Barhead

Barhead is a specialized consulting firm focused on implementing business solutions that leverage Microsoft's technology stack. The company was co-founded by John Orrock and Ken Struthers, with some sources also crediting Dale Jose. The Australian entity, Barhead Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, was incorporated on December 3, 2015, while other records show a Philippine entity was founded as early as 2012. In February 2025, Barhead was acquired by Akkodis, a global digital engineering company, to expand Akkodis' capabilities in Australia and enhance its Microsoft solution portfolio.

The founders, Orrock and Struthers, have an extensive history in the cloud consulting space. They previously founded and led Cloud Sherpas, a major Salesforce partner, which was acquired by Accenture in 2015. Their experience with Cloud Sherpas, which included building an offshore development center in the Philippines, informed their decision to pivot to Microsoft's ecosystem for their next venture. They identified Microsoft Dynamics 365 as a superior platform for building feature-rich CRM solutions, leading to the creation of Barhead. This strategic shift proved successful, with the business reportedly growing at a rapid pace. Orrock also founded Future Now Ventures, a venture capital firm that invested in Barhead.

Barhead operates as an IT consulting and business-to-business services provider, generating revenue through the implementation and management of technology solutions. The firm's business model involves deep collaboration with clients to design and deploy solutions tailored to specific business outcomes, utilizing both onshore and offshore resources from its Global Delivery Centre in the Philippines to create commercially effective project teams. Barhead serves a diverse client base across various industries, including financial services, not-for-profit, legal, higher education, and retail. Notable clients include the Australian Red Cross, Wesley Mission, and the Royal Automobile Club of Tasmania (RACT).

The company's core service is the implementation of Microsoft Business Applications, with a strong focus on Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform (Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, and Copilot Studio). Its offerings cover enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer engagement (CRM), business analytics, and custom application development. Barhead provides end-to-end services from AI readiness and advisory to full implementation and managed services to protect digital investments. The company has also developed its own intellectual property, such as 'Consensus,' a contract and matter management solution, and a fundraising solution for non-profits. A key feature of their service is the Quickstart Solutions program, designed to deploy systems like Dynamics 365 Customer Service in as little as a week.

Keywords: Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power Platform, IT consulting, business applications, CRM implementation, ERP solutions, cloud consulting, Akkodis, John Orrock, Ken Struthers, Microsoft Gold Partner, digital transformation, business process automation, low-code development, Power BI, customer engagement, managed services, system integration, not-for-profit technology, legal tech, financial services IT, SaaS implementation, Cloud Sherpas, Future Now Ventures, Power Apps, Copilot Studio