Didata places big bet on UK public sector

End-user computing also primed for investment for fiscal 2016, UK managing director Calvin Goom tells CRN

Dimension Data is placing two "big bets", on the public sector and end-user computing, for its coming financial year, UK managing director Calvin Goom has revealed.

The VAR and services goliath is in expansion mode in the UK and other mature economies as it strives to reach its goal of doubling global turnover from $6bn (£3.9bn) in 2013 to $12bn by 2018.

Talking to CRN, Goom said Didata will go all in on the UK public sector in its fiscal 2016 beginning 1 October, despite entering the market only last year through its acquisition of comms VAR NextiraOne.

"We have been working hard during financial year 2015 to make sure we are on all the relevant frameworks," Goom said, listing Didata's successful placement on the JANET, Infrastructure Services and Network Services frameworks as evidence. It is also bidding for G-Cloud 7.

With offices in 58 countries, Didata is no SME, but Goom said his firm fits snugly into a niche between the global giants that were habitually tongue-lashed by Francis Maude in the last parliament and the SME suppliers the government is seeking to court.

"A lot of SMEs are struggling when it comes to contracting with the public sector and do not have the balance sheet to protect the liabilities the government procurement folk are looking to have," Goom said. "So we feel we are incredibly well placed. We are not as big as the IBMs, Fujitsus and HPs of this world but we're a lot bigger than the SME community, so we have a strong balance sheet, strong infrastructure and capabilities, and are a new entrant without the legacy reputational issues in that market."

Didata's UK cloud architecture this month got the nod on ISO 27001, 27018 and CSA STAR, which Goom (pictured) billed as the three certifications needed to make a fist of the public sector cloud market.

"We are very well placed to start taking our cloud story to the UK public sector, where companies such as Skyscape have done well to date," he said.

"We had a legacy contract with one of the nation's largest blue-light entities and that is now being extended across some other central government departments. Now with the cloud proposition we can also take to market, some conversations I've been having with some senior civil servants suggests we have a place to play."

Didata owes its public sector presence to the NextiraOne purchase, which added about 175 staff in the UK and Ireland. Its integration will be completed from a legal standpoint on 1 October, Goom said.

Didata's other big bet for 2016, on end-user computing, will see it create a sales overlay function around a new cloud-based enterprise mobility offering it is launching, Goom revealed.

"A lot of companies are struggling because employees are bringing smartphones into the office. When, suddenly, corporate data becomes available on a device like this, how do you protect and manage it? We think it's a killer app as a cloud service."