Dimension Data Sees Double-Digit Growth, Hits $1.5 Billion In Revenue In FY14

It's been a big year for Dimension Data.

Between blockbuster acquisitions, joining Cisco Intercloud and more, the solution provider, No. 13 on CRN's SP500 list, has been making big moves in the channel in 2014. Those moves culminated in strong growth numbers for the year, which were celebrated at its annual conference this week in Miami.

Dimension Data had more than 20 percent top-line organic growth in North America this year, for its fiscal year ending in October, CEO Mark Slaga told CRN in an interview at the Best of Breed Conference in Orlando, Fla., last month.

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"We had a really good year," Slaga said. "We invested big time and it's paying off. We had a great year."

The company's five-year goal is to go from $1 billion to $3 billion in Americas revenue, and this year, the first year of the goal, the solution provider closed out the year with $1.5 billion in annual revenue.

Dimension Data's blockbuster $471 million acquisition of Nexus in April was not included in the overall growth numbers for the year, Slaga said. The Nexus acquisition nearly doubled Dimension Data's footprint in the U.S.

Over the past 12 months, Nexus has grown more than 20 percent as well, and hit all targets set by the parent company.

"I couldn't be more pleased with Nexus," Slaga said.

One big area driving growth for Dimension Data this year was around the data center, Slaga said. Whether it is in the traditional data center or in the cloud, Slaga said that Dimension Data is seeing a lot of momentum in that area. In particular, Slaga highlighted growth momentum around public cloud, especially as Cisco announced Dimension Data would be one of the primary partners for Cisco Intercloud in the Americas.

Slaga also highlighted growth in complex managed services around private cloud or traditional physical server on Dimension Data's balance sheet. From a services perspective, complex managed services was the biggest driver for growth for the company, beating out professional or other managed services. Slaga estimated that it grew about 80 percent year-over-year.

"A lot of our clients, they just want an Op-ex model. That's fueled a lot of our growth," Slaga said.

Slaga also highlighted the client experience as a key driver for why customers choose Dimension Data over its competitors. He said it has never been more important to deliver a superior customer experience, and Dimension Data is investing in exceeding their expectations.

Parent company NTT also has been a major factor in being able to achieve high levels of growth, Slaga said. NTT has been a great partner, Slaga said, helping fuel organic and acquisition growth for Dimension Data.

"It feels like, when it comes to acquisitions, that we're getting the right recipe down to bring companies into the family and NTT set the tone bringing us in. They did a great job."

For 2015, Slaga said that Dimension Data hopes to get to $2 billion in annual revenue, up from $1.5 billion announced at the end of fiscal year 2014. That goal would include the growth from the Nexus acquisition, which was not included in this year's growth numbers.

"From a revenue perspective, we're ahead of the plan," Slaga said.

Slaga said that Dimension Data also will continue to double down in key markets that it sees as ones it can be the leader in. He said he expects those areas of doubling down to include customer experience, data center, complex managed services and verticals, such as health care, government, education, service providers and retail.

Slaga said that the company will continue to invest both organically and through acquisition in data center services and cloud services over the next year.

PUBLISHED NOV. 3, 2014