- Acquisition accelerates NCS’ regionalisation strategy in APAC and increases synergies between Australia and Singapore
- Combines tech capabilities of NCS and Dialog to provide stronger end-to-end core IT and digital services for government and enterprise clients
- Increases in-market headcount to 1,300 and provides new growth opportunities for Australian talent
SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 8 March 2022 – NCS today announced its acquisition of Australia’s largest privately-owned IT services company, The Dialog Group (Dialog), to better support the Australian public sector and enterprise clients in addressing their rising digital transformation needs. The acquisition of Dialog for A$325 million (S$325 million) is geared to unlock new growth opportunities in the Australian market and accelerate NCS’ regionalisation strategy. Reputed for its extensive services portfolio from IT consulting, application development to managed application services, Dialog has presence across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth, Darwin, and Adelaide.
Mr Ng Kuo Pin, CEO of NCS, said, “This acquisition is a significant step in the regionalisation of NCS and leverages the combined strengths of NCS and Dialog and their established track records and reputations across both Singapore and Australia. The scale of this acquisition, our largest to date, reflects our firm commitment to growing our business beyond the shores of Singapore, particularly in Australia where we can also leverage the strategic presence of the Singtel Group.”
The acquisition combines Dialog’s core IT capabilities and NCS NEXT digital services to bolster its focus on innovation, cloud, artificial intelligence and data analytics. It also trebles the number of highly skilled IT specialists in its operations in Australia to 1,300 – ready to support clients from a multitude of sectors including government, healthcare, transport, communications, financial and commercial services. This combination of talent and expertise will create a stronger end-to-end suite of technology and digital services for NCS’ clients in Australia and across the region.
Ng added, “At NCS, our purpose is to advance our communities by harnessing technology and bringing people together to make the extraordinary happen. Similarly, Dialog’s commitment to clients and technology has made it one of the leading tech companies in Australia, serving both government and enterprise clients. This alignment of purpose makes Dialog a perfect fit. Collectively, our capabilities, talent and reach will fortify and consolidate our position in Australia and help our clients and the industry meet the digital transformation demands of the future economy.”
Advancing market position in Australia
As part of its transformational growth plan, NCS has been scaling its presence in Australia since December 2020 to serve clients in Australia through NCS NEXT, its digital innovation and services arm – which supports enterprises’ growing demand for digital transformation solutions. Together, Dialog and NCS will have greater opportunities for synergistic growth between Australia and Singapore as well as expertise to better support the needs of clients across both markets.
This latest deal follows NCS NEXT’s acquisition of two fast-growing technology companies last year: Riley, a cloud consultancy with dedicated expertise in Google cloud applications and Eighty20 Solutions, a cloud transformation specialist with unique capabilities across Microsoft cloud platforms, thus offering a ‘best-of-cloud’ service portfolio to the Australian market.
Mr Alan Key, Dialog’s CEO commented, “Together, we will have a strong breadth and depth of capabilities and expertise for our clients here in Australia. Both NCS and Dialog’s talent development cultures and programmes will develop the best talent pipeline and create exciting jobs and growth opportunities.”
According to Gartner, IT spending in Australia is showing its strongest growth in a decade and is projected to grow 6.5% in 2022. The largest IT spending segment in Australia is IT services, which is expected to grow to A$39 billion in 2022[1] .
Combined capabilities drive innovation and co-creation
With one of the highest Net-Promoter Scores (NPS) in the industry and a long-standing client base of governments and large enterprises, Dialog understands the unique needs of the market and augments NCS’ commitment to better serve a diverse range of clients in Government, Healthcare, Transportation, Financial Services, Industrial, Commercial, Communications, Media, and Technology sectors.
Government and enterprise clients can now access deep-tech capabilities across 55 specialisations to support their transformation needs including harnessing innovative digital and cloud technologies. They will also be able to leverage synergies from NCS NEXT Innovation Centres, spanning Singapore and Melbourne, to drive innovation through cross-border collaboration and co-creation.
