HighPoint Asia - IT Solutions

Found all through business, collaborations and associations are there to be used to help each respective organisation. But what motivates two people to start a business together, especially when a 36 year old Englishman gets together with an Australian more than 10 years his senior?

HighPoint Asia founders Andrew Brett and Matthew Bruggen, tell us what brought them together, what drives them and how they make their partnership work.

Andrew Brett

I was looking around for something new to do and the opportunity to work with 6th Sense Analytics came along. An email dropped into my inbox one day asking if I was interested in the product. I took a look, and as an IT project manager I thought this was something I'd been looking for for the last 20 years. There's nothing like it in the region and I saw an opportunity.

I needed to work with somebody to help on the Sales & Marketing side and Matt was a great match. We have different skill sets. I'm more technical and that can only take you so far in your business; you need somebody who's a bit more savvy on the Sales and marketing side of things. In that way we are very complementary.

At first we were looking at a range of different products and services and as a result we weren't focusing properly on any of them. Towards the end of last year we made a decision to focus on the 6th Sense Analytics product. It's a system that helps manage the software development process more effectively. It gathers data directly from the developer's desktop and assembles it in reports which are easy for the managers to read and understand, and it helps them detect problems in advance. It's a unique product and we firmly believe it will become a standard in software development.

We chose Thailand because professionally, the level of IT expertise is often overlooked. There's an extraordinary level of skills available - comparable with anywhere else in the world. I'm the Director of Technology, dealing with the more technical aspects of the job: software, installation, training and support.

We're a small company and there are limitations on what we can do so we have to keep focus on what we believe are our core products and services. That doesn't mean the mix won't change.

We aren't bound by structures and procedures. If one of us sees something then we can go after it. We're nimble. A lesson we've taken to every market is in order to be successful we need to have local representation rather than trying to do everything yourself.

Matt is very tenacious. He follows up on opportunities and at times, with some clients,  I've thought things aren't going to work and Matt says we're going to do it and we do. It's very encouraging. I've been told that I'm very calm which I've found surprising but sometimes it certainly doesn't seem that way. Perhaps that belies the truth. I know we'll get there, and that's the thing that underpins our thinking. We have to be patient as well continuing to push.

For the next 6 - 12 months we want to consolidate the position of 6th Sense Analytics in this region, and want to get our resellers in place in China and Vietnam. IPTV is an area we are very interested in. It's tv-on-demand streamed over the internet to hotel rooms and condominiums and we think there's a good market for that in Thailand. Our success is down to us. I like being responsible for my own destiny.

Matthew Bruggen

We used to work together at another IT company and we got to know each other about a year and a half ago. The idea of working together came around in 2007. We were both at a stage where we ready to make the leap and start our own thing. The flagship product we're carrying at the moment is called 6th Sense Analytics.It wasn't the only product or service idea we had, it was one of several. What's actually happened over the last year is some of those ideas have come to fruition and it's been a really interesting journey.

There was another service area that didn't come to fruition, which was working with a well-known hardware manufacturer. We had a lot of discussion with them but as with any start-up you are finding your way in the initial stages. 6th Sense Analytics answers questions like how productive is your team? Is your project on track? It helps people work smarter. It's also very useful for outsourcing. If you're outsourcing work to the other side of the world you can actually see what's happening and whether you're getting what you pay for. It's winning awards across the US and seeing quite a rapid adoption.

We lean towards a model where we rely more on partnerships with companies and a network of suppliers. To add to that, we've always had a shared mindset, approach to life and attitude, and very much a shared vision. With the model we have, it doesn't really matter where we are based. At the moment we are establishing partnerships where we aren't present and they are acting on our behalf.

We have a very creative approach to business. Over the last year we've tried different approaches and some have worked, some haven't. We went to China and quickly realised we were out of our depth without the network of local partners on the ground. We've since rectified that and found people we are now working with. Lean staffing cuts out some of the things we don't like such as appraisals and other HR type issues. Our responsibility and accountability is to ourselves.

Andrew has a sense of optimism. Time to time we've had to pick ourselves up and keep on going and he's never been discouraged. Also on the technical side, he's able to put things across very well and has a good understanding of the product. We want to grow the outsource software development part of the business through our partners in Thailand and Vietnam, who can provide an alternative to the traditional outsourcing destinations of India and China. I feel a sense of urgency and want to make things happen.