Ethan invests $100M as it positions itself for market growth

Tony Geagea and Andrew Rayment (Ethan).

Technology services provider Ethan Group has invested $100 million into the business in the past three years as it positions itself for significant growth in the market. 

Part of this investment involved a rebrand to ‘Ethan', launching a Network Intelligence Centre and cadetship program called Ethan Indigenous.

“The new Ethan brand is about acknowledging our achievements to date over our first 20 years — our key investments in cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity and future-facing telecommunications,” Ethan founder and executive director Tony Geagea said. 

“We’ve built an incredibly solid foundation over the past two decades, and our rebrand stands as a testament to how much power we’ve loaded into our next phase of innovation.

“It also reflects our commitment to continue investing on behalf of our customers, even in challenging economic times. During the downturn, we didn’t lay off one person. That reflects not only the enduring strength of the business but our commitment to our staff.” 

Ethan recorded revenue growth of 25 per cent in FY22 and has continued to rise since then, despite the challenges of COVID and global economic uncertainty. 

This has included strong growth in key markets including a 12 per cent growth in managed services customers; 173 new customers added in the past year; and 65 per cent growth in technology sourcing revenue, compared to the same time last year. 

Customers include Solotel, Pitcher Partners Brisbane, and Melbourne Airport trusting Ethan’s almost 400 technology experts to manage significant elements of their technology needs.

To support its market transition, Ethan has opened five new facilities in Australia and abroad, as well as refit its Sydney head office.

Geagea said Ethan was aiming to double its growth in the next five years as it streamlines services to take advantage of the reality that the market is going through a period of consolidation. 

“That will benefit Ethan and our customers because we provide a lot more than the traditional ICT providers,” he said. “With Ethan, we have gone broad in our service provision and the combination of those integrated services provides more benefit for customers by reducing their IT overhead and costs while retaining “a single throat to choke” approach. 

“We are constantly adding more services and we reinvest back into the company to create more, rather than acquiring them, which can risk integration and cultural challenges." 

Geagea also revealed Ethan Indigenous, a cadetship program and plans to place 80,000 laptops in the hands of Indigenous students. The unit will be chaired and managed by David Liddiard. 

“We are incredibly proud to be an Australian technology company which has invested significantly in not only helping provide technology into the hands of thousands of Indigenous students but to work with our partners and customers such as Penske and Blancco to get at least 30 cadetships happening next year, producing real career outcomes,” he said. 

Earlier this year, Ethan also launched its Network Intelligence Centre in Australia which is staffed by more than 100 Australian technology experts, including those with cyber security skills. This year, Ethan achieved Elite Pure Storage partner status.

Geagea claims it has one of the lowest rates of customer attrition in the industry and intends to continue that way.

“The Ethan Intelligence Centre will provide customers with peace of mind in terms of meeting data sovereignty and data privacy compliance,” Geagea said. “This is what our customers want – one supplier they can trust, which removes risk while reducing costs and that allows them to consolidate their services with one provider which means we can invest more into them.

“It also means they don’t have to manage multiple providers as we streamline that process for them.”