Rapidly expanding MSP First Focus has taken its first steps into the South Australian market and made an unusual acquisition in acquiring Enee.
Adelaide-based Enee is primarily a software developer, offering customers applications to go with IT services in the cloud.
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Software development is a new direction for MSPs
As Ross Sardi, CEO of First Focus, said, this is an unusual direction for an MSP to head in. “MSPs have traditionally stayed away from software development, however, the lines between traditional IT, app integration, and app development are now increasingly blurred,” he said.
“Businesses need to leverage off-the-shelf and custom software to their fullest extent to be competitive, and we want to be at the forefront of delivering these services to small and midsize businesses. The addition of the Enee team is going to significantly boost our software development capabilities, allowing us to grow our offering in that space.”
In addition to giving First Focus software development capabilities for the first time, the Enee acquisition also helps the company — previously focused primarily on the East Coast — access to the South Australian geography.
As this is a new area for First Focus, the founder of Enee, Kosta Haltis, will continue to lead the business unit as the Head of Software Development across First Focus.
“I’m really excited, and I’m excited for my team, to join First Focus. It represents a significant opportunity for us to scale our services and reach, to do what we have always done well, but to now do it at scale,” Haltis said.
The First Focus buying spree
This latest acquisition brings First Focus to over 300 team members across Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines, and is the third acquisition for First Focus in the current financial year.
Given that First Focus was founded in 2003, and has made nearly 50% of its seven total acquisitions in the past 12 months, the company has shifted its strategy towards accelerating growth in the current market.
The previous acquisition that First Focus made before Enee was Rock IT, which was announced just two months ago, in December 2023.
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