Deloitte Touche Tomatsu has acquired 20 per cent of the issued capital of Perth-based Eclipse Group.
Deloitte Touche Tomatsu has acquired 20 per cent of the issued capital of Perth-based Eclipse Group.
Eclipse is one of the fastest growing e-content providers in WA, expanding from a company of five staff in 1995 to 170 staff this year.
Eclipse CEO Des Whyte said Deloitte – who employ 3,500 people in Australia and 70,000 people worldwide – were strong on strategy.
“Deloitte saw our CD-ROM and Internet work in the marketplace and were impressed with our reputation,” Mr Whyte said.
“They had heard about our creative flair.
“We have achieved turbo-charged growth thanks to the Deloitte partnership, which is the perfect complement to our services.”
The partnership will provide end-to-end e-commerce solutions, with Eclipse handling design, building and implementation.
“It will enable us to take the next step in our plan to be the leading provider of Internet and multimedia solutions for Australian business,” Mr Whyte said.
“Eclipse and Deloitte will develop joint marketing and training materials to ensure all partners and staff have the tools to promote our e-commerce solutions.”
Eclipse commenced operations in 1993 to create Internet sites, intranets, extranets, multimedia and other e-commerce solutions.
Each solution is drawn from e-hive and Clarity, Eclipse’s collection of proprietary products that have been developed from market research as well as from ‘best-of-breed’ third party applications.
Deloitte partner Mal Bundy said the e-business companies that were the fiercest competitors two years ago were now forming alliances.
“This is not just in Australia – it is a global trend,” Mr Bundy said.
“There are lots of reasons driving that but the main motivator is that businesses are looking to find e-commerce solutions from a single solution, not ten different companies.
“To illustrate the magnitude of being able to deliver an end-to-end solution, Deloitte has more than ninety different position descriptions and competencies within its staff ranks.
“One of the biggest issues in boardrooms today is e-enabling businesses and many find themselves investing in all directions.
“Deloitte can offer coherent strategies that get the ball rolling very quickly. Fire, aim, ready is the saying in the industry.
“Time to market is everything – you can’t take eighteen months to devise a solution,” he said.