Winning the Information and Communications Technology Exporter of the Year award at the 2005 Australian Export Awards was a proud achievement for New South Wales-based company Appen.

It was another chapter in what has become a big success story for the high-end provider of innovative speech and language processing technology to many of the world's leading computer and communications organisations.

Since it began exporting in 1999, Appen's export business has experienced massive growth – in fact it now accounts for more than 90 per cent of the company's business. The company has worked in about 30 countries around the globe.

Joint Managing Director Chris Vonwiller said winning at the 2005 Export Awards was a big feather in the company's cap and he expected it would promote even further growth.

"It is certainly a very prestigious award and it does carry a lot of credibility with our overseas customers," he said.

Appen has become a global leader in its field, attracting a world-class client base that includes IBM, Microsoft, Toshiba, Siemens, Nuance/ScanSoft, BBN Technologies, Telstra and a number of Australian and US government and defence organisations.

Mr Vonwiller attributed the company's success to its strategic research and development, far-sighted product development and marketing and innovative use of Australia's rich IT and linguistic resources.

Appen processes linguistic data at the world's best accuracy and productivity in more than 50 languages, which is more than any other competitor. Its products are used in telephone call centres; command and control applications such as are used in mobile phones and in-car navigation systems; and in government homeland security and defence applications.

Mr Vonwiller said dealing with governments differed from private corporations, and often involved stronger reporting requirements and more processes.

He said some government projects were technologically very advanced and this made it vital for Appen to remain at the cutting edge of its technology. It's a challenge the company has risen to.

"It's a very large market well worth pursuing," he said.

Austrade has also played an important role in assisting Appen make inroads into government markets. Austrade staff in Washington have provided useful advice on bidding for government contracts. Mr Vonwiller said Austrade’s Export Market Development Grants scheme, which assists companies with offsetting the costs of promotion, had been used by the company for the past four years.

"It allows us to pursue those export marketing programs more aggressively," he said.

"I believe our growth rate would have been less without the EMDG scheme."

Company Information
Chris Vonwiller, Managing Director
Head Office
Level 6, North Tower
Chatswood Central
1 Railway Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
Tel: 61 2 9468 6300
Email: appen@appen.com.au
Website: www.appen.com.au