Australian-based application development and support specialist, Artis Group, has appointed Andrew Long to lead its new Melbourne office on Queen Street.
Although the office is being officially launched on Wednesday, June 19, Artis commenced operations about a month ago. Prior, it had been servicing Victoria from its New South Wales facility for “a number of years.”
As southern region general manager – covering Victoria, South Australia, and Tasmania – Long will look after the company’s Victorian budget with sales and delivery responsibilities.
He joins Artis after two years with Praxa, of which the last three months were spent as general manager. His career has also seen him at CorVu Australasia, Know Co, and the City of Glen Eira, through which he gained experience in ERP, Cloud and contract services in the Microsoft and SAP ecosystems.
In the new role, he will lead a team of six applications, business intelligence (BI), collaboration, CRM and ERP specialists to provide client focus and support in Melbourne to mirror Artis’ Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra operations.
In addition to the existing team, the company will look to take on another six members to its Melbourne office in the next six to 12 months, particularly in sales and development, as well as ERP, according to Artis managing director, Chris Greatrex. These will help federate Artis’ 24-hour Application Development and Support Centre using Microsoft Lync technologies, and enable remote work.
Greatrex told ARN he expects Melbourne operations to comprise 10 per cent of the company’s overall business within 12 months, with a goal of 30 per cent in three years.
Artis realigned its business in February 2011 when it sold its infrastructure business to focus on its software development and applications support operations. The company said the move has resulted in significant earnings growth, and allowed it to be recognised by key vendors at the highest competency levels.
The company’s primary competitors are SMS Management and Technology, and Oakton.
