Waruna Kirimetiyawa (LancomTechnologies)
Auckland based software and technology provider Lancom Technology has opened its first Australian office, in Melbourne, to drive growth across the ditch.
Waruna Kirimetiyawa, chief executive of Lancom Technology said the time is right to have a physical presence in Australia, and the State of Victoria specifically.
"We’ve enjoyed a long history of supporting multiple businesses not just in Victoria, but across Australia," Kirimetiyawa said.
"Melbourne is an ideal location for the delivery of our managed services, cloud solutions and custom software development offerings, with the intention to further grow our footprint in this market.”
The office is staffed by account management, presales, and solutions architects, backed by Lancom Technology’s delivery team located in Auckland.
Lancom Technology’s existing Australian customers include car rental company Hertz and Barwon Health, through which Lancom Technology serves over 100 hospitals across Australia.
Kirimetiyawa said the unfolding COVID-19 crisis is impacting the introduction of the company’s new office, but it isn’t restricting Lancom Technology’s growth ambitions.
“It’s perhaps ironic that we are opening an office while our Melbourne people are in lockdown and can’t actually come into the premises," he said. "But while there are undeniably new challenges with the pandemic, there are also opportunities.”
COVID-19 was serving as a catalyst for cloud, remote working, improved efficiency and the introduction of modernised applications and services, for instance.
"We’ve had growth on the agenda for several years now, and like many other companies we are compelled to pivot in response to the dramatically changed economic and social circumstances that continue to unfold this year."
Despite the difficult circumstances, Kirimetiyawa said expectations for growth through 2020 were in the region of 20 to 30 per cent.
“We’ve made several acquisitions in New Zealand which have substantially expanded our customer book and our presence in Australia is expected to steadily grow our exposure to clients looking for cloud infrastructure, applications and processes, application modernisation and custom software development.”
The most recent acquisitions include Redbrick, which added 75 clients to Lancom’s books, and the New Zealand operations of Australian managed services provider Powernet, which added a further 160 customers.
