Datacom

Services & Capabilities

Datacom groups its offer into application services, artificial intelligence, asset lifecycle services, cloud, customer experience and service transformation, managed IT services, network services, security, and software management and licensing. The platform record lists its service lines as AI & Automation Services, Finance & Accounting, Healthcare Services, IT Development, and Supply Chain & Logistics.

• Managed IT and infrastructure: Datacom runs its own data centres in New Zealand, including Orbit in Auckland, opened in 2009 and capable of housing over 1,100 racks and up to 10MW of power. This is the base of its outsourcing contracts with government and large enterprises.
• Cloud: In July 2015 Datacom became Australia's first company to join the Amazon Web Services Managed Service Program, one of only 20 worldwide, and it is also a Microsoft cloud solution provider. It sells hybrid and private cloud alongside public cloud enablement.
• Security: Datacom established a security operations centre in Wellington in 2012 and a dedicated cyber incident response team in 2020. By 2024 its cybersecurity team had grown to more than 170 people, which it describes as one of the largest dedicated security teams in New Zealand.
• Customer experience: The contact-centre business dates to 1992, when Datacom opened its first contact centre in Sydney, and was expanded through the 2003 merger that created Datacom Connect.
• Payroll and business process services: Payroll is one of the oldest lines in the group. A 1989 merger with CCL added facilities management and payroll technology to its existing payroll division, and in 2013 it acquired a SAP payroll firm in Melbourne to build its position in the Australian health sector. It now markets a Payroll Assistant product for New Zealand and Australian employers.
• Local government software: Datascape, a cloud-based ERP suite built for local government, went live with its first customer in 2018 and was offered to councils in New Zealand and three Australian states from 2021.

Analysis: The breadth matters more than any one line. Datacom can take a public-sector client from data centre hosting through network operations, security monitoring, ERP and payroll to service desk support, which few competitors of its size can do onshore in both countries. The trade-off is that most of these lines are mature, infrastructure-heavy businesses, so growth depends on moving clients into higher-value cloud, security and AI work.

AI in delivery: Datacom has said that, in its AI-led approach to application modernisation, AI agents write up to 70% of code, producing cost savings of between 30% and 50% for customers. Claims of this kind put pressure on its own effort-based revenue, and they explain why the group is pairing AI services with infrastructure investment rather than relying on labour.

Client Base & Market Position

Datacom's client base is weighted towards government and large domestic enterprises in New Zealand and Australia. Its website states that in Australia it has supported Federal and State Government departments for more than 30 years, and that in New Zealand it has supported government and corporate customers for more than 60 years.

Named clients: Current customer stories feature the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which partnered with Datacom on the resilience of its critical financial systems, The AA and Todd Energy. Its history includes long relationships with large New Zealand institutions: it brought Oracle database technology to the New Zealand Dairy Company, now Fonterra, in 1983, and signed its first large outsourcing contract with Telecom Directories, now part of Spark, in 1991.

Australian government work: In July 2022 Datacom secured a four-year contract with Transport for NSW to provide network operations and a digital ecosystem supporting customer service. Earlier, in March 2015, it won the Australian Federal Department of Health support services contract, a $242 million, five-year deal. In September 2016 it was selected to deliver Western Australia's $1bn GovNext-ICT programme, and in December 2016 it won an IT infrastructure and support contract with Toyota Australia.

A significant loss: In September 2026 InnovationAus reported that Leidos had unseated Datacom for a large health department technology deal. For a firm whose Australian reputation rests on long federal contracts, losing an incumbent position of this kind to a US defence and government integrator is a meaningful setback, and it shows the competition it faces when large contracts are re-tendered.

Market position: Wikipedia describes Datacom as the largest technology company in New Zealand. Its standing at home is a source of strength but also of exposure: in its 2025 results the chief executive said challenging conditions in New Zealand, including reduced customer technology spending, were partially offset by positive momentum in Australia. The company's growth therefore leans on Australian public-sector and enterprise demand, the market where the Leidos loss occurred.

Enterprise cloud references: Datacom delivered what was then the world's largest SAP migration to Microsoft Azure for Zespri, the world's largest kiwifruit exporter, and in early 2017 completed Australia's first migration of SAP HANA into AWS for Oz Minerals. References of this kind support its case against the global integrators for complex enterprise migrations.

Partnerships: In September 2026 Rimini Street and Datacom announced a strategic partnership to accelerate AI adoption and drive IT optimisation across Australia and New Zealand, aimed at giving customers more control over their ERP investments. The alliance gives Datacom a third-party support offer for clients that want to cut ERP vendor maintenance costs and redirect spending.

Delivery Infrastructure & Operations

Datacom delivers almost entirely onshore in Australia and New Zealand, with a smaller Asian presence. Its website states that in Australia a team of almost 3,000 works across offices in every major state, with 14 locations nationwide, and that in New Zealand a team of almost 3,000 is spread across 17 offices.

