Smart50 rank: 2
Revenue: $8,403,833
Growth: 296.64%
Founders: Robert Evans, 43, Andrew Crampton, 44, Jen Evans, 45
Head Office: Western Australia
Employees: 70
Industry: Personal and other services
Website: www.velrada.com
It was not too long after selling Perth-based consulting group Change Corporation that Robert Evans started looking for his next opportunity.
Picking the sector was easy – like everyone, Evans was keen to tap into the giant expansion projects in the Western Australian resources sector.
Spotting the niche wasn’t hard either – the growing demand for information management services within the resources sector provided a great opportunity.
The issue was breaking into a sector dominated by big players with his new SME, Velrada.
Evans says the key to competing with companies such as IBM and CSC has been to steer clear of their key markets.
“We are the nimble, entrepreneurial, out-come focused experts, versus the CSCs and IBMS that offer the more volume driven, commoditised solutions. The problem is that one size doesn’t fit all and that’s where we have come in.”
Evans, who now employs a number of former Change Corporation colleagues, says the key has been getting the right people to spearhead Velrada’s push.
“It’s the age-old thing with consultancy – a lot of people look at the actual person put in front of them,” Evans says.
“It’s an industry where there is a lot of demand. If you execute well there is tremendous there are enormous opportunities.”
Velrada’s revenue has grown at an average rate of 296.6% over the past three years and total revenue hit $8.4 million in 2010-11.
The company’s growth and the state of the resources market has created pressure to keep finding workers. Evans, who arrived in Australia from Britain in 2003, has hired from South Africa and Britain to keep pace.
“The challenge for us is repurposing for them oil and gas and resources. They don’t always have that experience.”
The other challenge is keeping them in an industry where poaching is rife.
“That’s all part of the deal in terms of recognising and rewarding those people and giving them the right place to work. We put a lot work into our employment proposition – don’t tell the customers but it’s probably more important than they are.”
With offices in Melbourne, Adelaide and Singapore, the company’s next growth challenge is Queensland, where it hopes to launch an office next year.
But Evans stresses this will be done in a cautious way. The new office will be seeded with experienced Velrada staff before local staff are hired and more local work is chased.
“We tend to follow the customers and the work. You don’t want to run the risk of hiring in a bunch of people and getting it wrong.”
