Germany's TNG Technology Consulting establishes Melbourne office

A ‘follow the sun’ business approach has seen German IT consultancy TNG expand to the ANZ region through an office launch in Melbourne, with support from Austrade and Invest Victoria.

German-origin software development, AI, DevOps and cloud services advisory TNG Technology Consulting has officially expanded to Australia with an office launch in Melbourne.

Originally founded in April last year, the Melbourne branch has welcomed recent reinforcements, and is looking to further grow its local team. Those coming on board will join over 630 employees across six countries.

TNG was established in 2001 with its headquarters in the Unterföhring area of Munich, and generates roughly AU$100 million in annual revenues serving clients across a diverse range of industries, including telecommunication, e-commerce, insurance, automotive, finance, and consumer goods among others. In addition to its German and Australian offices, the company also has a permanent base in Hungary’s capital Budapest.

The company stated that in establishing an ANZ regional headquarters in Melbourne it was taking a “follow the sun” approach – not so much as to Australia’s comparatively sunny climate, but in that it can now offer its clients services around the clock by capitalising on the time difference. It was also noted that in setting up shop in Victoria, TNG would gain access to the state’s deep pool of technology professionals.

“We are very excited to be part of solving Australia’s hard IT problems, from innovation projects and rescue missions to highly customised software systems,” said TNG ANZ managing director Michael Fickinger, who holds a doctorate in Physics from the University of Arizona. The consultancy boasts that well over half of its employees have attained PhDs, while 99 percent have completed a higher college degree.

This recruitment philosophy of only hiring the best talent was backed by TNG co-founder and managing director Henrik Klagges, who stated in an interview with Austrade that, “As the science and engineering cultures of the world all value an open exchange of ideas, teamwork and cooperativeness, which is also what we value in our employees, we are very excited to look for interesting Melburnians to join us.”

Austrade – which recently lost its Chief Economist Cherelle Murphy to Ernst & Young – supported TNG’s move to Australia by sharing insights on the country’s digital technologies, IT consulting and innovation ecosystem and capabilities, as well as information on the country’s business and investment environment and legal, taxation and migration regulations, while Invest Victoria provided government and potential partner contacts.

“‘Follow The Sun’ is not only the motto of our two German colleagues in Melbourne, but also one of the main reasons why TNG has chosen Australia as a location,” the company concluded. “The pandemic has permanently changed our working environment and significantly accelerated the trend towards remote work. The shift to telecommuting has taught us that we can work together successfully from multiple locations.”