Australian build-out: The Australian network was assembled over three decades. Datacom opened its first Australian office in Sydney in 1994, a second in Melbourne in 2000, and a third in Adelaide in 2006, followed by Western Australia in 2007. A further Melbourne office in April 2016 brought 100 new jobs. The spread of offices across every major state lets it staff on-site support close to state government and enterprise clients, an advantage over providers that serve Australia mainly from offshore centres.

Asia: The group opened an office in Kuala Lumpur in 1996, and Wikipedia records contact centres in Malaysia from 1996 and the Philippines from 2008. In 2013 Datacom sold the contact centre arm of its Asia business while continuing to serve the market with IT services. That decision separates it from offshore-led BPO providers: its customer service work for Australasian clients is delivered from Australia and New Zealand rather than from the Philippines or India.

Data centres: Datacom's New Zealand data centre network includes Orbit in Auckland, opened in 2009, Gloucester in Christchurch, opened in 2010, and Kapua in Hamilton, opened in 2013. Its data centres across New Zealand have been powered with 100% renewable energy since 2024, and a 2019 partnership with AirTrunk extends its interconnected network into Australia. In its 2025 results Datacom reported operating across 26 locations, including four data centres.

Implications: The onshore model is a deliberate position. In August 2026 Datacom published research on the gap between offshore data risk awareness and readiness among organisations, a theme that supports its sovereignty pitch to government and regulated clients. The cost of the model is labour: an onshore workforce in two high-wage economies cannot compete on price with Philippine or Indian delivery for transactional work, so Datacom competes on security, proximity and data residency instead.

Current hiring: The platform records 30 open jobs and 113 active job postings. Recent roles show the operational mix: a service desk agent in Modbury and a customer service representative in Hope Valley, both in South Australia; a storeperson and a desktop support team lead in Sydney; an endpoint engineering specialist in Adelaide; and a service delivery coordinator in Perth. Technical roles include a solution architect in New Zealand, a Salesforce technical architect in Auckland and a Snowflake principal consultant in Tauranga. The pattern reflects on-site IT support and customer service in Australia alongside consulting and engineering capacity in New Zealand.

Ownership, Financials & Scale

Ownership: Datacom is a private company. Its two biggest shareholders are Evander Management, the family company of John Holdsworth, with 54.92%, and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund with 44.08%. The sovereign fund became a shareholder in 2012, when it spent $142 million buying New Zealand Post's 35% stake. The structure combines a controlling founding family with a long-horizon state investor, which allows the company to fund multi-year infrastructure investments such as data centres without the quarterly pressure faced by listed rivals. Simon Holdsworth sits on the board, which is chaired by Tony Carter.

Financials: Datacom publishes annual results for financial years ending in March.

Datacom reported revenue of NZ$1.47 billion for FY24, down from $1.49 billion in FY23.

In FY24 net profit before tax was NZ$41 million, up from $8 million the previous year, and operating cash flow was $139 million.

Datacom reported group revenue of NZ$1.48 billion for the 2025 financial year.

In FY25 net profit after tax rose to NZ$37 million from NZ$34 million, and operating cash flow was NZ$164 million.

In July 2026 Datacom reported revenue of $1.58 billion for its latest financial year.

Profit for that year fell 46% to $20 million, a decline reported as tied to its AI build-out.

Reading the numbers: Revenue was close to flat between FY23 and FY25 before rising in the latest year, while profit has moved sharply: from a low base in FY23, up in FY24 and FY25, then down again as the company spent on AI infrastructure. With the $200 million sovereign AI commitment announced in September 2026, the owners are accepting lower near-term profit in exchange for capacity they consider strategic.

Scale: In its 2025 results Datacom reported 5,375 full-time employees. Its website describes teams of almost 3,000 in each of Australia and New Zealand. Earlier records put the workforce at 6,900, and the Outsource Accelerator directory profile cites over 6500 staff, figures that sit above the company's own current count.

People, Leadership & Culture

Leadership: Greg Davidson is Group Chief Executive Officer. He took over the Group CEO role on 31 March 2018, succeeding Jonathan Ladd, after leading Datacom Systems in Australia and New Zealand. In July 2026, discussing the fall in profit, he said that uncertainty remained high.

The group leadership team includes Phil Neutze, Group Chief Financial Officer, who joined Datacom as CFO on 4 March 2024; Collin Penman, Group CISO; Peter Nelson, Managing Director, New Zealand; Sunny Katira, Managing Director, Professional Services; Siobhan Gallacher, Group Director, People; and Mike Porteous, Head of Corporate Strategy. Mark Hile is Acting Managing Director, Australia, as well as Managing Director, Infrastructure Products. The board is chaired by Tony Carter.

