NCS has unveiled plans to acquire three companies that it says will boost its play in data analytics and cloud. They also will drive Singtel-subsidiary's expansion efforts in Asia-Pacific, specifically, in Singapore, Greater China, and Australia. 

The planned acquisitions of ClayOPS, Velocity Business Solutions, and Riley, were part of "strategic reset" earlier this year to transform NCS into a pan-Asia digital and technology service player, the Singapore company said Thursday. 

Established in 2010, Singapore-based ClayOPS is a data analytics consulting services firm that has local and international customers in various sectors, including healthcare, transport, and property. 

Velocity Business Solutions operates out of Hong Kong as a data analytics company, offering a range of services that include design and implementation. Its clientele includes organisations in financial services, transport, and logistics. Its acquisition would facilitate NCS' expansion plans in Greater China. 

Australia-based Riley provides cloud services that includes cloud-native transformation, data supply chain, and cloud operations. 

According to NCS, the three acquisitions would bolster its services arm, NCS Next, which was set up internally two years ago to focus on digital, cloud, and platform services. The business unit had earmarked Singapore, Greater China, and Australia as key growth markets. 

The acquisitions also offered a network of customers, partners, and local knowledge to expand NCS' reach into new market segments, while fuelling further growth in digital and cloud services, the company said. 

All three companies would operate independently under NCS, with their senior leadership teams retaining their current roles, NCS said. 

Under Next, NCS also launched an innovation centre in Shenzhen and acquired 2359 Media, a Singapore-based mobile app digital consultancy. In addition, Singtel's analytics unit DataSpark was folded into Next.

Describing the three acquisitions as "targeted and timely", NCS CEO Ng Kuo Pin said Singapore, Greater China, and Australia were seeing rapid growth in digital adoption across both the public and private sectors. "We are investing in critical solutions and digital expertise to build out our suite of integrated services [in these three markets]," Ng said.

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