Datatec may continue to reap the benefits of AI-led investing in IT. CEO Jens Montanana sees such an investment as likely being a multiyear affair, like the growth of the internet. AI investment has grown exponentially in recent years, sparked by the rapid adoption and popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT since it was launched in November 2022Montanana’s company benefited from this investment, with Datatec reporting that AI infrastructure investment is driving demand for its products and services. That helped the group to have a resilient trading period, despite the geopolitical impact of conflicts and trade wars in the year to end-February. Montanana, the technology group’s founder and CEO since 1986, described 2026 as one of their best financial years on record.Read: AI adoption fuels demand for Datatec’s servicesNaturally, investors want to know if these benefits will continue to accrue to the group for the foreseeable future. When asked about this during an investor presentation after the release of the group’s latest full-year earnings report, Montanana said: “That’s a pretty open-ended question.“I don’t think anyone knows the trajectory or the duration of the shift to AI and I think we’re in a phase now a little bit like the early internet adoption years of 25 years ago. “This will be a multi-year theme as organisations and enterprises figure out how to make use of AI [and] automation in terms of their business structure, their business models and so on.”(Dorothy Kgosi) According to Montanana, “If you look at cloud, [that] was very disruptive to IT organisations. AI is going to be more impactful for everything that’s non-IT. I’m talking about in terms of how businesses are managed, because AI is going to be something that affects the organisation outside of the domain of where traditional [chief information officers] and chief security officers [have] been used to manage.”“It’s going to be a … significant challenge in terms of adoption and implementation.”The group on Tuesday reported a 9.3% rise in gross invoiced income to $8.46bn for the year to end-February, while gross profit rose 9.6% to $997.8m. Profit after tax rose to $108.7m from $69.3m before.AI is going to be more impactful for everything that’s non-IT. I’m talking about in terms of how businesses are managed, because AI is going to be something that affects the organisation outside of the domain of where traditional [chief information officers] and chief security officers [have] been used to manage.— Jens MontananaEarnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) were 21.6% higher at $269.1m. HEPS was 56.6% higher at 39.9c.With operations in more than 50 countries, the group is one of the JSE’s largest ICT services firms. It operates predominantly from two main divisions, Logicalis and Westcon International, the latter distributing security and networking technology products.Montanana and his team have been fighting to restore the value Datatec has lost over the years. The majority of those losses are attributed to its international operations, the bulk of its business, which have struggled over the past decade, resulting in a series of corporate actions to slim down the group.The group assembled a team from global investment bank Lazard to assist in unlocking value. The company said it is considering all options, including separate listings of Logicalis and Westcon International or selling to a larger group.As such, the group recently embarked on an acquisition spree, adding NetworkedAssets, a specialist in software development, network automation and observability solutions, to its stable. The acquisition, through Datatec subsidiary Logicalis Germany, became effective on March 24 and established a footprint in Poland.Katherine Thompson of the London-based Edison Group noted that this transaction “should better position the group to help customers automate and operate increasingly complex IT environments”.That acquisition was the third this year for Datatec. Earlier this year Datatec’s subsidiary Logicalis USA acquired 100% of Maple Woods Enterprises, a long-term security partner of Logicalis USA. A few days before that, Datatec expanded in the Balkans with the acquisition of Real Security, a value-added cybersecurity distributor headquartered in Maribor, Slovenia. The group said the acquisition, done through its Westcon-Comstor subsidiary, establishes a strategic foothold for Westcon-Comstor in the Balkans region.Thompson said these two cybersecurity transactions highlight “the importance of this sector to the group”.