Profile of Successful
Australian SMEs
Date: September 2002
Prepared By: Australian Information Industry Association
Table of Contents
1
Overview ...........................................................................................................................................2
2
Market Segmentation........................................................................................................................3
2.1 Industry Sector .......................................................................................................................3
2.2 Vertical End Markets ..............................................................................................................3
3
Revenue............................................................................................................................................4
3.1 Revenue Growth.....................................................................................................................4
4
Employee Profile...............................................................................................................................5
5
Location by State ..............................................................................................................................5
6
Age of Organisation ..........................................................................................................................6
7
Activity Outside of Australia ..............................................................................................................7
7.1 Main Regions of Activity .........................................................................................................7
8
Government Grant Recipients ..........................................................................................................8
9
Research & Development Activity ....................................................................................................8
10
List on the Australian Stock Exchange .............................................................................................9
10.1 Date of Listing.........................................................................................................................9
Appendix A – List of Awards...........................................................................................................10
Appendix B – List of Companies.....................................................................................................11
Profile of Successful Companies
1
Executive Summary
This activity was undertaken to:
Present a profile of successful Australian ICT companies;
Determine the common critical success factors; and
Identify potential market opportunities for the industry.
The report demonstrates that successful ICT companies exist across a wide range of
industry segments. The common success factors were:
Access to overseas markets throughout the United States, Europe and the Asia
Pacific regions; and
Investment in research and development
Geographical clusters were identified in:
1.1
Northern Sydney Corridor which runs from Ryde to North Sydney, and
Inner Sydney, which saw companies, concentrated but not limited to the
Australian Technology Park.
About the Report
The list of companies was compiled from recent industry and government awards. To
be included in the profile companies had to meet the following criteria:
The company must be considered a technology company
The parent company must be owned and headquartered in Australia or had its
origins in Australia.
The company’s revenue must exceed $1million and must be in business for a
minimum of one year.
Page 2
Profile of Successful Companies
2
Market Segmentation
2.1
Industry Sector
The companies were segreated into Software (38%), Communications (22.5%),
Hardware (23.5%), and Multimedia (16%). All industry segmentations include services.
Industry Segmentation
Hardware
Software
Multimedia
Communications
Page 3
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Profile of Successful Companies
Vertical End Markets
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40
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Companies
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Page 4
Profile of Successful Companies
3
Revenue
The greatest number of company’s at 43.5% were located in the $5-20 million revenue
bracket. This was followed by 31% of company’s which were placed in the $1-5 million
bracket and 21% of company’s which were placed in the $20-100 million bracket. Only
4.5% of companies recorded over $100 million in annual revenue.
Revenue
Over $100m
$20-100m
$1-5million
$5-20m
3.1
Revenue growth during ‘most recent period’
The revenue growth profile showed that 9% of companies experienced less than 10%
growth, 10.5% of companies between 11-50%, 21% of companies between 51-100%,
28.5% of companies over 100%. We were unable to identify the revenue growth for
15.5% of companies.
Revenue Growth
Less than
10%
Not stated
11-50%
Over 100%
51-100%
Page 5
Profile of Successful Companies
4
Employee Profile
The under 25 employee bracket attracted the largest percentage of company’s at 42%.
This was followed closely by the 25-100 bracket which represented 39% of companies.
At the higher end of the employee profile 10% of companies were located in the 100250 bracket and 9% in the over 250 bracket.
Employee Profile
Over 250
100-250
Under 25
25-100
5
Location by state
All states and territories were represented in the location of company headquarters.
NSW lead the states with 34% and was followed closely by Victoria, which represented
27%. South Australia (9.5%), Western Australia (9.5%), Australian Capital Territory
(9%) and Queensland (8.5%) represented similar numbers whilst Tasmania attracted 2%
and Northern Territory 0.5%.
Location by State
QLD
NT
TAS
ACT
NSW
SA
WA
VIC
Page 6
Profile of Successful Companies
Location by postcode
A postcode is a four digit number used by Australia Post to assist with mail delivery. As
it is readily available on the end of each postal address, many researchers and businesses
use postcode as a make shift geographic region for aggregation and analysis of address
based data. As outlined in the graph below the main geographical clusters were
identified in Northern Sydney, Inner Sydney, Inner Melbourne, ACT and Inner
Brisbane.
40
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Companies
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Appendix B provides an explanation of the postcodes included in each regional
segmentation.
Page 7
Profile of Successful Companies
7
Age of Organisation
Over 50% of companies were less than 10 years old. These companies were represented
by 27% in the 1-5 year age bracket and 27.5% in the 6-10 year age bracket. The
remaining figures stood at 16.5% in the 11-15 year age bracket, 7% in the 16-20 year age
bracket and 6.5% in the over 21 year age bracket. The company’s age was not identified
in 14.5% of cases.
