National Platform

Amalgamator: Ben Shipley, managing director and co-founder, Comscentre

Company: Comscentre

Rank: 10

Chief executive: Ben Shipley

Founded: 2002

Revenue: 2008-09 $9.62 million

Growth: 117.48 per cent

Secrets of success: Hard work and more hard work. Without the support of Cisco and mentorship we would have never got this far. They helped us every step of the way.

Seven years ago, soon after the dotcom crash, colleagues Ben Shipley and Mike Dobbins dreamed up a business plan to provide telephone and data services to small businesses operating in more than one location - and make the offering affordable, functional and, most importantly, reliable.

The two raised $300,000 and created Comscentre, a one-stop shop for voice and data communications for small and medium enterprises. This year, listed at 10 on the BRW Fast 100, Comscentre's revenue is projected to reach about $10 million.

Shipley and Dobbins met while working on a data project at Flight Centre in 2002. At the time, smaller businesses were being serviced by old technology and there was no product on the market that could provide the necessary new technology, managing director Shipley says.

"We were being asked by smaller businesses to provide [internet protocol] telephony - a converged voice, data, internet and telephone system," he says. "There was nobody out there that could provide smaller businesses with the same features and functionality that a larger enterprise business expected at an affordable price."

With new partner Geoff Tyerman on board, the group undertook extensive research that developed into the Comscentre platform, and by the end of 2005, the partners had achieved their goal of combining all voice and data communications.

The Comscentre platform amalgamates voice, data support, maintenance and communications applications into one system. All the components of modern communications - email, voice mail, telephones, call centres, internet access and other applications with remote access and mobility - are included in a secure, unified platform.

"It took two years to build the product and have the processes in place to service the customer properly," Shipley says. "In the last 10 years, the complexity of delivering communication had become tedious. There was no email, voice mail, mobile phone or mobile phone data. So many of these things didn't exist before. Our product was designed to make those things simple for smaller businesses to afford, use and deliver. We developed a product that consolidated a dozen suppliers into one."

From the outset, every dollar has been ploughed back into the business, he says. However, the growth has not come without a few hitches. Last year, in the midst of the global financial crisis, the company was left without financial backing.

"Right in the middle of the global financial crisis, our European equipment financier pulled out, virtually overnight," Shipley says. "This was an absolute nightmare for us. Our strategy from day one was not to take money out of the business - this ensured that we had cash flow, enough for three months.

"We were able to fund ourselves for a period until Westpac stepped in. We were also fortunate to have partnered with Cisco - they understood our business and the investment in this technology."

Over the past four years, Comscentre has expanded nationally, with offices in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and now employs 34 full-time staff and 20 contractors. The company is pursuing business opportunities in Western Australia.

"We have always seen WA as a key market," Shipley says. "It is a harder market to support than the east coast because of the distance, and the cost of doing business is high."

One of Comscentre's projects includes a communications platform for the Port Hedland Shire Council in the Pilbara region of WA, a unique undertaking due to its remoteness. Overall, reliability has been improved, and the new system is both flexible and more economical to run, Shipley says.

"We installed a complete IP telephony system. We manage and provide support throughout the whole project. All our projects are ongoing; we have long-term relationships with our customers.

"We've grown rapidly in a short time, with very small capital upfront. The rest has come from blood, sweat and tears. We want to become one of the largest suppliers of business communications in the country."

With annual growth of about 117 per cent over the past three years, Comscentre is running far ahead of its expectations of annual growth of 25 to 45 per cent. The company plans to list on the Australian Securities Exchange or raise private equity capital next year.

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