Datacom Inks Government Contract & Continues Transformation

Datacom has inked an all-of-government cloud provisioning contract with the Aotearoa New Zealand (ANZ) government, as it looks to continue deepening its cloud expertise.

“The rapid pace at which the technology landscape is evolving creates both opportunities and challenges for government,” Justin Gray, Datacom’s managing director for New Zealand technology services, noted in a LinkedIn post. “The Cloud Framework Agreement enables Datacom to further support agencies and deliver the best solutions and services to Aotearoa and its communities.”

For the New Zealand government, one of the benefits of this arrangement is that Datacom will provide cloud services from data centres located in New Zealand and operate according to New Zealand data laws and regulations.

It will also simplify contractual processes for agencies and, due to the scale of the all-of-government agreement, agencies will be able to cut costs by negotiating consumption-based discounts.

Up & Down Fortunes for Datacom

Datacom has reported declining profitability in recent years. For the 2021 financial year, the company netted a profit of NZ$35 million. In the 2022 financial year, that number decreased to NZ$28 million. And for the 2023 financial year, the company reported a loss of NZ$2 million.

Despite this decrease in profitability, the company has still seen revenue increase, lifting from NZ$1.45 billion in 2022 to NZ$1.49 billion last year.

When explaining the company’s financial performance, Greg Davidson, group CEO at Datacom, said profit declines were due to strategic investments into software as a service (SaaS) and infrastructure. Datacom’s investments included upgrading its New-Zealand-based data centres, which no doubt assisted the company in securing this New Zealand government win.

Elsewhere, back in May, Datacom expanded its presence in Australia with a new warehouse facility in Northwest Sydney. The purpose of this warehouse is to improve corporate responsibility with a more robust, efficient logistics system and increase the capacity to manage end-of-life recycling.

In February, the company partnered with Aruba to launch a graduate programme and support the development of more tech skills in the industry. Additionally, in May, Datacom renewed its AWS MSP status for the eighth time, further solidifying its status as one of the longest-term, most deeply invested partners in the world.

Datacom now has 6,650 staff across the APAC region, making it one of the largest channel organisations to have been founded in ANZ. It also remains privately owned, with John Holdsworth’s Evander Management Ltd holding just shy of 55% of the shares.