Age of Organisation
Not stated
0-5 years
21+ years
16-20 years
11-15 years
8
6-10 years
Activity outside of Australia
66% of companies undertook one or more of these activities outside of Australia. This
activity included location of offices, which may include transfer of headquarters outside
of Australia, distributors, resellers and exports.
Activity outside of Australia
No
Yes
Page 8
Profile of Successful Companies
8.1
Main regions of activity outside of Australia
The majority of companies (73%) undertook activity in more than one region. The
companies that undertook activity in one region (27%) did so in the Asia Pacific or
United States. The regions of activiety included Asia-Pacific (73%), US (70%), Rest of
Europe (54%), UK (44%) and Other (14%).
Regions of Activity
Other
US
Rest of Europe
UK
Asia Pacific
9
Government Grant Recipient
39.5% of companies accessed a Government grant.
Government Grant Recipient
Yes
No
Page 9
Profile of Successful Companies
10
Research and Development
The majority of companies 81% were currently undertaking research and development.
Research & Development
No
Yes
11
Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange
30% of companies were listed on the Australia Stock Exchange.
Listed on the ASX
Yes
No
Page 10
Profile of Successful Companies
11.1
Year of Listing
The majority of companies that have listed on the stock exchange did so in the last 10
years. The figures show that 30% listed between 2000-2002, 35% between 1998-1999
and 22% between1990-1998. Prior to 1990 13% of companies had listed.
Year of Listing
Prior to 1990
2000-2002
1990-1998
1998-1999
Page 11
Profile of Successful Companies
Appendix A – List of Awards
AIIA used a number of sources for identifying these successful companies including:
ACT Chief Minister’s Export Awards
AIIA, iAwards
AIMIA Industry Awards
Asia Pacific ICT Awards
ASX-listed ICT sector companies (above $5m in capital value)
Austrade/ACCI, Australian Export Awards (AEA)
Australian Technology Park – Success Stories
Business Review Weekly Fast 100
Business SA Export Awards
Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Program Reveals, May 2002
COMET Recipients, 1999-2001
Consensus Software Awards, 2002
Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI) & Victorian Government
Venture
Ericsson Innovation Awards
Capital Access Program (VCAP)
Governor of Victoria Export Awards
PriceWaterhouseCoopers Australian Technology Awards, 2000-2001
Queensland Innovation Start-Up Scheme Grant Recipients
Institute of Engineers, ICT innovation
Internet World
Invest Australia, Secrets of IT Competition Winners for 2002
Invest Australia Success Stories
The Northern Territory Export Awards
Office of Western Sydney, IT Awards
R&D Start Grant Recipients 1999-2001
Telstra Small Business Awards
The Premier’s NSW Exporter of the Year Awards
The Premier of Queensland’s Export Awards
Tasmanian Export Awards
Western Australian Industry and Export Awards
Venture Capitalist portfolio’s success stories
Page 12
Profile of Successful Companies
Appendix B - Explanation of regional segmentation by
postcodes
Region
Suburbs & Postcodes Included
Inner Sydney region Central Business District, Australian Technology Park, Surry
Hills, Pyrmont, Annandale
Northern Sydney
North Sydney, St Leonards, Lane Cove, Chatswood, Ryde, North
Ryde.
Western Sydney
Parramatta, Castlehill
Regional NSW
Dispersed between Hunter Valley, South Coast and Southern
Highlands
ACT
Inner Melbourne
Central City 3000, South Bank, Fitzroy, Carlton, North
Melbourne, South Melbourne, Richmond, Albert Park
Outer Melbourne
Doncaster, Hawthorn, Blackburn, Caulfield, St Kilda
Regional Victoria
Ballarat, Mt Eliza, Geelong
Inner Brisbane
Brisbane City/Spring Hill 4000, New Farm/Teneriffe 4005,
Bowen Hills/Valley/Herston/Newstead 4006,
Milton/Paddington/Rosalie 4064, Auchenflower/Mt
Cootha/Toowong 4006, Ironside/St Lucia 4067, Highgate
Hill/South Bris/West End 4101, Buranda/Dutton
Park/Wooloongabba 4102 and East Bris/Kangaroo Point 4169.
