NCS makes majority investment in Eighty20, scales presence in Australia

NCS has announced it will make a majority investment in Eighty20 Solutions (Eighty20), an Australian cloud transformation specialist, to continue scaling its market presence in Australia.

One of the fastest growing IT companies in Australia, Eighty20 will further boost NCS' NEXT capabilities to support Australian clients in their digital transformation journey, offering end-to-end suite of solutions across cloud, business applications, workplace modernisation and managed services, the company states.

Andre Conti, head of NEXT Solutions, NCS Australia, says, "Since starting our operations last December, we have expanded our presence in Australia with the launch of NCS NEXT Cloud Centre of Excellence and the recent acquisition of Riley, a cloud consultancy with dedicated expertise in Google cloud applications.

"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.

Eighty20's offerings across Microsoft cloud platforms, combined with Riley's dedicated expertise in Google Cloud applications, adds to NCS' NEXT's cloud capabilities and comprehensive portfolio of cloud services in AWS, Google and Microsoft.

A Microsoft Gold Partner, Eighty20 specialises in cloud transformation with a blue-chip client portfolio in the financial services, energy, government, healthcare, IT, manufacturing and retail industries.

Its clientele includes Woolworths, Suncorp, TPG, New South Wales Department of Education and Boral.

Through its partnership with Microsoft, Eighty20 intends to help organisations:

• Transition to cloud platforms to enable workplace collaboration and business scalability;
• Implement and optimise modern cloud infrastructure centred on security requirements;
• Modernise and integrate cloud applications with legacy technologies.

It brings with it a 120-strong team of experts across strategy, project delivery, technical execution, organisation change and adoption, as well as managed services.

The investment in Eighty20 will grow NCS' headcount in Australia over the next few years, the company states. This is further bolstered by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in August with the State Government of Victoria, represented by Invest Victoria as well as the Department of Treasury and Finance, to create 500 new digital jobs.

Eighty20 Solutions founder John Kelly says, "This strategic partnership between Eighty20 and NCS illustrates our continued drive to provide best of breed digital transformation solutions to our clients and the market.

"It allows us to leverage the scale, technical depth and geographic footprint of NCS, whilst continuing our mission to deliver tier 1 consulting services with a boutique feel.

Eighty20 Solutions founder Justin Rees added, "NCS is at the forefront of digital innovation and combined with their heritage in large scale transformations, particularly government, makes them the perfect partner for our next phase of growth.

Eighty20 will continue to run independently under NCS with all employees continuing in their current roles within the companies.

Founders, John Kelly and Justin Rees, will retain a significant minority stake and will retain their roles within the business. The completion of the transaction is subject to fulfilment of closing conditions.