Auckland-based Journey Digital opens office in London

Auckland-based digital transformation firm Journey Digital has its eyes set on Europe and the wider EMEA region with the opening of a new office in the UK this month.

According to Journey Digital's managing director Dane Tatana, the company has been working with international companies for the last three years and it has carved out a strong foothold in the Europe market.

The company has international clients across the automotive, aviation, and healthcare industries, so a London office just made sense.

"The majority of our revenue comes from the Northern Hemisphere, so with demand and the growth of our clients living and working up over there, it made sense for us to be closer to them," Tatana says.

Tatana has strong ties with the UK and London. He immigrated to the UK as a child with his parents, and he also started his career there.

"My working life was spent mainly in the change management communications area, working with the likes of Johnson - Johnson and Ethicon across the many diverse markets that make up the region. London is somewhere I've always known that I've wanted to return and do business.

He says London is the business centre of Europe. It's also located in a convenient time zone to capture business from Europe and the Middle East.

"[London] also attracts some of the best talent in the world from thinkers and designers, to technologists.

Richard Watt willl lead the London office as EMEA general manager. Watt brings experience across senior sales, account development and consulting, and he has also worked with Tatana in the past.

"Journey has had so much success internationally in the last few years – it's a great opportunity to be involved in a growth story where there's really good momentum already," says Watt.

"It's an exciting time for Journey and myself. While it's a big challenge, I'm looking forward to growing something locally, working with Dane again, and building on the great work that the team is already doing.

As for Journey's success, Tatana credits the Kiwi traits of being pragmatic and completing jobs to a high standard - without the bureaucracy and waste.

"By decentralising the business, we're able to respond faster as a result of working in two time zones. This means we can be more efficient, have a better client relationship, and most importantly, we can increase the speed and quality of the digital solutions we deliver.