Andre Conti (NCS)
Singaporean IT service provider NCS has deepened its presence in Australia through the acquisition of Sydney-based Microsoft partner Eighty20.
Founded in 2017, Eighty20 is a cloud transformation specialist boasting 120 staff and customers including Woolworths, Suncorp, TPG, NSW Department of Education and Boral.
Eighty20 will continue to run independently under NCS with all employees continuing in their current roles, the service provider claimed.
The Microsoft partner's founders, John Kelly and Justin Rees, will retain a "significant" minority stake and will keep their roles within the business.
“NCS is at the forefront of digital innovation and combined with their heritage in large scale transformations, particularly government, [this] makes them the perfect partner for our next phase of growth,” Rees said.
According to NCS, Eighty20 will further boost NCS’ capabilities to support Australian clients in their digital transformation journey, including cloud, business applications, workplace modernisation and managed services.
NCS first launched in Australia last December through a partnership with Optus Business, which is also owned by Singtel. The business recently bolstered its reach into Australia through the appointment of Nicole Key as director of sales and marketing.
“The addition of Eighty20’s unique capabilities in digital, cloud and workplace transformation across Microsoft cloud platforms will complement our existing technology practices, allowing us to meet the needs of our clients with a ‘best-of-cloud’ service portfolio,” added Andre Conti, head of NEXT Solutions at NCS in Australia.
As reported by sister publication Channel Asia, NCS unveiled plans to acquire three technology providers across Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong in September, expanding digital capabilities at pace with a specific focus on data analytics and cloud.
NCS has reached agreements to take control of ClayOPS, Riley and Velocity Business Solutions, motivated by a desire to evolve into a B2B services specialist developing “new engines of growth”.
Specifically, ClayOPS goes to market as a Singapore-based data analytics and consulting services firm while Riley operates as a leading Australian cloud-based solutions consultancy. This is in addition to Velocity Business Solutions, a Hong Kong-based data analytics firm that provides a full suite of data analytics consulting and implementation services.
“These acquisitions are targeted and timely as they will accelerate our expansion into Asia Pacific, particularly in the high-growth markets of Singapore, Greater China and Australia,” said Ng Kuo Pin, CEO of NCS, at the time of the acquisitions. “These markets are seeing digital adoption in both the public and private sectors ratchet up very quickly and we are investing in critical solutions and digital expertise to build out our suite of integrated services.”
Aligned to Singtel’s strategic reset announced in May, Kuo Pin said the trio of acquisitions will help boost the capabilities NCS NEXT -- the provider's digital services organisation -- in the key markets of Singapore, Greater China and Australia.
