Telstra’s 2016 business awards saw Perth based Adams receive high praise
A Perth based operator has received one of the most renowned awards in Australian business for its resilience and ability to thrive in a volatile business environment.
Adam Barnard, managing director of Adams, recently accepted the Telstra Medium Business Award on behalf of everyone in the company.
As a previous Telstra award winner, Adams is widely recognised as one of Western Australia’s industry leaders.
Telstra aims to celebrate the spirit of small and medium businesses with the awards, by seeking out businesses which engage with entrepreneurial vales and strive to succeed.
Adams was announced as the winner of the award in early July during an awards presentation dinner.
Barnard says he is incredibly happy to receive the award, and credits his team as being the driving force behind Adams many award wins.
“This is our second Telstra Business award, we won the first in 2013,” Barnard says.
“It’s widely recognised as one of the most comprehensive awards because they have a very extensive and thorough auditing and judging process.
“I’m extremely pleased with the award, but I’m more pleased for the personnel who helped achieve it.
“I don’t in any way aim to be the biggest, I just want to be the best.”
Barnard also attributes the business’ success to the diverse nature of its operation, as it runs different branches for tourism, mining, and regular coach services.
“We’re in a very unique position because we’ve always had a strong tourism presence,” he says.
“Back in 2012 we acquired Australian Pinnacle Tours, which I think was a good strategic decision back then.”
Adams is likely to expand and improve yet again in the near future, as Barnard says he has some big ideas lined up for his business.
“We’ve got big tourism plans to expand the business, but nothing out in the open yet.”
When the mining boom began slowing down in Western Australia, a lot of operators had no alternative business arrangements, and the reduction in transport needs within the industry hurt their businesses.
Barnard says Adams was able to remain a strong player in the industry by keeping operations varied.
“We found the transition to tourism was fairly easy, tourism is a passion of mine and that’s where I got started in the business.
“It severely strained a lot of fellow operators who had thrown everything into mining, where we tried to stay diverse.
“We’ve always remained sensible like that.”
This year’s awards were an indication of changing times in WA, says Barnard, as the competition amongst award finalists was thin but fierce.
“The thing about the Medium award this year was that it had six preliminary finalists and four were knocked out before the finals.
“Only having two finalists in Medium Business is a bit of a sign of the times here in Western Australia, many businesses are struggling.”