IT managed services firm Codeblue has “significantly extended” its Wellington-based customer numbers and on-the-ground engineering resources following the acquisition of XWL, a small Wellington IT services company.
CodeBlue CEO Chris Mackay says the acquisition will help support accelerated growth plans for CodeBlue in the Wellington market, adding to the company’s existing blue chip client list, which includes KPMG, vizExplorer and Camelot Group.
“We’re really delighted to have the XWL team on board,” Mackay says. “They have a great team of engineers delivering outstanding customer satisfaction.
“There’s strong demand in Wellington for CodeBlue’s sophisticated IT services designed specifically for mid-sized companies and organisations in the 20-300 seat space and we are ramping up our on-the-ground delivery capability accordingly.”
XWL customers include ECL Group (owner of Fuelquip) with around 400 seats, Beyond Recruitment with 120 seats, plus a number of not-for-profit organisations including Site Safe New Zealand.
XWL’s co-founder Steve Harcourt and his team of engineers will all move across to CodeBlue, with Harcourt continuing to work with XWL’s customers to manage the transition, and the introduction of new services now possible.
Harcourt says the decision to join CodeBlue was not primarily about financial considerations but more about what was best for existing customers.
“Supporting customers such as ECL Group and Beyond Recruitment and other customers expanding outside of Wellington was putting us under pressure,” he adds.
“Joining CodeBlue means we can immediately plug our customers into CodeBlue’s market leading service desk and a service network on the ground in all the major centres around the country.
“It’s also a great cultural fit. CodeBlue has a genuine ‘customer first’ philosophy based on delivering value over time.”
At present, Mackay says CodeBlue has “invested heavily” over the past few years to integrate remote monitoring systems, which connect customers to a class service desk developed in-house.
“CodeBlue has the breadth and depth of technical expertise and supporting processes so they can analyse, plan, implement and continuously improve all of a customer’s technology,” he adds.
“And, I think very important, they have a truly nationwide presence. That means engineers and resources on the ground in all the main centres. That nationwide footprint is very important for our existing customer base.”
Currently, more than 160 staff work from offices in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Hawke’s Bay, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch and Invercargill across the CodeBlue network.