A history of BuiltSmart Interactive

The seeds of BuiltSmart Interactive were planted in 1997 when a group of IT professionals met at an Internet Service Provider called NetExpress. NetExpress was Geelong's most popular ISP, and as the business grew across the Geelong region of Victoria, Australia, the owners were approached by a large telecommunications provider that was looking to expand it's own Internet business. NetExpress was acquired at the end of 1997 by this large corporate, changing the customer focus of NetExpress to a more corporate culture.

The original NetExpress team moved on, and formed a business venture called BuiltSmart Software. Still based in Geelong, BuiltSmart Software specialised in providing web and software development services to small businesses, helping them build appropriate solutions that addressed true business needs rather than simply trying to fit an off-the-shelf product. These were the early days of the Internet as a business tool, and by listening to what their customers' needed, the BuiltSmart business grew to employ several staff.

In July 2000, BuiltSmart Software had grown beyond a small business, and was incorporated as an Australian Company. On 1st July 2000, BuiltSmart Interactive Pty. Ltd. was born. The BuiltSmart Software brand was retained and continued to support customers in Geelong and Melbourne, as well as moving into regional Victoria.

In 2001, the now-defunct Challenge Advertising Group attempted to acquire BuiltSmart Interactive in a hostile bid to expand it's own marketing business into software development and web hosting. While the bid was eventually defeated, the experience caused BuiltSmart to change its management structure, divesting itself of a director and several staff in the process. The company quickly moved to secure a pool of new technical, graphic design and project management resources and expanded its operations to include services in Melbourne, Colac and Warnambool. As the client base expanded and its reputation for creating and supporting robust software solutions grew, BuiltSmart Interactive moved its principal base of operations from Geelong to Melbourne in 2002. This move provided the impetus and opportunity to drive continued growth of the company. While still providing managed web site and software solutions through the BuiltSmart Software brand, the company also began offering on-site consulting services through its new consulting arm, Calico Consulting.

In 2003 BuiltSmart began to work with larger corporate clients including Bristol Myers-Squibb Pharmaceuticals, Monash University, RMIT University, La Trobe University, Intertextual Corporation, Zendata and the South West Alliance of Rural Healthcare (SWARH). These clients, while bringing larger projects to the table, were treated with the same mix of respect and skill that initially provided BuiltSmart with it's commercial success and have allowed BuiltSmart to release many successful projects on these client sites.

In 2003, BuiltSmart also commenced a partnership with Quality One Australia, a leading provider of quality systems and process robustness. Through this partnership, BuiltSmart moved into the development of quality systems and the provision of associated consulting services. This partnership has become a fixture of our business, and remains in place to this day. You can visit our partner site at quality-one.com.au.

BuiltSmart continued operations out of Blackburn, in Melbourne's Eastern Suburbs, for 14 years. In 2017, the Business expanded operations into the USA and moved its principal office to Seattle, Washington, shifting it's Melbourne offices to Noble Park. With a reaffirmed focus on the provision of 'best fit' IT solutions for its customers, BuiltSmart offers consulting and technical services, from architecture to implementation, across a wide range of current and legacy skill sets. Through our technology agnostic approach, BuiltSmart has developed an excellent reputation for delivering solutions which meet or exceed the business needs of its customers.

2017 also saw BuiltSmart and it's partner, Quality One Australia, establish a new venture, Online Process Systems. Through their combined knowledge of quality systems, process robustness, information technology, software solutions and solution design best-practices, Online Process Systems is now working to bring a suite of off-the-shelf quality solution products to market. these solutions will benefit business that require quality tools and organisational robustness support systems to help them implement and maintain standards such as APQP, ISO900x, 8D and others. You can watch our progress in this area at online-process-systems.com.

In 2019 and beyond, BuiltSmart continues to offer an extensive range of services, from software development through to complete end to end systems analysis, design and implementation. If you would like more information on how BuiltSmart can assist your business, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.