Turnover in 2026: The Australian leadership has changed during the year. In July 2026 ARN reported that Datacom was considering next steps for its local managing director role as Laura Malcolm departed, and in September 2026 it reported that Datacom had bid farewell to Stacey Tomasoni. In June 2026 Justin Gray moved from Datacom to PwC. An acting managing director in Australia, at the same time as the loss of a major health department contract, puts weight on the next permanent appointment.

Talent movement: Over the past 24 months the platform recorded 3 senior arrivals at Datacom. Arrivals came from DXC Technology and Capgemini, two of the global integrators it competes with for Australian government and enterprise work.

Culture and heritage: Datacom was founded by two Christchurch accountants, Dr Bernard Battersby and Paul Hargreaves, and co-founder Paul Hargreaves, appointed executive director when CBL became Datacom in 1984, died in August 2014. Governance has passed from the founding generation: John Holdsworth stepped down as chairman in 2012 and was replaced by Craig Boyce, and the board is now chaired by Tony Carter. In 2019 it established the Datacom Foundation to provide long-term educational support for children of families affected by the Christchurch mosque shootings. Its research programme also gives its leaders a public voice: in September 2026 it published findings that a lack of dedicated AI leadership roles is holding back transformation.

Technology & Innovation

Datacom's technology strategy has two layers: owned infrastructure in New Zealand and productised services on top of it.

Sovereign AI infrastructure: In September 2026 Datacom committed more than $200 million to sovereign AI infrastructure in New Zealand. The move builds on its data centre estate and on earlier work to prepare AI-era data centres around sovereignty, sustainability and scale, reported in October 2025. The bet is that government and regulated clients will want AI workloads run onshore, by a locally controlled provider, rather than in offshore hyperscale regions. It is also the main reason profit fell 46% in the latest financial year.

Products: Datacom markets an AI Sandpit, designed to let organisations run AI pilots and production workloads on-premises or in hybrid environments, and a Payroll Assistant built for New Zealand and Australian payroll. Its Datascape ERP suite for local government is a long-standing software product. These products give it recurring revenue and intellectual property that most regional IT services firms lack.

AI in engineering: Datacom has said AI agents write up to 70% of code in its application modernisation work, with cost savings of 30% to 50% for customers. This positions it alongside the larger integrators that are rebuilding delivery around AI agents.

Partnerships: The September 2026 Rimini Street alliance pairs ERP third-party support with AI adoption services. In June 2026 Datacom and Lenovo brought robot inspections to Australia, an extension into physical automation for infrastructure sites.

Research and advisory: Datacom uses research to frame demand. In August 2026 it warned New Zealand firms about surging AI token costs, found that New Zealand firms were untested on outage recovery, and reported a gap between offshore data risk awareness and readiness. Each finding points customers towards services it sells: cost management, resilience and onshore hosting.

Growth by acquisition: Datacom has added capability through a series of small acquisitions: GlobalCenter, its second data centre, for $7.15 million in 2004; NetOptions in Queensland the following year; Agire in Townsville in 2007; Tauranga software company Origen Technology in 2014; and a 20% stake in health informatics company Smartward the same year. The deals are modest and regional, consistent with a group that grows mainly organically and uses acquisitions to fill gaps in geography or capability.

Security heritage: Its security operations centre in Wellington, established in 2012, developed a SIEM platform and offered monitoring to government clients, the foundation of a security practice that had grown to more than 170 people by 2024.

Strategic Assessment

Strengths

• Long-term ownership: Evander Management, with 54.92%, and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, with 44.08%, give it patient capital for infrastructure investment such as the $200 million sovereign AI commitment.
• Onshore scale in two markets: Teams of almost 3,000 in each of Australia and New Zealand, plus its own data centres, support data residency and security requirements.
• Government heritage: More than 30 years of Australian federal and state work and named contracts such as Transport for NSW.
• Breadth of offer: Infrastructure, cloud, security, ERP, payroll and customer experience can be sold together.
• Security depth: A security team of more than 170 people and security operations centres in Wellington and Auckland.

Risks and Vulnerabilities

• Profit pressure: Profit fell 46% to $20 million in the latest year as AI investment rose.
• Contract loss: Leidos unseated Datacom on a large Australian health department deal in September 2026.
• New Zealand demand: The chief executive cited reduced customer technology spending in New Zealand in the 2025 results.
• Leadership gaps: Australia is led by an acting managing director after the 2026 departures.
• Onshore cost base: Delivery from Australia and New Zealand limits price competitiveness against offshore providers for transactional work.

Opportunities

• Sovereign AI: Onshore AI infrastructure fits government and regulated clients wary of offshore data risk.
• ERP optimisation: The Rimini Street partnership opens a cost-reduction offer for ERP customers.
• AI-led modernisation: AI agents writing up to 70% of code can support price-competitive modernisation bids.