Where it started
Built on a simple idea.
Professional Advantage was founded in Sydney in 1989 by Derek Rippingale and Steve Howcroft, with a vision to create a leading financial management software and services business.
What began with financial systems has grown into a much broader technology business. As our clients’ needs have changed, so have we, expanding across business applications, data and analytics, cloud, security, modern work, automation, and AI.
Through all that change, one thing has remained consistent: technology is only valuable when it helps an organisation do something better.
How we’ve grown
The technology changed. So did we.
The platforms we work with today would have been difficult to imagine in 1989. But the problems organisations ask us to solve are surprisingly familiar: work more efficiently, understand the business better, serve people better, reduce risk, and be ready for what comes next.
Our role has grown alongside those needs. Today, our people bring together consulting, implementation, development, support, data, cloud, security, and change expertise across a broad portfolio of business technologies.
People are a big part of the story
Experience that stays with us.
Technology businesses change quickly. Many of our people have been part of Professional Advantage for a surprisingly long time. That continuity means knowledge, relationships, and experience stay within the business and carry from one generation of technology to the next.
At the same time, being remote-first has allowed our team to grow beyond the boundaries of an office. Today, our 300+ people work across 9 countries, bringing different perspectives and specialist expertise together for our clients.
Some things haven’t changed
Our business looks very different from the one founded in 1989, but the principles behind it have endured. Trust, quality, teamwork, client focus, and courage continue to shape how we work, how we make decisions, and how we show up for our clients.
More than 35 years on, we’re still curious about what technology can make possible. New platforms will emerge, old ones will evolve, and the way we work will keep changing. Our job remains the same: understand what our clients are trying to achieve and help them use technology to get there.