Anthony Higgins - CTO, CustomTec
Sydney-based managed services provider, CustomTec, has acquired Dimension Data’s mid-market hosted desktop service business in Australia, in its first-ever acquisition.
The acquisition was completed on 30 September and operations started being transferred from 1 October with the majority of the personnel and all data centre infrastructure, previously owned by Dimension Data, absorbed by the MSP.
According to CustomTec CTO, Anthony Higgins, the operations have been merged and are now being coordinated from the company’s head office in West Pennant Hills, New South Wales (NSW).
CustomTec was established in 2004 and has always focused on the mid-market, especially around assisting organisations to improve IT end-user experience.
Currently, the business counts Microsoft, Cisco, VMware, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Lenovo, as well as Dimension Data, among key vendor partners.
"CustomTec has experience and expertise in delivering hosted desktop services for organisations across Asia Pacific,” Higgins told ARN.
“The acquisition presents clients with access to a broader range of services designed to assist them in realising the full potential of their investment in IT, by delivering measurable business outcomes.
“Coupled with ongoing access to Dimension Data cloud services through the Dimension Data OneCloud partner program, CustomTec clients can expect technology and services tailored to help achieve their business outcomes."
A Dimension Data spokesperson explained to ARN that the integrator has developed a “best-in-class business” and technology consulting and services company.
“It [Dimension Data] will focus on that core business to further accelerate expansion into related areas such as managed services and digital transformation, while also capitalising on the growing opportunities offered by IT-as-a-service," the spokesperson said.
"CustomTec is an established Dimension Data OneCloud partner and will remain one, maintaining a close link between our organisations."
For Higgins, the acquisition represents a "great opportunity" for the CustomTec team who will continue to assist organisations in the mid-market to improve IT experience.
“This transaction allows the two companies to work together to deliver more combined value to clients in the IT mid-market,” Higgins said.
In June 2010, Blue Fire, which is part of the Dimension Data group, merged its operations with other Sydney-based company, Netforce.
Both companies offer complementary hosted and managed IT services to the Australian and New Zealand mid-market.
“Over the last 15 years, Netforce has become renowned for the level of personal service we provide to our clients," said Netforce general manager Debra Lee, at the time of the deal.
"With the operational merger with Blue Fire, we will be able to combine this customer service excellence with a greater depth and maturity of service offering, particularly in the areas of hosted storage and hosted desktop."
Dimension Data had initially bought a majority shareholding in Blue Fire in October 2008, before completing the acquisition of both Blue Fire and Netforce in December 2011.
The value of the acquisition has not been disclosed, but CustomTec revealed that further acquisitions are planned in line with the MSP’s growth strategy.
CustomTec partners with vendors such as Cisco Meraki, Microsoft, Nimble Storage, VMware and others.
The MSP has recently become a ServiceNow partner following the implementation of ServiceNow IT Service Management (ITSM) suite internally.
Specifically, the business was looking to replace its current systems after experiencing problems with legacy tool sets, alongside issues when handling tickets, the interface between the company’s service desk and support team.
According to the company, the systems could be “awkward” at times.
Following the successful integration, CustomTec decided it wanted to take the ServiceNow experience to its mid-market customers and started the process of becoming a ServiceNow partner themselves.
Higgins told ARN that the key point to this the decision was the flexibility of the ServiceNow platform.
