Markham-based IT provider BDO Solutions announced Thursday a merger with Systemgroup Inc.
The merger, which has been effective since the first of this month, and was first explored in the summer of last year, and will see Mississauga-based Systemgroup merge with the technology division of BDO Canada, a national accounting and advisory firm which is in turn an independent member of UK-based BDO International Limited.
It will see 100 per cent of Systemgroup’s staff integrated into BDO Solutions Technology Division, increasing the number of staff from 120 to 200, while two Systemgroup executives will become BDO partners under the agreement, according to Ken Ryder, formerly the president of Systemgroup who will be making the transition.
“All Systemgroup’s employees will become BDO employees,” he told CDN. “Our people see it as a great opportunity in career growth and expansion.”
While BDO Solutions primarily targets the mid and upper-mid market in sectors such as non-profit, financial services, agriculture, and retail, both the company and Systemgroup and work primarily with Microsoft solutions.
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Systemgroup would be rebranded under the BDO Solutions banner, and would bolster the latter’s services in application development and integration, data management, project collaboration and productivity tools including both cloud and mobile platforms.
In terms of operations, aside from a coherent strategy, both parties would continue to work with existing clients and practices, and would even stay in their respective offices, according to Jeff Stirling, senior manager of marketing communications at BDO Canada.
Systemgroup would also extend its services to more areas in Canada.
“We envision a very short integration process – just a couple of months” Stirling said. “It’s a coming together of customer lists and clients. The way we go to market, write proposals, architect solutions will remain the same. There’s a lot of mid-market business community.”