Julian Challingsworth (Spirit managing director)
Spirit Technology Solutions is redirecting its attention towards security, sustainability and scalability following the conclusion of its organisational restructuring.
The three-pronged approach, launched this month, targets the three “key high growth areas” for the publicly listed company, according to a statement released to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
“Bringing these three market offerings together gives the Group a platform for growth going into FY24 and builds on the work that has been completed through the business restructure undertaken in FY23,” the company stated.
On the security front, Spirit’s information and cyber security solutions are at the core of its new market solutions. One such offering is a new security operations centre (SOC), which is to go live on 1 June and is built to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s (ASIO) “Secret” standard.
While Spirit already has an existing SOC in Queensland, Spirit plans to close it when it launches its new one, which will also be located in the state.
“The new facility will support our SOC services and enable the cyber team to scale and underpins the sale of security services into the managed services customer base, with initial cross-sell opportunities going live in June 2023,” the ASX statement read.
Meanwhile, sustainability, a new market offering for Spirit, will take the form of a program launched in collaboration with Microsoft and Cisco to identify emission levels. Then, artificial intelligence (AI) analytics and internet of things (IoT) sensors will be used to cut emissions, which are then reported on.
Spirit predicts it will see uptake grow for the program over the “coming years”.
As for scale, Spirit’s existing solutions will be extended in the workplace and advanced communication platforms, allowing customers to deploy technologies.
“Targeting the Group’s 7,000+ customers will enable us to offer highly relevant solutions that enable organisations to scale up or down and optimise their goals around staff and customer experience as they navigate changes in the economic environment,” the statement said.
The company also provided an update on other business operations. For its managed services arm, all of its key customers have signed contracts to move away from its historic proprietary platforms and over to its scalable Microsoft Modern Workplace (MWP) solutions, with the transition expected to finish in June.
As such, Spirit said this marks the “successful completion of the restructuring program and enables the business to refocus on customer growth and profitability for FY24” – a claim it had previously announced to the ASX in early May.
“The new Modern Workplace solutions … improve customer experience, reduce capital costs of sustaining legacy platforms and improve Spirit’s margins underpin our growth in FY24,” the statement said.
As a result of the restructuring, which was announced in June 2022 to align its key units, Spirit sold off non-core assets to reduce debt and ongoing liabilities by $18 million, brought down annualised labour costs by $12 million and consolidated multiple offices down to six.
