Synergy Group Beyond Federal Government: A Discussion With Our Melbourne Managing Partner, Simon Benjamin

With more than 400 consultants, Synergy Group is the largest sovereign government-focused professional services firm in Australia. We’re proud to be 100 percent Australian owned and operated, with a strong legacy of delivering impactful solutions to government clients. 

Over the last 25 years, Synergy Group has built strong relationships with federal government departments across Australia. The opening of our Melbourne office signals a new and exciting period of growth for our company as we make our first significant inroads into state government agencies. 

Our Melbourne team, made up of highly regarded experts with deep local insights, will operate cohesively with our national colleagues, benefitting from their reach and capabilities.

Here, we speak to Synergy Group Melbourne’s Managing Partner, Simon Benjamin, about the new office, the team’s capabilities, the market opportunities his team is pursuing, and why he loves coming to work. 

Congratulations on the Melbourne opening, Simon. Tell us about the motivation behind opening a Synergy Group office in Victoria. 

Thanks – it’s an exciting time. Of course, Synergy Group is already a very successful public sector-focused firm with a large presence in Canberra. The logic was to bring some of what has made us successful working with federal government departments and agencies to the Victorian public sector market, so that’s what we’re doing. We have about 35 people here already in our new Melbourne office, and we’re all focusing our energy on the Victorian market. We’re bringing the Synergy Group magic down here.

How is the office strengthened by ThinkPlaceX joining Synergy Group?

Significantly, actually. Something that first attracted me to joining Synergy Group was the ThinkPlaceX capability. ThinkPlaceX has established a significant presence with the Australian public sector and other purposeful clients over many years and has strong capabilities in this area. ThinkPlaceX has a unique skill set that complements Synergy Group’s skills; they develop strategy and policy with a focus on solving big, complex systemic problems in a very human-centred way. It’s an approach which is perfectly matched to the big systemic challenges our government clients face here.

What unique opportunities do you see in Melbourne, and how will Synergy Group Melbourne pursue them?

Some things are similar between government clients across the country, but of course there are dynamics that are emphasised here. We’re a large economy here in Victoria, and the Victorian Government has been focusing on significant social and economic reforms in recent years. For example, there’s been a massive investment in infrastructure; Victoria’s Big Build is ongoing and continues to be an important part of the state’s activity, and I think there’s still opportunity there to support successful infrastructure outcomes. Health and social reforms will be a significant focus, as will transport and planning, education, and energy, amongst other things. A lot needs to be delivered by public sector organisations in an increasingly cost-constrained environment. We have a significant heritage that is now 25 years of supporting our clients to improve their cost positions and become financially sustainable. Additionally, Synergy Group has a great history and strength in defence, and the Department of Defence has significant capability in Melbourne and Victoria. As part of Synergy Group’s national defence capabilities, we’re going to be focusing on some of the areas within defence that are based here. 

Tell us about your team in the Synergy Group Melbourne office. What skill sets, expertise and market knowledge do they bring to Synergy Group? 

Synergy Group Melbourne has four partners with broad capabilities – Mark Bainbridge, Di Sinclair, Vijay Tampi and myself. Mark Bainbridge is a veteran who moved to consulting years ago and has since been advising human services and education clients alongside his significant work in defence. Di Sinclair is an engineer by training with many years in consulting here and in the United States. She’s focused on risk and compliance requirements of infrastructure programmes and across government organisations more broadly. Vijay Tampi, a former public servant with significant federal government experience, is now a long-time consultant to government. His years of experience working with the Department of Defence means he is sought after in this domain. Personally, I bring extensive experience in reform programs in government – both here and overseas – focusing on transport, human services and telecommunications. 

Additionally, there are areas that we’ll be strengthening as a wider team. Defence has certainly been an initial priority in building the team, and they also bring deep experience in transport and in human services, for example having worked in the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Health is an area of focus for us, and we’re looking to bring in some deep health experts. Another area we’re focused on building is digital; our firm has deep digital experience in Canberra and as yet, we don’t have a digital leader in Melbourne, so we’re out talking to people to bring that digital offering to the Victorian marketplace. 

How will the Melbourne team collaborate with other Synergy Group offices across Australia?

Well, one of the questions I had as I was joining Synergy Group was ‘Will the team in Canberra be vested in our ambitions here in Victoria?’ I was assured that would be the case and that’s exactly what I’ve found. I couldn’t be happier right now with the level of support we’re getting to both win and deliver work. Synergy Group has a 25-year history, and it’s great to have the support from our experienced Canberra team. 

It’s wonderful that you have that camaraderie and collaboration across the country. 

Yeah, and that’s one of the benefits of our firm compared with other, larger firms; we’re still of a size where it’s easy to collaborate, yet we have the capacity to confidently deliver all our services to clients. Collaboration is important because, if you think about most client problems or areas of focus these days, they’re quite complex. These complexities need multiple skills to address them, and the best way for a firm to deliver those skills is to cooperate across the different practice areas. The more seamless that is to do, the better our clients will be served. 

Melbourne already has many established consultancies. What sets Synergy Group Melbourne apart in a competitive market?

The fact that as a firm, we’re focused on government. Our industry has been going through a challenging period where there is a view that trust has been damaged; I think it’s incumbent upon all of us in the industry to act in ways that rebuilds that trust. I think Synergy Group is well-placed to be a leader in rebuilding trust with government clients; we are a strongly value-lead firm and  we specialise in consulting services to government. We’re not investing in private sector organisations, which reduces the potential for conflict. This means that the advice we provide isn’t indirectly influenced by work in the private sector. In this environment right now, that’s hugely important.

Furthermore, we have an independent board and we’re an Australian firm – we were founded here and our ownership and focus remains here. That identity is important to our clients. 

Can you offer insight into a typical day in your role? 

I love our office, and I come in almost every day. Our office is in a great part of town. I usually start my day with a swim down in the bay [Port Phillip Bay]. We work flexibly, so the group that comes into the office changes from day-to-day, and then people are often out with their clients, too. The office culture here is terrific – it’s nice to come into the office and be amongst friendly, smart people who like working together. We’re building a culture here in Melbourne that reflects the Synergy Group culture but also brings a Melbourne flavour. 

The first thing to do in a new office is to get to know the team. The second thing to do is to get focused on our strategy and where we want to play in the consulting market in Victoria, so we spend a lot of time understanding the market. We do that with the long-term Melbourne experience of our team, and also working out what that means for Synergy Group, so we’ve been doing a lot of strategic thinking and in parallel with that, importantly, we’ve been out talking with clients.