GLASGOW information technology consultancy ECS has expanded its reach in the digital space with the acquisition of a London-based digital transformation business.
ECS, which turns over £80m a year, has until now provided services including IT security and technology upgrades to clients such as Nationwide Building Society and a number of banks and supermarkets.
With the acquisition of Forest Technologies, which was established in 2003 and turns over around £3m a year, ECS has effectively launched a digital practice so it can add ‘DevOps’ to its roster of expertise.
ECS group chief executive Paul Thomson said: “DevOps as a movement is a collaboration of methodology that helps companies create software and software-related services such as internet banking, faster, at lower cost and at greater quality.
“We’ve been doing this in a very small way but this gives us more capability and a lot of experience in this space.”
According to technology research business Gartner, DevOps will be adopted by one in four organisations in 2016, bringing it into the mainstream.
“Our existing FTSE 100 customers are looking to ECS for direction and thought leadership as they plan, design and implement their digital transformation programmes,” said Mr Thomson.
“This acquisition adds important DevOps capabilities to our advisory and IT transformation services, giving us a full complement of experience, skill and expertise to help our customers build competitive advantage.”
All 21 of Forest Technologies’ staff have moved across to ECS. Three of them are based in Singapore with the other 18 working out of a base in London.
The company’s founder and chief executive Andy Cureton has become managing director of ECS’s digital practice.
He said: “Specialist DevOps skills are hard to find and this drives demand for third-party support but there are very few DevOps specialists with the experience of delivering these kinds of transformation projects for large enterprises.
“Choice has always been limited to a global, expensive consulting firm or a niche player that doesn’t typically work as a direct supplier.
“As part of the ECS group the new ECS digital skills practice will have the firepower to expand and full this space.”
Mr Thomson said that the bolt-on is “absolutely a strategic acquisition” that is part of the company’s wider plans for growth.
“In the past we’ve acquired capability and expertise,” he said.
“We did that three years ago when we bought Vacta, an IT security company that has grown rapidly into a £17m business.
“We have aspirations to similarly grow what was Forest.”
Although its headquarters are in Glasgow, ECS, which was founded in 2003, also has offices in Edinburgh, Leeds, London, Manchester and Pune in India.
The new Singapore office will be a key focus for growth, with ECS planning to use the office to target customers across the Asia-Pacific region.
Forest Technologies works directly with clients as well as acting as a consulting partner to software and apps companies including Automic, AppDynamics, AWS, Docker and Puppet.
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