Synergy 'bulks up' with Innovus acquisition

By ADAM GIFFORD

Information technology consultancy Synergy has bought out competitor Innovus, giving it more than 200 staff in offices in Auckland, Wellington, Sydney and Melbourne and a new name - Synergy International.

Chief executive David Irving said there was a close cultural fit between the two organisations.

As both companies had bases in Wellington, they have a client list skewed towards the Government sector. The list includes New Zealand Post, Winz, Enza, TransAlta, AMP, Transpower, ACC, the Correspondence School, the Employers and Manufacturers Association and Deltec.

Mr Irving said there was pressure on IT consulting firms to bulk up to meet the demands of customers wanting to move into e-business.

Synergy grew 159 per cent over the past two years, with turnover last year of $17 million. It is aiming for up to $30 million this year.

"The hard part about growing is getting the people, so by buying a company with 40 people we bought an entire year's growth in one day," he said.

Another example of acquiring rather than building from scratch was the company's web development arm which was building "functional sites with databases access" but found it difficult to recruit web developers with design skills. The problem was fixed when it bought an Auckland-based graphic design firm, Agility Software. Synergy is strong in Oracle technologies and Java, while the Innovus purchase brings strength in Microsoft languages.

"This purchase has greatly enhanced our ability to provide businesses with total end-to-end solutions," Mr Irving said.

The company is now able to host websites as well as develop them. Mr Irving said it was on the lookout for Australian companies with a similar profile.

"We want to find development work in Australia we can do from New Zealand. There's an advantage in contract rates and exchange rates which makes that cost effective and lucrative."