"Austrade's support provides the confidence businesses need to take their product overseas." – Jason Tranter, Managing Director, Mobius Software Pty Ltd

• Australian developer of computer-based training software.
• Niney-five per cent of annual revenue derived from exports.
• Four-year-old company services clients in 40 countries.

When Jason Tranter came up with the idea of an electronic system for vibration-analysis instruction, he wasn't shy about setting big goals.

"Right from the beginning I was thinking internationally," says Mr Tranter, founder of Victoria-based Mobius Software Pty Ltd. "The initial product was designed with an overseas market in mind."

Mr Tranter was involved in condition monitoring for over a decade before he started Mobius. His first company, ARGO Software Integration Pty Ltd, struggled internationally in the late 1980s, and Mr Tranter eventually sold the business to Seattle firm DLI Engineering. ARGO dealt in applications used to predict equipment failure by measuring machinery vibration patterns.

After the buyout, Mr Tranter moved to the USA to work for DLI, gaining six years of valuable international experience. As Mr Tranter interacted with global industry leaders in the machine condition-monitoring field, he realised there was a market for an interactive training product that could instruct people on how to use the technology.

"After being in the business of selling the actual monitoring equipment, I was familiar with the key players in the industry and knew who my customers would be," Mr Tranter says. "An added element to marketing Mobius Software and iLearnInteractive was that people have to purchase the actual equipment before they become a potential customer. This left me with two target markets: the actual customers and the businesses they were buying equipment from."

After a year of developing the Mobius product, Mr Tranter launched a marketing plan based on:

• Establishing representatives in as many countries as possible.
• Creating an informative website to facilitate direct sales.
• Contacting businesses selling vibration-monitoring equipment.
• Building a presence at trade shows and conferences.
• Advertising through relevant websites, print media and trade publications.

"There came a day in September 2000, after a year of hard work and no income, when I realised I actually had a product ready to ship," Mr Tranter explains. Although he wished the phone would immediately start ringing, Mr Tranter knew what needed to be accomplished to effectively market his product.

Based on his familiarity with the US market, Mr Tranter focussed the majority of his initial exporting efforts in the North American region. His ambitions, however, were global – and to fulfil those goals, he turned to Austrade.

"Austrade's support provides the confidence businesses need to take their product overseas. It really relieves some of the initial pressure of personally investing so much in your product's expansion."

To help Mobius get on its feet, Austrade provided an Export Market Development Grant (EMDG) which reimburses up to 50 per cent of a new exporter's marketing expenses.

The investments paid off, and now Mr Tranter is working to translate his application into Chinese, French, German and Korean. During the product's first translation, into Spanish, Mr Tranter realised language conversions would be difficult due to the frequency of technical terms and the complexity of a written and spoken instruction system. However, the value of new opportunities is outweighing the cost of linguistic diversification.

Mr Tranter's latest innovation is customised versions of the product. Mobius has partnered with companies that make vibration instruments to create instructional software that uses each partner's specific hardware in the demonstrations. Thus, a company can sell the Mobius product as an instructional aid personalised to its instruments and carrying its own logo.

Despite the financial strains and potential risks of exporting overseas, Mr Tranter feels many companies imagine unrealistic hurdles and impossible competition in international markets.

"Do your research, but don't be scared," he advises. "If you really believe in your product and what it can offer, there is no reason why it can't do well overseas."