Datacom has been awarded The Company of the Year in the 2010 Hi Tech Awards. The awards, which are in their 17th year, recognise excellence by New Zealand's producers of high-technology products, services and software solutions.
There were 130 entries in this year’s awards and the judging panel was made up of six international luminaries: Michael Dell, founder of Dell; Howard Charney, Senior Vice President of Cisco; Patrick Kenealy, IDG Ventures; Andy Lark, Vice President Global Marketing, Dell; Richard Keyse, Chair of NZTE's Europe Beachhead Board; and Vernon Turner, Vice President, Enterprise Infrastructure, Consumer and Telecom research, IDC; as well as 35 high-profile local industry experts.
The judges said Datacom was "a company that over many years had thought deeply and carefully about its business model and customers. Its size, consistent growth and very significant offshore presence put Datacom in a class of its own and it is the largest New Zealand-owned company in the sector.
Datacom has grown from a company of about 700 people and $200 million revenue in 2000 to its current position of over 3000 employees and closer to $600 million revenue across New Zealand, Australia and South East Asia.
Datacom NZ CEO, Greg Davidson said "We are a services company so winning this award is a testament to the focus we put on servicing our customers and the calibre of our staff”
Another factor in our success is that the company makes sure, that in all the different locations it operates in, leaders are given the autonomy to do what is needed.
The combination of scale and flexibility is very important," says Davidson.
He says the IT space is shifting and a lot of complexity has gone out of infrastructure work. "By being local we have a lot more flexibility to do what we need to do to service individual needs," says Davidson, adding that with that comes agility.
He says the IT industry is tied closely to the fortunes of its customers. "When our customers are finding times difficult we have to show flexibility and agility.
Davidson says Datacom's board and company showed strength in investing $45 million into the development of the world-class Albany Orbit data centre in the midst of the recession. "It showed we had long term confidence in the market and it has meet customer demand for a secure, green, quality outsourced environment - with the data centre hosting both local and multinational customers" he says.
More than half of Datacom’s staff is in Australia which has seen the most rapid expansion over the past couple of years. Davidson says 35% growth in the 08/09 year was a benchmark for Australia. He is particularly pleased Datacom was recently recognised in Australian Business Review Weekly awards as the best IT services firm despite top companies across the Tasman being much larger than them.
Wayne Norrie, Chairman of the NZ Hi-Tech Trust, said, “The hi-tech sector has once again proved itself one of New Zealand’s great success stories. The industry continues to grow at twice the rate of the economy as a whole, and now accounts for more than $2 billion in export sales. We’ve been through tough economic times in the past year, but the sector is producing more world-beating winners than ever. Entrepreneurship and innovation are critical to global success and we’re seeing a new momentum in the companies entering the Awards that gives us every reason to be optimistic about the future of the industry.”