Dimension Data

Market position

Described as a pioneering IT integrator originating in Africa, once among South Africa's most valuable listed companies, with dual JSE and London listings before the NTT acquisition. NTT Ltd, its parent, was named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Datacenter Services 2023 Vendor Assessment. Comparable companies cited include Accenture, Infosys, Wipro, IBM, DXC Technology, Fujitsu, CGI and Atos.

Positioning combined South African origins and local delivery culture with global scale, a broad services portfolio from consulting through managed services, deep vendor partnerships such as Cisco, and, after the NTT acquisition, access to NTT's global data centre estate and vertical industry offerings while retaining local branding in key markets until 2024.

Technology

Services spanned data centres, network integration and management, hybrid and public/private cloud, cybersecurity, digital workplace and Microsoft support. Sources cite the SPEKTRA network management platform, associated with reducing client network incidents by up to 87%, and specialised mainframe modernisation and SAP migration work. In 2016, with the Amaury Sports Organisation, the company overhauled the Tour de France digital infrastructure with big data capabilities for data capture, race coordination, graphics and analytics. Third-party profiling lists an internal technology stack including SAP Security, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, MongoDB, ABAP, SAML, Dell and React.

Go-to-market

Direct enterprise sales and long-term service engagements supported by vendor partnerships, notably as a Cisco partner (official South African Cisco distributor from 1991 and recipient of Cisco Partner Summit 2023 regional awards), and by high-profile sponsorship and technology partnerships such as with the Tour de France and Vuelta a España.

Large enterprises, multinationals and public sector organisations across industries including banking and financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, telecoms and media, and the public sector; sources note credibility with public sector and enterprise buyers in the GCC, Middle East and Africa, and East Africa.

Geography

Headquartered at The Campus in Bryanston, Sandton, Johannesburg, with operations on all six inhabited continents. In 2016 the company reported 31,000 staff in 58 countries; other accounts cite presence in nearly 50 countries by 2010 and operational hubs in the UK, US, Japan and South Africa. After 2019 the Dimension Data brand was confined to the Middle East and Africa, including Nigeria, Kenya and the Gulf and Levant region.

History

Dimension Data listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on 15 July 1987, with Jeremy Ord appointed executive chairman that year. It became the official South African distributor for Cisco Systems in 1991, expanded into Botswana in 1993 and into Asia Pacific between 1995 and 1997, taking a 45% stake in Australia's ComTech in 1996 (fully bought out in 2000), a stake in Internet Solutions in 1996 that was increased the following year, and majority stakes in The Merchants Group and Datacraft in 1997. Between 1998 and 2000 it invested in and acquired companies in Europe, the UK and the US, including London-based Plessey in 1998, and listed on the London Stock Exchange on 31 July 2000, raising $1.25 billion. Revenue reached about $2 billion by 2003. Brett Dawson became CEO in 2004 with Ord as group executive chairman, and the company expanded in Africa, the Middle East and South America, reaching roughly $4 billion in annual revenue by September 2009. NTT acquired the company in July 2010 for £2.1 billion ($3.2 billion), a deal also reported as R24.4 billion all-cash, and announced delisting from both exchanges by year-end. Later acquisitions included OpSource, NextiraOne, Oakton and Nexus IS (2014), the latter nearly doubling its US presence. Jason Goodall replaced Dawson as CEO in June 2016. From 1 July 2019 most of the business became part of NTT Ltd, with the brand continuing in the Middle East and Africa under Grant Bodley, then Werner Kapp from 1 April 2021 and Alan Turnley-Jones from 2022. The rename to NTT Data took effect on 1 April 2024.

Risks & controversies

Former Dimension Data executives, including Jeremy Ord, Steven Nathan, Bruce Watson, Grant Bodley, Saki Missaikos and former NTT Ltd CEO Jason Goodall, became party to litigation brought by NTT over the December 2019 sale of The Campus property in Bryanston. In November 2024 a Johannesburg High Court reportedly ruled that six former executives, including co-founders Werner Sievers and Jeremy Ord, had orchestrated a scheme to bypass Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment regulations in a R1.4 billion property deal and declared the transaction void; the executives were granted leave to appeal in January 2025.