Deloitte announced today that the founders and 50 team members of leading Australian security architecture specialists, Zimbani, will join the firm from April. By combining Zimbani with its existing Australia cyber practice, Deloitte intends to build on its recognition as a leader in professional security services in Asia Pacific1.
Deloitte CEO, Richard Deutsch said: "Cyber-crime is regularly listed as one of the major business risks globally, so it is critical that businesses are on the front foot, anticipating, monitoring and managing the threats and key risk events in real time. We are in an era of complexity where technology connects everything and cyber is everywhere. As technology continues to disrupt business models and processes, we see cyber readiness and resilience as a key enabler for our clients and are investing accordingly."
The company's founding partner and CEO, Rene Morel, will join Deloitte as a Partner, who along with a co-founder Jason Paul, Chief Security Architect, consulted to a number of Australia's big four banks before striking out under the Zimbani name. The company's Chief Operating Officer Ben Smith will also join Deloitte as a principal in the cyber practice.
Due to its speedy growth, Zimbani came to the notice of Deloitte's Tech Fast 50 in 2017 following its founding five years earlier, and in 2018 was recognised by the AFR Fast 100 and CRN Fast 50.
Deloitte Australia Cyber Leader Ian Blatchford said: "Zimbani's particular focus on security architecture and engineering has created a strong reputation in the cyber market. It is one of only a handful of providers in Australia capable of operating at scale and joins previous deals in the region as part of our significant investment in Asia."
Deloitte Asia Pacific Cyber Leader, James Nunn-Price said: "Across the region Deloitte has recently invested in Singapore, bringing in Practical Smarts to the firm, in SecurePath in Malaysia, and Code QB in Thailand, and now Zimbani. Through these investments we are hyperscaling our cyber business across Australia and the Asia Pacific region to ensure we deliver superior cyber expertise to our clients at a time of unprecedented demand."
Incoming Cyber partner and CEO of Zimbani, Rene Morel, said joining Deloitte would help his team scale across the Australian and Asia Pacific regions: "We help protect some of Australia's most critical enterprises across the finance, energy, education and airline sectors. Now we can do that at scale and more rapidly. Deloitte has the world's leading cyber practice, reflecting its commitment to continue investing in cyber expertise and technology. With the depth of our expertise, and the breadth of Deloitte's geographic reach in Australia and beyond we will make a significant impact in keeping the region safe."
"Our team is looking forward to adding its expertise to the Deloitte cyber practice, boosting its cohort of security architects, and bringing our cyber engineering and automation specialisations to the fold. Together we will continue to help businesses build and embed cyber resilience across their processes and technology delivery. I am excited to be able to leverage Deloitte's global cyber intelligence centre to bolster our clients' operations to continuously detect and respond to emerging threats."
Terms of the transaction are confidential.
References:
1. IDC MarketScape: Asia/Pacific Professional Security Services- Advisory, Assessment and Awareness 2020 Vendor Assessment (doc #AP45547920, February 2020), names Deloitte a leader based on its capabilities and strategies. Professional security services as defined by this study is divided into security advisory, security assessment, and awareness services. Deloitte was evaluated against 17 other major vendors in the region against an extensive list of scoring criteria and parameters including comprehensiveness of offerings, portfolio benefits delivered, market execution, service delivery, customer experience, and customer satisfaction.
