“We speak the same language, mostly, except for those areas that are French,” he said. “Then, more importantly, we are part of the Five Eyes.”
On the other side of that was also cross-pollination. Ashe said Anchoram wants to be able to “circle a few countries” and be able to pull some of the best ideas out of that to use in Australia.
With Ashe’s Canada dream now a reality, he is now looking at South Korea, Malaysia and New Zealand.
“I had about five on my list that I have to look at and see how we could actually deliver good work and, at the same time, be able to pick their brains for what we can bring back here,” he said. “We’re not the only ones that have great ideas and we’ve got to look further afield.
“Otherwise, we will just die. We’re not going to run out of ideas – Australia is a very innovative country – but we still can draw good ideas from other countries.”
This has been part of Anchoram’s ongoing plan, said Ashe.
“I think the first five years we settled on growing the business,” he said. “Now we are, in the next five years and we want to expand it. We want to do some mergers and acquisitions along the way.”
According to Ashe, this means no longer being reliant on government contracts.
“I want to be looking more at a private enterprise. When I come back from Canada, I’ll be looking to try and increase footprint in the private sector,” he said. “I think it’s ambitious, but like everything else, unless you have a dream, it can never become reality.
“There’s a number of things that operate in those guardrails around it go out, be bold, but not bold enough that you’re going to put the business at risk.”
Anchoram has about 55 people in the company now, and Ashe noted the company was “responsible for their income, their mortgages [and] their children’s education”.
“We’ll never put that at risk,” he said. “One of our firm beliefs in running our business is that we will never be in a situation where wages are not the first priority. The second priority is to always pay the superannuation levy on time.”
The IT consultant always wants to make sure that its people are looked after and they’re not going to be in a situation where their income is going to be jeopardised or they are in arrears as far as their superannuation goes.
“These are ethical or value-driven things, but they’re important to us,” said Ashe. “
The reputation of the company is a vital part of Anchoram because ethics, values and looking after people stand for something.
