Tasmania’s bite-sized Exports
CASE STUDY: The Learning Edge
If you’ve ever thought of all the knowledge in the world as a giant heap of scrambled information, you’d probably be interested in The Learning Edge International, a Hobart-based company that has developed EQUELLA—software that gives users tools to build a digital repository for information, then allows sorting to facilitate education.
Largely used in primary and secondary schools as well as TAFEs, colleges and universities, EQUELLA is set to survive tough times due to its intrinsic link with education. “Education is a steady market. Our clients are usually different from our consumers. We don’t sell to individual schools—our clients tend to be governments, and the consumers are the educators, which could be the schools under the administration of the government,” says marketing manager Alistair Oliver. “Governments don’t reduce spending in education in a downturn because it’s a core service.”
The Learning Edge is built upon a business model that puts direct selling at the forefront of its export strategy. In addition to demonstrating the software at educational trade shows and conferences, the company went straight for mature markets such as the USA and Europe by setting up operations in Boston, near Harvard University, and London, respectively.
“We decided to go to the USA and Europe because we saw there was an interest in e-learning, and the size and maturity of both markets were attractive,” explains Oliver. “Because we work by direct selling, it made sense to set up teams in those markets.”
One challenge is language. The Learning Edge have developed language packs to accompany the software in non-English-speaking countries, which is done on an ad hoc basis as the users require, but Oliver sees this process improving as they seek specific markets.
The company has taken home a number of awards, including Tasmanian Exporter of the Year at the 2008 Export Awards, for their successful approach. Oliver says this is due to two things—working collaboratively with users to achieve educational outcomes, and focusing on the sector as a niche. “We do have corporate clients, but what separates us from our competitors is that they tend to spread themselves wide whereas education is our core market. We chose a niche and that’s why our clients choose us,” he says.
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