Perth-based telecommunications management firm Stratatel once again has its sights set on the Western Australian market as part of its expansion strategy.
The move marks a return to WA for the Stratatel, which shifted its focus to the eastern States in 2000.
Stratatel managing director Mike Fairclough remained tight-lipped about the company’s plans but said forays into the European market were also planned.
In WA, Stratatel will focus primarily on the mobile fleet management sector of government and large corporates.
The development team for the small listed firm remained in Perth, the head office and sales division was shifted to Sydney in 2000.
“We started the business here in Perth in 1997 and we were doing some consulting, primarily to government,” Mr Fairclough said.
“I think there is a big opportunity for government here.”
Stratatel’s flagship product, MobileFleet, is a business-to-business asset management and cost control system that allows an organisation to monitor and produce reports on usage.
While it is predominantly deployed to track employee mobile phone usage, Mr Fairclough said the system could be used for “anything with a bill attached” including water, electricity and fixed-line phones.
Mr Fairclough said about 20 per cent of all calls made from work mobile phones were non-work related and eliminating these costs could save business and government significantly.
He said initial estimates indicated Stratatel’s MobileFleet software could save an organisation $2 million in personal calls a year, assuming 10,000 mobiles were in use.
Mr Fairclough said that, while the system was developed in response to a request from government clients in WA, the company needed to move east to get the “runs on the board” to be recognised as a successful business.
“We often feel that even though we are a WA company, for us to be taken seriously, we had to leave WA,” he said.
Stratatel has scheduled its AGM for Sydney on November 12.
