CSO Group and xAmplify merge, creating AI and cyber security powerhouse

CSO Group and xAmplify are merging, creating the largest Australian-owned and operated integrator of artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security, technology and business automation services. 

“The merger of CSO Group and xAmplify will create Australia’s largest home-grown cyber security, AI and automation consulting business, with a gross turnover exceeding $100 million annually,” CSO Group CEO and founder Michael Simkovic said. 

“We see an enormous market and growth opportunity to disrupt and challenge the traditional large global service provider models.”

The merged business will deliver advanced AI, automation and cyber solutions to more than 110 enterprise and government organisations across Australia spanning industries such as defence, federal and state government, energy, financial services, health, logistics, retail, construction and mining.  

The combined entity will be headquartered in Sydney and have a significant national presence with operations across every state and territory, counting more than 160 staff. The merger is expected to be completed in the second half of 2024 with more details to follow on branding and management structures.

“This is a true merger of equals. The integration of the two businesses will create an amplifier effect, enabling us to deliver a new generation of innovative and integrated business solutions with the convergence of cyber security, automation and AI technologies,” Simkovic said. 

“Ultimately this will bring more intelligence, optimisation and value to our clients, while also building greater Australian sovereign capability and expertise.”

The merger will enable government and corporate clients to access the capabilities of both CSO Group and xAmplify, spanning strategy, governance, risk and compliance, managed security, AI and both technology and business automation services. It will also bring a renewed cyber security lens to provision high performance IT service and sovereign-secure AI technologies. 

 “This merger will create a fully integrated national business that will work across every state and territory, enabling clients to leverage AI, automation and cyber security to deliver greater innovation, efficiency, assurance, and business value,” xAmplify CEO and co-founder Wayne Gowland said.

“The business and technology worlds are changing rapidly, and our customers are wanting to transform and adopt the next generation of groundbreaking technologies in a safe and secure way. 

“Together, we aspire to create a digitally advanced and protected Australia by helping clients to identify, solve and manage their real-world problems of today, while safeguarding them for tomorrow.”      

Gowland said the merger was “a customer driven exercise” particularly in a data-driven environment and the heightened need to secure it.

“Our pipeline in the next 18 months was 30 per cent cyber related, and we had no cyber security skills,” he said.

Simkovic added that as it was gaining a thorough understanding of the xAmplify business and where it was heading, CSO Group was internally looking at how AI, machine learning and automation would play a key role to increase its own capabilities and scalability.

“We started working with xAmplify because we saw a cyber security play in the ServiceNow capability, and we were already doing some deployments and engagements with customers,” he said. “When we started seeing all these pieces coming together and looked at our business and we saw a very strong level of cultural alignment, which is critical in any merger agreement.”