DIGITAL BUSINESS ADVISER
SUCCESSFUL FOUNDER
EXPERIENCED EXECUTIVE
MURRAY LONGE
Bio
With over 40 years at the crossroads of technology and business, I’ve transformed groundbreaking ideas into thriving ventures. My startup journey began in Australia, co-founding TrueLocal.com.au in Sydney. Once that business was sold to News Limited, I expanded, co-founding and scaling successful tech startups to the dynamic landscapes of the UK and Ireland.
But my expertise isn’t confined to startups. I’ve enriched businesses—from global corporations to government sectors—with tailored strategies and innovative perspectives. My credentials? A Masters in Business Administration and Engineering qualification, combined with pivotal roles in ASX-listed giants where I successfully orchestrated Program Offices, harmonising Program Management with stellar product delivery. Whether it’s the adaptability of Agile or the structured grace of waterfall, I seamlessly integrate both for optimal outcomes.
I take pride in leading and nurturing diverse teams across various verticals—from product delivery and operations to customer service and sales. The result? Elevated productivity, unmatched team synergy, and commendable staff loyalty. My core proficiency lies in aligning product-market fit with organisational goals, ensuring streamlined delivery and maximised effectiveness.
To sum it up, I’m your bridge between tech innovation and commercial triumph. If you seek a blend of experience, dynamism, and a track record of success, I’m eager to contribute and collaborate. Let’s craft the future together.
Services & Skills
Building Business Value
Every product and project should make a quantifiable contribution to the overall value of the business. Always with an eye on the end outcome, I identify that value, determine how it will be measured, and ensure it is delivered, on time and on budget.
Program Management
Projects and products are part of an overall business system. I take complex programs and break down the projects within them to establish how they relate to each other, focus on the value they provide, and make them visible and manageable within the organisation.
Mentoring & Team Building
High performing teams deliver products quickly, and those products are well matched to customer expectations. In any role I undertake, I build strong teams and work with colleagues, executives and direct reports to improve our performance.
Companies & Clients
Work Portfolio
- deep blue company
Lifted project commercial competence across the business
Deep Blue Company (DBC) has rapidly expanded since 2012 to offer digital technologies and services covering the entire property sale-to-settlement journey in Australia. With more than 400 employees in Australia and the Philippines, DBC facilitated $9B in property transactions in the last financial year.
The assignment involved improving the project delivery performance across the Technology Group.
- Led the technical team that selected the cyber security services partner for DBC
- Developed a new approach to project approval minimising corporate risk
- Developed and launched an internal Program Office site
- Society of Automotive Engineers - Australasia
Led the project to lift employment opportunities for Australian engineers
This engagement involved advising the SAE-A Board, and managing the delivery of its unique Emergency Vehicle Project involving many diverse participating organisations and forward-focused technology.
- Developed the project strategy and implementation plan - accepted by SAE-A Board
- Managed more than 130 individuals and 90 organisation participants in the project
- Developed and released an app to participants, used as a communication platform
- REA Group
Set up and managed the REA Group Program Management Office
Established and managed the REA Group Product Council – the equivalent of an REA Program Management Office.
Across all REA business units, this meant
- Projects were prioritised against business strategy
- Resources were allocated to projects for maximum impact and efficiency
- Communicated progress across all projects with Executive Leadership Team
- Recommendations developed & implemented for projects to ensure on-time delivery
- Vicinity Centres
A production-ready CRM in 10 weeks
Led a two-person team that delivered a production-ready CRM in 10 weeks, built on the Salesforce platform, covering all past & current Vicinity Centres customers across its entire portfolio. The CRM held data on
- 19,209 companies
- 8,168 contacts
- 23,987 assets
Compared to original estimates
- Yearly license costs were reduced by 66%
- Number of licenses was increased by 280%
- REA Group
Integration of a major acquisition
Led the integration of an acquired company (AUD $25M purchase price) into REA Group including the product delivery team, back-end infrastructure and merging 2 customer databases totalling 1.2M users and customers.
- The product delivery team
- Back-end infrastructure
- Merging and cleaning two customer databases totalling 1.2M users
This enabled the redeployment of one development team onto other projects and delivered immediate infrastructure savings of $10k/month.
- YourLocal.ie
Co-founded, built and sold local search business in Europe
In 12 weeks, installed all the operational infrastructure for the Irish start-up business, including the call centre, office and IT infrastructure, and back-end for the websites, CRM and call centre systems. This facilitated rapid entry into the market.
Once launched, YourLocal was Ireland’s fastest growing directory and No. 2 in the market within four months of launch, achieving sales of more than €1.1m and 2,000 customers in 10 months during the global financial crisis.
YourLocal was acquired by the global media group, Independent News & Media.
- Australian Local Search
Co-founded Australian Local Search to become True Local
With co-founder, secured Yahoo! as launch partner for the Australian start-up. This positioned Yahoo! as the first search engine in Australia to have its own Australian online business directory complete with 1.4 million Australian business listings (100% of TAM).
Negotiated and secured a data deal for the Australian start-up business with Google Australia – the first of its type by Google in Australia – providing the business with an unassailable value proposition to customers.
ALS was acquired by News Corp Australia and rebranded TrueLocal. TrueLocal is currently owned and operated by Sensis.
- Strategic Industry Research Foundation
Transforming an idea into driveable reality
As Project Director for the Australian Concept Car, I took the brief to build a car that would showcase Australian automotive technologies and turned that idea into a fully drivable advanced concept car. The car was shown in Australia and around the world to secure overseas orders for Australian automotive component manufacturers.
Financial commitments totalled $23 million from 143 component manufacturers, government agencies and automotive associations. That was negotiated at Ministerial level for $9 million in government funding, and at corporate CEO level for in-kind contributions of $14 million.
After project managing the car’s creation on time and under budget, the vehicle went on an overseas demonstration tour which generated $1.25 billion of export orders within the first two years for the project participants.