PERTH is to be the first location for what is hoped will be a series of high-tech showcases for Sydney-based technology firm Infomedia – a leading producer of specialised electronic parts interpretation and cataloguing solutions for the automotive
PERTH is to be the first location for what is hoped will be a series of high-tech showcases for Sydney-based technology firm Infomedia – a leading producer of specialised electronic parts interpretation and cataloguing solutions for the automotive industry.
Infomedia chairman and CEO Richard Graham said the million dollar Future Motors Showcase, to be launched later this month in the old WA Lamb Building, was a real time mock dealership and designed to showcase the company’s software.
It includes several workstations set up to replicate the workings of a car dealership, a high-tech multimedia theatre and meeting facilities.
Mr Graham said Infomedia’s offering was the most mature and broadest in its field and that the showcase would provide a further point of difference in the company’s marketing.
According to Mr Graham, Perth was chosen as the test site for the showcase because Infomedia’s Business Systems division – the largest of its three divisions – is located here.
He said Perth was also a good point of contact for Asian markets and a good testing ground for the showcase concept.
Mr Graham said Infomedia’s software serviced all the requirements of a functioning dealership from parts cataloguing to enterprise solutions.
He said the firm’s average annual growth for past five years had been about 40 per cent and that the company would be announcing its latest figures in a few weeks’ time.
“I feel confident that our products are that good and that we’ll get more than our fair share of the market,” Mr Graham said.
“Our success in the last decade and a half is from our willingness to be transparent. I let our products be clever and our business principles be transparent.”
The Perth-based Business Systems division is the result of Infomedia’s acquisition of Subiaco-based Online Computing in late 2000.
This followed the acquisition of Melbourne-based Datateck Publishing Pty Ltd that now forms Infomedia’s Data Management division.
Its Electronic Catalogues division is based in Sydney.
Mr Graham said the company bought Online Computing on the strength of the dealer management system it produced, with the plan to integrate it into the existing Infomedia offering.
“Investment initially started in personnel in WA to grow the staff to achieve product goals that would be attractive to global markets,” he said.
“About 15 months ago, we started looking at capital infrastructure.
“Now the products have matured, in the way we wanted we have started our marketing effort.”
Mr Graham said this involved hiring eight national sales staff and the launch of the showcase in Perth.
Published in 24 languages and used in 144 countries, Microcat is the company’s flagship product – an electronic parts catalogue that includes details of leading car manufacturers.
In Australia this includes, Daewoo, Daihatsu, Ford, General Motors Holden, Honda, Hyundai, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Toyota.
International versions have been produced for Daihatsu, Ford, Hyundai, Land Rover and Toyota.
Mr Graham said the product’s point of difference was the way the system was deployed.
While most dealership systems require large servers and specific personnel to manage the infrastructure, Infomedia’s offering involves the provision of shared services offsite at central locations.
“Computer systems are becoming overwhelming and are overshadowing core aspects of business which is selling vehicles,” Mr Graham said.
“The glamour of running your own system is tarnishing.
“We believe that running computer services [should be] like a utility, such as running water or electricity, is what people want today,” he said.
The showcase will be situated on the ground floor of Infomedia’s Perth office in the WA Lamb Building on Wellington Street, Perth.
