Tom Barter
The Alpinists: an exciting short series that showcases businesses achieving remarkable heights in their industries. Droppoint is a leading provider of logistics
software and supply chain solutions for the field services sector based in Wollongong.
Tom Barter speaks with Jason Flanagan, the CEO and Executive Director, closing in on almost one year of partnership with Pemba.
Jason, you’ve had a great journey, could you tell us about your pathway to CEO of Droppoint?
I joined Telecom Australia straight after finishing year 12 at High School under a Trainee program prior to the deregulation of the Australian Telecommunications market. I was fortunate that this program enabled me to experience the full breadth of the business across my first 4 years ultimately landing me into the area of the business I felt most comfortable and excited about, Corporate Account Management. My journey in Telecom/Telstra lasted over 8 years and provided me with the training and education (including an MBA) in an industry that was booming and changing quickly. The skills and experiences I learnt during this period have served me well through the initial 10 years in the domestic Telecommunications market then into Asia for 17 years across telecommunications and IT. I have always been attracted to high growth industries and businesses holding senior executive roles in Sales, Marketing, General Management and then eventually as CEO. My time living and working in APAC matured me as a person and a leader providing me with great experiences that I will remember for the rest of my life.
I returned to Australia in late 2017 as part of the Lloyd’s Register regional management team with my family following in mid-2018. Returning to Australia after so many years brought its own set of challenges but gaining access to the NDIS for our special needs child was so critical and for the last 6 years we have been blessed by the support this program offers along with access to the fantastic specialists at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and the special needs school he attends that make such a positive impact to his life.
After being impacted by COVID both personally and professionally during 2020 I was pleased to connect with a small business based in Wollongong called Droppoint. They had recently taken on PE investment and had an aggressive growth agenda and a wonderfully niche business with an undeniably strong value proposition. I joined the business in January 2021 and after a challenging first 12 months with the impacts of the second wave of COVID we were able to start executing on the aggressive goals of the business. Although the period of the second wave of COVID had a negative impact to the business it allowed me time to structure the business effectively, setting the foundations for what would be an inevitable growth phase of the business through to the sale of the business to Pemba in December 2023.
How were your interactions with the Pemba team in the pre-deal stage, what circumstances led to you deciding Pemba was the right choice for Droppoint?
I remember the pre-deal stage being extremely active. Whilst Droppoint had grown prestigiously in the 3 years I had been CEO it was still a relatively small business. I was quite surprised at the amount of interest in Droppoint and had been very active for 2 months undertaking presentations to prospective investors both domestically and internationally. What stood out to me during the first interaction with PEMBA was the enthusiasm shown by Mark Bryan, Katrina Englebert and Rhys Jennings to really understand the Droppoint business (given it is quite niche and can be somewhat complex to understand) and to be just as enthusiastic in positioning Pemba to Droppoint as the right investment partner. I am quite an open and transparent communicator and I remember saying to myself at the completion of the first face to face meeting that Pemba was the frontrunner for me due to the immediate connection we made and the alignment in the investment philosophy. I had worked hard in the preceding years to transition the culture at Droppoint from a founder led business to a management led business that was inclusive, supportive, collaborative and motivating. All of which I experienced during the pre-deal stage with Pemba which provided great comfort to me and my executive team of what the future would be like under Pemba investment.
What were the key priorities for Droppoint when considering taking on a capital partner?
- Alignment of culture
- Support of Strategic plan
- A holistic understanding of the unique value of the business and its growth potential
- Access to skills, connections and resource expertise that would accelerate Droppoints growth objectives
- Continuous Improvement ambition that would assist in driving the evolution of the business to a Medium size enterprise
I’m glad to say that Pemba were able to demonstrate this and more during the engagement process.
What are some key issues or challenges that are present within Field Service Management (FSM) more broadly?
FSM has been facing numerous challenges over the years with one of the biggest challenges being the logistics around spare parts for repair and preventative maintenance works. Without a customised solution in this area field technicians and engineers end up spending up to 40% of their time on logistics activities which is an inefficient use of these expertise and time.
Also, companies today that have large numbers of assets in field are challenged with inventory control and management whilst being held to account for their Service level obligations to their clients. Holding too much stock in the field leads to a lack of visibility of parts and ultimately a loss of parts and write offs at the end of each financial year that can run into the millions of dollars.
These are some of the challenges that Droppoint has been able to solve through its unique solutions leveraging its SaaS platform Materials Orchestrations System (MOS) which is a one-of-a-kind field service logistics solution combining transport, inventory and a bespoke PUDO network and location management while utilising artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to drive better business outcomes for these businesses.
What is one thing in particular you have enjoyed about the Pemba partnership with Droppoint?
I believe it’s important to continue to evolve a relationship on an ongoing basis and I have found during the first 9 months of Droppoint’s partnership that Pemba is constantly looking at ways it can contribute to the evolution of our business. This is done very effectively in collaboration at the board level and helps the executive team mature its thinking around its strategic objectives to maximise impact.
