FTS Group buys Brisbane IT firm ESAM Consulting

Brisbane-headquartered IT services business ESAM Consulting is the latest business to join FTS Group following acquisition for an undisclosed amount.

ESAM will be fully integrated into Galaxy42, FTS Group’s IT consultancy business, which specialises in TechOne’s ERP solutions.

“The synergy between ESAM and Galaxy42 in terms of our approach to provide specialised services to the higher education sector made this an obvious alignment of our organisations. We are delighted to be joining the Galaxy42 and FTS Group,” said ESAM Consulting director Mark Dacey.

ESAM Consulting provides IT solutions and services to higher education and vocational education training (VET) providers across Australia with an emphasis on TechnologyOne’s Student Management platform.

“ESAM have a highly capable consulting team and a loyal client base which, together with FTS Group, can now provide a holistic range of services to the higher education sector,” Galaxy42 chief executive Richard Hill said.

A statement said that growth in the higher education sector is a strategic priority for many of the companies within the FTS Group.

The Group will benefit from ESAM’s sector knowledge and customer base made up of metropolitan and regional universities across most states including, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Central Queensland University (CQU), Macquarie University and the University of Tasmania. 

FTS Group chief executive Stephen Kowal said, “Galaxy42’s acquisition of ESAM Consulting further strengthens our commitment to not only government and asset intensive industries but to expanding our reach into the Higher Education sector. 

“In the last 12 months, the Australian higher education sector has faced a lot of challenges and changes with the abrupt halt to the stream of international students and rapid shift to remote learning. What we’ve seen on the back of this is an increased demand from the sector for IT providers to help streamline business processes, drive efficiencies and strengthen technical capabilities long-term.

“This acquisition coupled with our existing experience in the sector puts us in a good position to provide a range of specialised technical advisory and consulting services to providers across Australia.”

In February this year, FTS Group acquired a majority stake in Noetic and in mid-2020, Galaxy42 snapped up ChartSmart Consulting. Galaxy42 itself was acquired by FTS Group 15 months ago.