Niche found as a matchmaker

Brett Roberts

Tauranga-based Cucumber has found an expanding niche as a matchmaker, bringing together local companies with experienced project services managers and business analysts.

The company has built a reputation over the past decade in the digital and ICT services sector, offering website services and bespoke software development, but it plans to build on its core experience to further develop its contracting service.

"There's a lot of really talented people in the Bay of Plenty," said Cucumber chief executive Brett Roberts.

"What we've discovered is a lot of these people have really good experience, and there's a demand for them from companies that don't need somebody to work fulltime. We sit in the middle of that process."

Cucumber provides a mix of its own employees and a range of experienced contractors to provide inhouse consulting services to organisations in the region, including councils, power utilities and hi-tech companies.

Cucumber effectively acts as a labour agency, but the contractors work directly under the supervision of the company where they are placed.

"Each engagement is different," said Mr Roberts. "Those people tend to wind up acting like employees of the end customer - they work the way the customer wants, using their methodologies and tools, but they bring their experience and expertise."

Ian Grey, manager of Cucumber Consulting, which manages the contracting service, said many organisations could not afford to retain a fulltime person in certain roles and were quite happy to take someone on a part-time basis.

"There are people who come to Tauranga for the lifestyle and maybe they only want to work two or three days a week," he said. "We provide a very good environment for the contract resource, particularly because they don't have to go out and find work - we go out and find it for them."

Mr Grey said Cucumber contracting service was also a perfect opportunity for mothers to get back into the workforce if they had good project manager or business analyst skills. "We're very flexible about hours."

Many Cucumber placements have involved work in ICT-related areas, he said, but contractors had also worked on change management and other projects. "We have people who understand business as well as ICT," said Mr Grey, adding that Cucumber had "well over double figures" of contractors working on projects.

Sharon Searle, who has worked as a senior manager in two companies that have retained Cucumber contractors, said: "There there a lot of labour agencies around that provide people, but not necessarily in the particular field that you want.

"I think what Cucumber does well is the technology field, where they can provide people with good project management skills," she said. "Ian Grey is good at networking."