A great place for talent to grow
The newly combined NCS and Dialog will unlock synergies in talent development and build a steady pipeline of tech talent for the Australian market. With the increased market presence, NCS and Dialog employees will have more options to achieve personal growth and mastery, opportunities to move across specialisations and work in various regions and industries, with different clients and partners to gain a wide range of experience. Depending on their skillsets and areas of interest, they also get to be involved in exciting and impactful projects, reflecting NCS’ commitment to building a place for talent to grow and thrive professionally.
The completion of the acquisition is subject to fulfilment of closing conditions, including relevant approvals from regulatory authorities and other third parties, and is expected to be completed within three months.
[1] According to Gartner: Gartner Forecasts IT Spending in Australia to Grow 6.5% in 2022, 26 Oct 2021
About NCS
NCS, a subsidiary of Singtel Group, is a leading technology services firmwith presence in Asia Pacific and partners with governments and enterprises to advance communities through technology. Combining the experience and expertise of its 10,000-strong team across 55 specialisations, NCS provides differentiated and end-to-end technology services to clients with its NEXT capabilities in digital, cloud and platforms, as well as core offerings in application, infrastructure, engineering and cybersecurity. NCS also believes in building a strong partner ecosystem with leading technology players, research institutions and start-ups to support open innovation and co-creation. For more information, visit ncs.co.
#NCS
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Services
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Stakeholder mapping, analysis, engagement and communication needs to be detailed to avoid business losses or even worse, a crisis. How can you do this effectively to prevent failure? ...
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
Data-driven business decisions have never been as crucial, especially in this era. MGBF leverages off, technology, experience and market presence to aid businesses in making accurate decisions. ...
GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
MGBF provides comprehensive strategic advice and results-focused solutions to solve clients' problems in business-government relations so they can focus on their core business. ...
BUSINESS & BROADER MARKET ACCESS
A critical business challenge is meeting the right decision-makers and potential buyers through the best channel and platform. How will you improve your business competency? ...
Upcoming Events
SECURITY CONCERNS IN CRITICAL VALUE CHAINS
The threat matrix has evolved to include information warfare, cyberspace incursions, big data and behavioural communications. Business leaders need to be aware of these threats to survive. What are you doing as a key stakeholder?
CHARTING THE FUTURE OF DATA RESILIENCE
Companies can now live or die based on their ability to generate and manage data. Effectively managing existential challenges is the opportunity that business leaders need to grasp for a sustainable future. Calling for speakers!
ADDRESSING WEAPONISED INFORMATION IN THE MEDIA
Corporations and their leadership often face weaponised information attacks in the media. Understanding these advanced business threats is crucial. Recently completed. View proceedings online.
DIGITAL RESILIENCE IN THE CORPORATE SECTOR
Special session: Cyberwarfare Waged on the Corporate Sector - Lessons from the Russia-Ukraine Crisis. Corporations are in a digital arms race that many don't realise. How does this relate to your organisation?
