so what Itomic is about is the bit in the middle. We’re trying to make it easier for people to interact with technology,” he said.
“There are so many opportunities in this industry. There’s the next big thing popping up left right and centre ... and there’s a temptation to be panicked about that, to think ‘if I’m not on that I’m going to lose out’.
“But if you pare it back and recognise it’s just about connecting technology with people it simplifies it a lot.”
“We’re not panicked about this stuff because it’s just opportunity. It shifts, but the principle is the same.”