Overview of the Company
History and Origin
Interactive was founded in 1988 in Sydney by ex-IBM engineers. Their initial mission was to provide a competitive alternative to IBM for legacy hardware maintenance. Over the ensuing 37 years, the company has expanded its portfolio significantly, moving into data centres (2004-2013), cloud services, and cyber security, while retaining its foundational capability in maintaining critical legacy systems.
Leadership
The company recently underwent a leadership transition with the appointment of Alex Coates as chief executive officer in early 2025. Coates, formerly managing director of Datacom Australia, is supported by a seasoned executive team including Dan Cox (chief technology officer), Fred Thiele (chief information security officer), and Belinda Cooney (chief financial officer). Brendan Fleiter serves as chairman.
Scale
Interactive reports annual revenues of approximately $250 million, with 93 per cent derived from annuity contracts. The organisation employs over 600 staff across Australia and New Zealand, 61 per cent of whom are technical experts. It supports over 2,000 customers and maintains a presence in 46,000 locations, ranging from metropolitan corporate offices to remote edge sites.
Services and Products
Interactive’s portfolio is structured around six core capabilities, designed to support clients operating hybrid environments that mix legacy infrastructure with modern cloud platforms.
- Hardware Maintenance: The company’s heritage service, providing multi-vendor support for critical hardware (including mainframes and AS/400) with guaranteed local parts availability.
- Hybrid Cloud and Data Centres: Interactive operates its own data centres in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, and manages workloads across public (Azure, AWS), private, and hybrid environments. A key focus is the 2025 launch of a new sovereign, AI-ready private cloud designed to offer cost predictability and data residency.
- Cyber Security: Underpinned by the acquisition of Slipstream Cyber, this practice includes a 24/7 Australian-based cyber security operations centre (CSOC), managed detection and response (MDR), and governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) consulting.
- Network Services: Delivers managed connectivity, SD-WAN, and SASE solutions, leveraging partnerships with vendors such as Cisco and Fortinet.
- Digital Workplace: Manages end-user computing and collaboration tools, including Microsoft 365, to support distributed workforces.
- Data and AI: A newly formalised practice focused on helping organisations prepare their data estates for AI adoption (AI readiness) and managing data platforms securely.
Benefits and Value
Sovereignty and Local Reliance
For Australian CIOs, Interactive’s primary value proposition is risk reduction through sovereignty. In an era of heightened geopolitical tension and regulatory scrutiny (e.g., SOCI Act, CPS 230), Interactive operates an Australian led model: customer facing escalation and
governance is onshore, with selected support functions delivered offshore under Australian
oversight. This is seen as a compelling ‘digital sovereignty’ advantage compared to other larger MSPs in the Australian market.
During an interview with Interactive’s executives, CEO, Alex Coates said: “We are very much positioning ourselves as the epicentre of sovereignty, the epicentre of a safer future. We strongly believe that we’re interwoven into an Australian citizen experience at a time when we think that matters most.”
This comment, coupled with details on the investments the company is making in both infrastructure and people, suggests Interactive’s digital sovereignty strategy is more than lip service. It is a mandate for their future market differentiation.
Bridging Legacy and Modernity
Interactive offers a rare ability to manage the ‘long tail’ of legacy infrastructure (such as AS/400 and mainframes) while simultaneously migrating workloads to private or public clouds. This allows organisations to extend the life of critical assets while modernising at a sustainable pace, rather than being forced into risky ‘rip and replace’ strategies.
The heritage and renewed focus on legacy infrastructure is strategic. Coates noted: “The ability to move a customer in a very secure way… from having legacy infrastructure to a new hybrid world… is something we are uniquely positioned for in the Australian market. I’m not sure I know of any company that can do that breadth of management.”
Service Experience
The company emphasises a high-touch service model, citing metrics such as an eight-second average phone answer time by human operators. This self-proclaimed ‘fanatical’ approach to customer experience is a central pillar of their strategy, intended to contrast with the impersonal support models often associated with hyperscalers and global integrators.
During the interview, Interactive’s CTO, Dan Cox, reinforced the commitment to localised support as part of the broader sovereignty strategy as part of service agility: “When you call Interactive, a human answers the phone in eight seconds or less… We really want that to live through every capability and every interaction that we bring to life.”
Customer Profile
Target Audience
Interactive’s sweet spot is the mid-market to enterprise sector (organisations with 200 to 5,000 employees), particularly those in highly regulated industries. The company is explicitly targeting the financial services, mutual banking, insurance, and critical infrastructure sectors, where data sovereignty and regulatory compliance are non-negotiable.
Future / Growth Strategy
Under the new ‘Unite28’ strategy, Interactive aims to sharpen its focus on three pillars: engaging customers with transparency (how), targeting regulated verticals (where), and refining its service mix (‘what).
- Sovereign Private Cloud: A major strategic bet is the launch of a ‘Next Generation’ private cloud. This platform aims to compete with hyperscalers on price while offering superior sovereignty and AI-readiness. It addresses the market demand for repatriation of workloads from public clouds due to cost or complexity.
- Portfolio Simplification: The company is actively divesting non-core assets, such as the recent sale of its EraseIT data disposal business, to focus resources on managed services and cloud platforms.
- Partnership Ecosystem: Interactive is expanding its alliance network, moving beyond standard vendor relationships to collaborate with other MSPs and boutique consultancies to deliver specialised outcomes (e.g., in data and AI).
Interestingly, why many MSPs are going ‘all in’ with AI development services, Interactive is taking a steady, evolution approach, starting with ensuring clients are sufficiently mature for such initiatives.
According to David Leen, head of product for Interactive, this approach ties into their strengths in migrating organisations from legacy to modern systems and infrastructure: “Rather than jumping on the AI bandwagon… our whole focus is about AI readiness. It’s around our people being ready, our facilities being ready… even if they’re not loaded with GPUs.”
IBRS Takeouts
Interactive occupies a distinct position in the Australian market. While global systems integrators focus on large-scale transformation and hyperscalers focus on platform consumption, Interactive effectively addresses the ‘operational reality’ of most Australian enterprises: a messy hybrid of aging legacy systems and new digital demands.
Their renewed focus on sovereignty is timely. As the ‘sovereign AI’ narrative gains momentum, Interactive’s ability to offer a private, locally hosted environment that is AI-ready, without the unpredictable costs of public cloud, will appeal to CFOs and CIOs in regulated sectors.
However, their challenge will be effectively communicating this value against the marketing dominance of the major public cloud providers. For organisations seeking a partner that can physically touch the hardware, secure the data onshore, and manage the transition risk between the two, Interactive is a strong contender.
Disclaimer
IBRS Radar papers are not endorsements. They are part of our commitment to raising the capability of the domestic ICT industry.
The IBRS Radar series provides high-level snapshots of local Australian technology vendors and service providers. The goal of these snapshots is to raise awareness of local firms that may be overlooked by the large international advisory firms, or that may lack the marketing budget of the industry giants.
IBRS selects these vendors based on their progress within, and relevance to, trends in the Australian ICT landscape. These snapshots are not paid engagements. In most cases, the organisations selected for IBRS Radar come to IBRS’s attention during conversations with their clients, and during our regular conversations with senior local ICT executives and their teams.
Information presented in these snapshots is gathered through interviews with the vendor’s senior executives, and, when possible, validated by discussions with their clients.
If you wish to explore the relevance of a vendor to your own projects, you can submit an inquiry to IBRS.