MGBF In The News
KUALA LUMPUR, 25 May 2022 – The Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF)’s exclusive roundtable on ‘Security Concerns in Critical Value Chains’ was held in a hybrid setting yesterday at the Eastin Hotel Kuala Lumpur. The guest of honour was Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Rafidah Aziz, former minister of […]
The Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF) has released a report following the roundtable on ‘Digital Resilience in the Corporate Sector’, which was recently held in Kuala Lumpur. In attendance as guest of honour was Deputy Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin. The report recommended several critical development […]
Trade and investment delegations will trickle back over the next few months, but the second half of the year should see considerable return of business travellers. It was learnt that over 50 per cent of international business chambers and industry associations surveyed will consider sending exploratory teams to Malaysia during […]
KUALA LUMPUR, 30 March 2022 – The Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF)’s exclusive roundtable on ‘Digital Resilience in the Corporate Sector’ was held in a hybrid setting yesterday at the Element by Westin Kuala Lumpur. The discussion focused on what business leaders need to understand, to ensure business resilience and […]
The Malaysia Global Business Forum (MGBF)’s exclusive roundtable on ‘Addressing Weaponised Information in the Media’ was held in a hybrid setting today at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur. The discussion focused on addressing one of the most relevant threats to businesses in the digital economy – cyber threats causing physical and […]
The current floods that have impacted various parts of the country have given rise to an extensive commentary on the response cycles of various stakeholders. It has in turn led to continued crisis communications and statements in the media by agencies and ministries alike. This binary approach to the discussion […]
The formation of a special Cabinet committee to develop strategic measures to safeguard the economy amid the Covid-19 outbreak shows the Malaysian government is serious about creating a balance between the continued safety of the general population and the survival of the economy. In the global context, as many countries […]
Innovation, coupled with a radical departure from contemporary thinking, is required with a possible reality of a prolonged crisis becoming the new reality that people and companies must function through. Malaysia Global Business Forum founding chairman Nordin Abdullah said innovation and resilience from all stakeholders will be required to shape […]
The recent announcement that a committee jointly chaired by senior ministers in charge of security and economy clusters respectively demonstrates that the Malaysian government is serious about creating a balance between continued safety of the general population and the survival of the economy. In the global context, as many countries […]
Innovation, coupled with a radical departure from contemporary thinking, is required with a possible reality of a prolonged crisis becoming the new reality that people and companies must function through. Malaysia Global Business Forum founding chairman Nordin Abdullah said innovation and resilience from all stakeholders will be required to […]
Innovation, coupled with a radical departure from contemporary thinking, is required with a possible reality of a prolonged crisis becoming the new reality that people and companies must function through. Malaysia Global Business Forum founding chairman Nordin Abdullah said innovation and resilience from all stakeholders will be required to […]
The announcement that a committee jointly chaired by senior ministers in charge of security and economy clusters demonstrates that the government is serious about creating a balance between the safety of the population and the survival of the economy. In the global context, as many countries struggle to deal […]
THE Covid-19 outbreak has exposed the citizens of most countries to a dangerous virus. But perhaps more importantly, it has exposed the weaknesses in supply chains of nations.The government should be commended for setting up a task force to maintain critical supply chains as it’s an excellent step to ensure […]
In the last few days, the Movement Control Order (MCO) has awoken many to the fact that supply chains that we assume work without question have now become highly critical.The establishment of a special task force to maintain critical supply chains by the current government is an excellent step to […]
by Gunaprasath Bupalan (YouTube – Emjay Communications, The Malaysia Global Business Forum, News Hub Asia, Property360Digest) The CEO Series 2019 by REHDA Institute is more than a developer’s driven event; it is about the strategy made real, where property and its ancillary businesses will provide balance in social, economic and […]
I am the Managing Director of Lynas Malaysia and I’m writing to you on behalf of our employees and contractors and their families. In recent weeks you may have seen a campaign of false information by anti-Lynas activists. We have always welcomed informed debate, however, the spreading of false allegations […]
I am the Managing Director of Lynas Malaysia and I’m writing to you on behalf of our employees and contractors and their families. In recent weeks you may have seen a campaign of false information by anti-Lynas activists. We have always welcomed informed debate, however, the spreading of false allegations […]
I am the Managing Director of Lynas Malaysia and I’m writing to you on behalf of our employees and contractors and their families. In recent weeks you may have seen a campaign of false information by anti-Lynas activists. We have always welcomed informed debate, however, the spreading of false allegations […]
SALAM sejahtera, I am the managing director of Lynas Malaysia and I’m writing to you on behalf of our employees, contractors and their families. In recent weeks, you may have seen a campaign of false information by anti-Lynas activists. We have always welcomed informed debates; however, the spreading of false allegations and […]
