New data cloud consultancy Vivanti launches downunder

Tony Nicol, the former CEO and founder of Cognizant acquisition Servian, has officially launched a new consultancy – Vivanti – bringing on board a number of ex-Servian leaders to drive growth.

Locally based out of Sydney, the launch of Vivanti is underpinned by a trio of acquisitions – BluSnow, Matr and Fastlane – bringing immediate expertise in data and cloud and a team of around four dozen professionals.

Servian’s former UK managing director Timothy Mannah has been tapped to lead BluSnow, which focuses on the Snowflake platform, while former Servian partner Antonio Pugliano heads up the Databricks practice Matr.

Founded by Nicol in 2008, Servian grew to a 500-strong headcount prior to its 2021 acquisition by Cognizant for $240 million – a hefty sum now being used to bankroll Vivanti’s expedited growth, with further offices opening in Brisbane and Melbourne and an early expansion to the United Kingdom on the agenda.

A branch was previously set up in the US toward the end of 2021, led by former AWS director Mike Walker.

“Vivanti is a client-first, consultant-led business,” Nicol said at the time. “Organisationally, we empower our people to truly listen to each client’s challenges, tailor services to meet their specific goals, and act in their best interests without exception. Operating with this client-first mindset, just as a doctor or lawyer would, is the basis upon which Vivanti will build trusted partnerships.”

Covering all of the major cloud platforms, the firm will provide advisory, implementation and managed services across its core practices in data, artificial intelligence, customer engagement, digital, and platforms, including via agile consultancy Fastlane, which specialises in platform engineering and DevOps and is led by managing partner Den Burykin.

Speaking to industry publication CRN on the launch, Nicol stated that the company’s strong cash flow and independence would allow it be more aggressive in its approach as compared to the more steady scale-up of Servian.

“One of the things we want to do differently is expand now, rather than waiting for three, four, seven years. And that builds a lot of excitement.”