Object Consulting opens Canberra office

Software developer and trainer Object Consulting has opened an office in Canberra to boost its arsenal targeting government business and projects.

Julian Edwards, chief operating officer at Object Consulting, said the software specialist had previously served its Federal Government and Canberra customers via its Sydney and Melbourne offices.

"We had a presence with a consultant, back in 2000 days, but this puts a physical presence there for the first time in our 17-year history," he said. "We're seeing a fair bit of interest in Canberra around our training business."

Edwards said Object Consulting had recently acquired a training division by purchasing Software Engineering Australia (SEA). SEA also had a strong software process improvement focus.

"They had quite a presence, particularly in the testing and quality areas in Canberra," he said. "We also got a lot more involved with things like CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration), which will take us into Defence."

Object Consulting added SEA's expertise to its own in design, Unified Modelling Language (UML), .NET and Java. The company offered practicing software engineers as trainers too -- a strong selling point for the merged business, Edwards said.

Increased emphasis on governance and compliance meant demand for Object Consulting's skills and services was growing. The company had experienced 40 percent overall growth year on year, he added.

"We've been working with Federal Government for a long time -- we're an endorsed supplier -- but have always served it from Sydney or Melbourne," he said.

Edwards said Object Consulting had around 200 staff. The Canberra office would initially be run by staff transferred from its Sydney or Melbourne offices.

"To start with, we're moving a person from Melbourne to Canberra. He's relocating, and I think he has family in Canberra," Edwards said.

Object Consulting considers its main training competitors to include companies such as Aspect.

Edwards said "a whole range" of competitors existed in the consulting space. "We really focus on process improvement. We have our own product, Process MeNtOR, that competes with Rational Unified Process from IBM," he said.

The company also partnered tool vendors such as Borland, Telelogic, Mercury and Microsoft, Edwards said.

Object Consulting's Canberra office is at Level 11 in the St George Centre on 60 Marcus Clarke Street.