CEO of the Year Awards 2026 | 14 An IT consultancy based in Auckland but working across New Zealand, Unisphere Solutions is the IT partner businesses trust. Regardless of whether they need strategic leadership, cyber protection, or AI planning, Unisphere supports them through its provision of independent and tailored solutions. With James Dickinson, the man behind the company, being recognised with an award in this programme, we caught up with him for more on how he empowers Unisphere’s clients to secure, grow, and innovate. For the best part of eight years, Unisphere has been offering its clients the techexecutive layer their business needs but cannot always justify due to the cost. With a talented bench of vCIOs, vCTOs, and vCISOs on hand to step in and tackle the big challenges at just a moment’s notice, the company has positioned itself as an invaluable, fullservice IT partner to such local clients as TreeScape, Auckland Theatre Company and WorkSafe New Zealand. The success the team have in solving these challenges comes from the unique combination of technological independence and their business acumen concerning the complex problems real companies face. This, along with the fact they are a small, mighty A-Team who actually show up – and do not just wow with a fancy sales pitch only to disappear once the ink has dried – sees these experts work directly with an organisation’s key decision makers to drive results. Going a step further, an integral part of Unisphere’s philosophy is telling it how it is, not misleading clients facing challenging circumstances by telling them what they want to hear. These hard conversations lay a foundation of trust, with a focus on goals that are actually achievable. Complementing this sense of honest bravery is a commitment to both holistic independence and excellence. This includes focusing on the future – not just the now – for its clients, as well as avoiding quick or temporary fixes to safeguard its quality reputation. As with every element of Auckland’s leading IT consultancy, this approach is something that starts right at the top with James Dickinson. James credits his success at the helm of New Zealand’s favourite IT partner as being drawn from three factors: his time in retail/hospitality, his good fortune growing up in a house where business discussions were commonplace (thanks to his father), and exposure to the many different facets of business. All three of these factors have served as crucial stepping stones on his journey to creating Unisphere. More than just his experience, James is also served well by his recognition that culture is king. Much like the elements that led him to the role, James again attributes success here to good fortune, as he has had the pleasure of working with and learning from some of the best managers in the business over the years. Their lessons are reflected through a culture where everyone can show up as their authentic selves and do what they love, leading to great outcomes. Following on from this, everyone here is united under Unisphere’s guiding strategy, which is for the members of this team to be the preferred independent and on-demand tech execs for the mid-market. They do, however, face competition in achieving this, primarily from managed service providers attempting to replicate their success by simply selling an extra service to their existing customer base. But since they cannot offer Unisphere’s independence, many clients recognise their CIO-as-a-service is just a disguised salesperson. Of course, this is not the only challenge Unisphere faces, with other difficulties coming from big management advisory firms pushing into this space, as well as the fear that AI tools will replace James and his team. The common thread here is that they both lack authenticity, but James and co. have been leveraging AI to help bring the cost of their service down, costs which can then be saved by clients, making these services more accessible. Having started Unisphere with no capital, no customers, and having never run his own business, James is excited to announce that he is looking to do something unprecedented with what is today a highly successful business – give it away. The plan is to diversify the ownership and secure the organisation’s financial future by offering an “earn in” model to future Directors. This will only be available to those who share Unisphere’s ethos and buy into its vision. As all of the above shows, James Dickinson has proved to be an integral part of Unisphere Solutions’ success over the last seven years and counting, and it is the values he stands for which have translated into success for its clients. On the back of this, we are delighted to celebrate James’ accomplishments by naming him the Digital Strategy & Security CEO of the Year 2026 (New Zealand) in our APAC CEO of the Year Awards 2026. Contact: James Dickinson Company: Unisphere Solutions Web Address: https://unisphere.co.nz/ Digital Strategy & Security CEO of the Year 2026 (New Zealand): James Dickinson
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