9X5 Consulting has trodden an unconventional path on the way to becoming a digital transformation specialist.
Founded just before the pandemic, the Melbourne-based company was soon forced to sell PCs and peripherals that still account for 10% of its profits today.
Since then, 9X5 has grown into a 67-strong national team supplying hardware, software and professional products to brands such as Paspaley, La Trobe Financial, Yum Foods and Ports Victoria.
Professional accounted for the lion’s share of profits in the 2022-23 fiscal year, from offering business analysts and assignment managers to UX developers and testers.
This combination allowed the consulting firm to more than double its profits to $8. 8 million in FY22-23.
We spoke to Michael Williamson, sales and marketing director at 9X5, about the company’s origins and growth.
“[9X5 founder and CEO Matthew Willie] was really wanting to build very much a client-focused professional services business…that could help Australian firms embrace digital transformation and innovation,” Williamson said.
“Unfortunately, COVID hit and everyone was locked down, so the business had to turn around very quickly; So there are probably some things that we do that the average consulting firm doesn’t.
“We sell equipment, for example. This was born out of. . . if you remember, at the time, there was a chip shortage, plus there were COVID lockdowns and everyone was looking to scramble to get laptops and things like that.
“As a legacy, we have a few consumers and we take care of their equipment; we also give them BAs and developers, and we make up 90% of their IT staff, which is pretty crazy for a consulting firm. Most of the company paints is in the professional services department.
The company also has some clients who have generated a lot of virtual transformation work.
“Part of our business is dedicated to data analytics. We’ve got two products; one is Analytics 360 and one is Education 360…that’s geared towards schools and universities.”
“Everything is based on Domo, so we are Domo’s largest integration partner in Australia.
“We’ve invested a lot in this area over the last few years, so it’s starting to pay off. “
A huge win for 9X5 in the last financial year was its work with Paspaley.
“We’ve been there from the beginning in a consulting capacity for those types of companies, and evidently that leads to some later paintings,” Williamson said.
“In the case of Paspaley, I think there are about 33 sub-companies in this group; it’s a very challenging environment, so we work hand-in-hand with your CIO or CTO to understand what they’re running on.
“Since Paspaley was founded in Darwin, we’ve started a new line of business called MyBuy, which we manage for them, which is essentially hardware pre-provisioning, and we’re rolling it out to other customers.
“It’s a very effective service that we can offer especially to regional customers, who may have difficulty getting curtains locally. “
“We’re looking at doing it for a couple of miners for some of their remote sites and another client in Tasmania that we’re in negotiations with.”
According to Williamson, maintaining close relationships with clients has set 9X5 apart from other consulting firms.
“Also at Latrobe we have a lot of developers and that’s because, compared to other consultants, we have a very close relationship with our clients,” he said.
“We’ve taken a very different approach: Matt [Willie] or I pass out and meet with customers every week; We are very customer-centric.
“It’s a competitive environment, so we need to remain vigilant about the demanding situations that our customers [are experiencing], but also keep those relationships private; That’s probably our biggest strength so far.
9X5 Consulting’s Fast50 2023 access also looked at partnerships with Zoho, ManageEngine, and Bluechip. The company praised Bluechip for its technical support, leadership, and assistance in responding to RFPs.
Half a million for accessories
In fiscal year 2023, 9X5 opened an office in Sydney and now has it across Australia.
“Probably the most demanding situations we have faced are the classic development problems; it’s simple to manage a team from an office, [but] now we have it in 4 other states,” Williamson said.
“Our professional services grew dramatically. We’ve got 50 consultants now where two years ago we probably had three.”
“This brings challenges; Processes that work when you have a small team tend not to work when you have a giant team.
“We’ve invested a lot in our training, we’ve invested a lot in our processes, our CRMs, all of that in our back-end systems, that’s probably the biggest challenge as we grow at headquarters. “
“Matt has worked at a lot of consulting firms and so have I. . . So we know what experts need from a head office and we’ve invested a lot of money in our office. . . Half a million dollars for a design that I’m sure all of our have wonderful workstations, wonderful meeting spaces, and even wonderful chill-out spaces in the kitchen.
“It’s very easy for experts to get stuck in a consumer’s trenches and never return to headquarters; We’ve tried to create an environment where they come back.
Acquisition on the agenda
Building its team and capabilities via an acquisition is next on the list for 9X5.
“Lately we’ve been in talks with a couple of companies for an acquisition,” Williamson said.
“Array. . The acquisition must meet 3 criteria; The first is that it wants to give us a little bit of volume.
“We’re still small, so we need to grow and increase our numbers, but we’re also looking for things in other geographies; It’s faster to buy than to build when you’re looking to move between states.
“They also want to bring new technical capability to the company that we don’t have yet. “
“We’re in talks with a company at the moment [and I think] in the next 12 to 18 months some acquisition will occur.”