Tech consultancy Mantel sets up Tasmanian hub in Hobart

Tasmania has been added to Mantel Group’s list of remote working destinations with the launch of an office space in Hobart.

Technology consultancy Mantel Group has added Hobart to its list of ‘destination hubs’ – remote working locations where its staff can gather in an office environment while enjoying the local surrounds.

According to the IT consulting and services firm, the Tasmanian capital was chosen following employee input, beating out other options including Margaret River and Byron Bay.

“Mantel Group’s destination hubs are a great example of employee-led work design,” the consultancy stated, adding that its people & culture team have allowed the company’s approach to hybrid working to evolve in an organic fashion. “Covid-19 has unlocked new options for remote working, but unlike other businesses Mantel Group has avoided re-introducing any mandates on the number of days spent in the office.”

Its new, eight-chair Hobart office joins a number of other hubs already launched across Australia and New Zealand, including on Magnetic Island off Townsville in Far North Queensland, and in Kiwi skiing and adventure tourism mecca Queenstown. The consultancy also opened a new office in Perth toward the end of 2021, adding to its existing east-coast bases in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane together with Auckland.

Since that time, Mantel has also managed to grow its headcount from under 500 to almost double that figure – no doubt aided by being recognised as one of Australia’s best work-places – while quietly expanding its existing portfolio of companies and group-wide capabilities. Recent additions include data science consultancy Aginic along with Melbourne-based mobile app developer Itty Bitty Apps, taking its total number of brands to ten.

Mantel also last year folded machine learning company Otso.ai into its AI and advanced analytics consultancy Eliiza, the latter which has now installed a new CEO, Emma Bromet. Joining from Oliver Wyman in 2021, Bromet steps up from her role leading Eliiza’s data & analytics practice, and replaces James Wilson, who has been at the helm since 2017 and now transitions to a company-wide position focused on client relations.

“There’s never been a more exciting time to work in the data and AI space and the Eliiza team is working at the bleeding-edge of advanced analytics,” Bromet stated of her new challenge. “The speed we are moving at is incredible. AI will transform what clients are asking for, for example how generative AI will transform the way we approach data governance and the importance of building responsible, scalable AI.”