:
Page 13
Profile of Successful Companies
Appendix C - List of Companies
Abuzz Technologies Pty Ltd
Adacel Technologies Ltd
ADIinstruments
ActiveCall Pty Ltd
Active Sky Pty Ltd
Adaptive International
Advanced Rapid Robotic Manufacturing
Agricultural Reconnaissance Technologies
Agrilink Holdings Pty Ltd
Agsystems Pty Ltd
AIMS
Altium Ltd
APEX Pacific Pty Ltd
Aristocrat Technologies
Amlink Technologies
ASK Solutions
ASSIST
Auran Technology
Autech Research
Bay Technologies
b-digital
Beonic Corporation
Biometrics Institute
Bionomics Limited
Bishop Steering Technology Limited
Blue Fish
Braintree Communications
Bounty Limited
Brillian Digital Entertainment
Bullseye Internet Solutions
CALL Direct
Catalyst Interactive
CDS Technologies Ltd
Chaos Group Limited
Cirrus Real Time Processing Systems
Citect
Clarity International Limited
Cochlear
Commtech Wireless Pty Limited
ComOps Ltd
Computershare
Creative Digital Technology
Customcall (Blueprint mgmt group)
Database Consultants Australia (DCA)
Datafast Telecommunications Ltd
DataTrack
Didasko
Digital Voodoo
DNS Australia
DPM Consulting
Earth Resource Mapping Limited
eBet Limited
Eclipse Computing
EcoGrow Australia Pty Limited
eCorp
E-easy Pty. Ltd.
Econsult Management Consultants
EDL Australia Pty Ltd
eLabtronics
Emagine International
Enterix (Australia) Pty Ltd
Ephox
ERG
eServe Global
Essential Computer Systems
Eurofield Information Solutions
EzyPay
Flinders Technologies Pty Ltd
Fone Zone
Foursticks
Future Fibre Technologies
GecOz Pty Ltd
Gekko Systems Pty Ltd
Global Technology Australasia Limited
GPS Online Limited
GoConnect Ltd
Gropep Limited
Haliplex
HarvestRoad Limited
Hasen Technologies Ltd
Histar Invotek Group
Hitwise Pty Ltd
Hunter Watertech
Hypertronics Tasmania Pty Ltd
Idea Data
Impaq Australia Pty Ltd
Infomedia Ltd
Inlink Technologies
Insfin
Insight Software Corporation
Page 14
Profile of Successful Companies
Integrated Research
Integrity Data Systems Pty Limited
Intellect Holdings
Invizage Technology
Iris Australia Pty Ltd
I-Site
IWL Limited
Kanksi Data Management
Kaz Group Limited
KEE Technologies
Keycorp
KROME Studios
Lake Technology Limited
Lasata International
Laservision Macro-Media Pty Ltd
Lincoln Indicators
Linked Business Concepts
Live Technologies Pty Ltd
Lochard
LookSmart
Loyalty Magic
Managesoft
marketboomer
Maxamine International
Maxim Technology
Mediaware Solutions
Micro Forte
Melbourne IT Limited
Mincom
Multiemedia
Multipath Communications Limited
MYOB
My Virtual Accountant Pty Ltd
National Telecoms Group Limited
New Tel Limited
ninemsn Pty Ltd
Oakton Limited
Objective Corporation Limited
OMNIconnect Pty Limited
Opcom
Optiscan Imaging Limited
Orbital Engine Company (Australia) Pty Ltd
Parrimark Technology Pty Limited
Phoneware Limited
pieNetworks Limited
PIVoD Technologies Limited
Platypus Technology
Poltech International Limited
Powerlan
Powerserve Pty Limited
Pretzel Logic Pty Ltd
Profitlink Consulting
Prophecy International
Protocom Development Systems Pty Ltd
Proximity Pty Limited
Pure Commerce Pty Ltd
QSR International
Quantm Pty Ltd
Q-Vis Limited
Ratbag Pty Ltd
Recall Design Pty Ltd
Redfern Polymer Technologies
Retriever Communications
Rich Computing
RIA Terra Systems
Rowland’s Underground Technology
Sanford Limited
Soprano Design
Secure eHost
SecureNet Limited
Secure Systems
Seek Communications Limited
seeing Machines
Sigtec Navigation
Silex Systems Limited
SkyWire (Australia) Pty Ltd
SMR Electronics
SMS Management & Technology
Softlaw Corporation
Solar Sailor
Solution 6
Southern Cross Computer Systems
Stallion Technologies
SystemCORP
Tantalus
Techniche
Technico Pty Ltd
Technology One
Tenix Datagate
The Distillery
The Power of Ten
Think Software
Timebase Pty Ltd
Tower Software
Torus
Tower Technology
Transcomsoft
Uecomm
Upstream Technology
VeCommerce Limited
Page 15
Profile of Successful Companies
Vesereo Pty. Ltd.
Visuale
Volante Group
Wavenet International Limited
Wizard Information Services
Xtreamlok
Yambay Technologies
Your Amigo
90East (Asia-Pacific)
Page 16