Ovum opens Canberra office in public sector drive

Ovum has moved to further the success of its public sector business, which doubled in revenue year-on-year, by opening an office in Canberra, the heart of Australia's public sector.

Speaking from Ovum's Melbourne office, managing director Ovum Asia-Pacific Antonio Bartolome, said the public sector is a big client base for Ovum and a Canberra office was inevitable.

"Essentially over the past seven to eight years Ovum's public sector service in Australia, as well in Asia has become a key area for us and we do a lot of direct work with clients there.

"We spend a lot of time and money travelling to and from Canberra so we could meet and greet people on an on going basis.

"So, we made a decision to open in Canberra," he said.

Bartolome denied the NBN and developments in Australia's telecommunications industry influenced the decision to open a Canberra office, rather the analyst firm's telco division ‘can handle that out of its Melbourne office, appropriately', he said.

Ovum has a dedicated 10 people strong public sector practice to address the needs of the sector.

Additionally, the analyst firm provides consultancy, and customised work to the telecommunications industry and IT service players.

Clients in Canberra include the Australian Taxation Office, Centrelink, Australian Customs Service, Department of Defence, Department of Finance and Medicare.

Recruit

Along with the new office, Ovum has hired ‘a public sector veteran', Michael Hennessy as client executive for Ovum's public sector business.

"The plan was always to open in Canberra as soon as we decided our business was large enough we were just lucky to find an appropriate candidates," said Bartolome.

Hennessy has over fifteen years experience working with government and industry.

"We recruited Hennessy specifically for the Canberra office because he's got 12 years - 15 years experience in the public sector; he was 100 percent appropriate for us," said Bartolome.

Previously, he has been involved with strategic planning consultancies, systems integration contracts, research, advisory and benchmarking services to major data centre infrastructure projects.

Additionally, he has worked in product marketing and sales with companies including IBM, Aspect Computing, Clear Lead and IDC.

"This is an exciting time for Ovum to contribute to the public sector," said Hennessy.

The office is located on Level 1, The Realm, 18 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600.