Datacentrix

Market position

Datacentrix describes itself as a leading hybrid IT systems integrator and managed services provider and one of South Africa's leading providers of integrated technology systems. Convergence Partners cited the company's market leadership in managed services and system integration in South Africa, and Datacentrix was the largest of six acquisitions the fund made in the year to January 2024. It holds Level 1 (AAA) B-BBEE contributor status with 135 percent procurement recognition.

The company positions its differentiation on specialised technical skills and top vendor accreditations, execution capability, hybrid delivery flexibility across on-premises, hosted and cloud models, breadth of offering across digital, technology and managed services divisions, an ITIL-aligned service desk with stringent SLAs, Level 1 B-BBEE empowerment status, and, since the buyout, access to Convergence Partners group capabilities and reach into the rest of Africa.

Technology

The company's capability set spans data centre and converged infrastructure, compute, storage and networking, end user computing and mobility, unified communications, cybersecurity and operational technology, together with digital capabilities including data management, artificial intelligence and analytics, blockchain, IoT, smart process automation, content services, identity and access management and ERP. Service delivery is underpinned by ITIL-aligned processes, a configuration management database and vendor accreditations; a Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS) offering supports multi-channel business messaging, and managed print services incorporate PaperCut print management technology.

Go-to-market

Datacentrix goes to market directly through divisional sales and managing directors aligned to segments (commercial, government, coastal infrastructure and enterprise information management, transformational solutions and managed services), supported by a network of national and regional offices, and through accredited partnerships with international and local technology vendors. It runs marketing activities such as the Datacentrix Showcase, the Agri Indaba, the Infocentrix newsletter and a blog, and complements this with Level 1 B-BBEE credentials for public sector procurement.

Corporate and public sector organisations in South Africa, including blue-chip corporates, with industry coverage across verticals such as mining and agriculture, plus enterprise customers in the rest of Africa and the Middle East.

Geography

Operations are managed from the registered head office in Midrand, Gauteng, with regional offices in Cape Town (Century City), Durban (Westville), Gqeberha and East London, a logistics centre at Samrand (Kosmosdal) and service centres in George and Polokwane. Through a partnership with an ICT services provider in Central, East and West Africa, Datacentrix extends operations to 45 countries across the rest of Africa, and Datacentrix Solutions LLC operates from Doha, Qatar, supporting the Digital Business Solutions division in the Middle East.

History

Datacentrix Holdings Limited was incorporated on 28 August 1998 and its subsidiaries include Datacentrix (Pty) Ltd, Datacentrix Infrastructure Optimisation (Pty) Ltd and Datacentrix Outsourcing (Pty) Ltd. It was owned by Alviva Holdings Limited, which exited following Alviva's delisting from the JSE in early 2023 to focus on hardware distribution. In January 2024 Convergence Partners announced that its Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund had agreed to acquire 100% of the Datacentrix Group alongside the existing management team that had led the company for more than 20 years; the deal was subject to approval by the Competition Authority of South Africa and ICASA and expected to close in Q1 2024, and Datacentrix states the acquisition completed in 2024. Management referred to a 25-year history at the time of the announcement, and Datacentrix continues to operate independently within the group.