Top VARS 2017
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CRNEV18-AD180x255-Calendar.indd 1 03/11/2017 10:29 CRN TOP VARs 2017 Welcome to Top VARs 2017 Not all of the UK’s top 100 resellers, MSPs and SIs came out of their last financial years glowing. But thankfully a sense of optimism is returning to the industry, Doug Woodburn discovers
It’s always a good sign for an £200m-revenue outfit Misco, sadly industry when its largest and most went out of business in October iconic player says that market with the loss of 200 jobs. conditions are as buoyant as it On the flip side, Top VARs 2017 can remember. features 11 new faces, added That was industry bellwether either due to their growth, or Computacenter’s take on the because we had not previously market in late October when considered them. These include it revealed that UK and group managed services provider revenues for 2017 are tracking six Claranet and managed print and 18 per cent ahead of last year, outfit Xeretec. respectively. The revenue threshold for the It wasn’t all smooth sailing for top 100 this year has consequently the UK’s top 100 resellers, MSPs risen to £31.3m, up from £27.5m and integrators in their most recent last year. When Top VARs was first Doug Woodburn is editor of CRN full financial years, however. This launched in 2011, the threshold includes Computacenter, which was £12.5m. endured a decidedly mixed 2016. Those whose revenues have Good times ahead As a group, the top 100 continue stood still will have fallen by as Alongside the top 100 rankings, to grow apace. A look at their last many as 10 places, or out of the we also questioned over 250 set of annual accounts collectively top 100 entirely. IT decision makers on a range reveals that revenues soared 15 per This year’s 100 are an eclectic of topics including IT budgets, cent to £13.6bn year on year. bunch, ranging from high-end supplier strategy, emerging But as we explore on p5, their AWS, Autodesk and Oracle technology, and what help they collective bottom line has taken consultancies to volume-based are seeking from tech suppliers a knock, with average operating e-tailers. However they brand around GDPR (see p38). margins slipping from 4.4 to 3.4 per themselves, all ‘resell’ and service Among the headline findings are cent. Brexit-induced uncertainty third-party IT hardware, software, that IT budgets are generally up, and currency headwinds were comms and audiovisual and with 48 per cent seeing an uplift blamed in some cases. printer equipment to a greater in their kitties this year, compared or lesser extent. with 41 per cent a year ago. Consolidation abounds That survey was conducted The competitive skyline has also A global flavour in October, the same month undergone the most radical re- Top VARs has more of an Computacenter issued a buoyant ordering since Top VARs began, international flavour to it than Q3 trading update, Softcat released with four of last year’s top 20 previous years as resellers based its bravura 2017 figures and vanishing from view. in the US or mainland Europe research house Canalys said the Two – Danwood and Alternative continue to race up the rankings, channel had probably just enjoyed Networks – were acquired amid chief among them WWT, SHI, its best quarter in a decade. a wave of consolidation that has Comparex and SoftwareONE. A sense of optimism, sadly swept through the channel in Another US giant, PCM, is set to lacking from the last sets of annual the last 12 months. The third, feature prominently in Top VARs accounts posted by many of the top BT IT Services, was liquidated in 2018 after taking on nearly 200 100, is returning to the industry. June amid a reorganisation at BT. staff since launching in the UK To be sure, 2018 promises to be a The final member of the quartet, in May. bumper year.
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Untitled-1 1 23/11/2017 11:29 CRN TOP VARs 2017 Challenging times Comms-care’s Rob Darby reflects on the channel’s challenges – and its strengths
Comms-care is once again delighted solutions is expected to escalate to sponsor Top VARs in what has further while interest in, and been another eventful but exciting conversation around, artificial year of change for the channel. intelligence also seems set to grow 2017 has been quite a year of as resellers look to identify the reflection for Comms-care as we opportunity for the channel. celebrated the 15th anniversary of However, two key strands are our business. When such important likely to dominate the agenda milestones are reached, and we – the General Data Protection consider our longevity over quite Regulation (GDPR) and Brexit. a turbulent period, it is natural to GDPR becomes enforceable from not only look ahead to how we see 25 May 2018, leaving around six the future of the industry shaping months for organisations to get Rob Darby is sales director of up but also to look back over how their houses in order around the Comms-care times have changed, especially so way they process both employee in the technology environment and customer personal data. need to pay on leaving, the rights which over the last 15 years has While there has been much of UK and EU expat citizens post- seen such significant introductions scaremongering around the Brexit, and trade deals with the EU as YouTube, Twitter and the iPhone substantial increase in fines which and other countries worldwide, as well as the opening of App will accompany the regulation, the with the impact on investment Store which ignited the mobile more educated approach should levels, exchange rates, inflation revolution. be for organisations to consider and resulting market conditions In the channel, 2017 has been other risk implications such as uncertain and unpredictable. characterised by two trends reputational damage caused by a The last year has seen an increase which are changing the shape data breach; operational outages in European and US resellers of the sector: continued market caused by a denial of service attack; appearing to accelerate their plans consolidation through a host of loss of customers to competitors to enter the UK by opening UK- acquisitions, mergers, and even, or even the ICO serving an based businesses before the Brexit sadly, the loss of some significant enforcement notice or ‘stop now’ barriers go up, possibly feeling names has been seen alongside order following a breach. they need a dedicated UK presence a proliferation of emerging Organisations are at different due to uncertainty about what will businesses; from European and US stages in their data protection happen when Brexit kicks in. resellers who have established a readiness journey. Wherever they This year has thrown up many UK presence to a new set of niche are, many end users will require challenges for the channel as players aligning themselves closely at least some technology products a whole, and 2018 will be no to vendors who are changing their and services to prepare themselves, different. Although there might be approach to market. and a significant number will also a degree of uncertainty about the Cybersecurity was again require technology advice and year ahead, there are many reasons thrust to the forefront of public guidance. What is unclear, however, for positivity and optimism; there is consciousness through a number of is how many resellers are in a certainly a great deal of opportunity global ransomware attacks, while position to assist with this process. for those resellers keen to seek it the trend of businesses moving to While the implications of GDPR out and diversify their offerings. the cloud and undertaking digital seem clear, there is much less Comms-care remains committed transformation continues apace. clarity around the issues and likely to supporting and expanding the Looking ahead to 2018, it is outcomes surrounding Brexit. solutions of its reseller partners clear that the pace of change and The year ahead will see continued and together solving both new and innovation is set to continue. negotiations around key issues existing technology and business Spending on Internet of Things such as how much the UK will challenges that end users face.
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Which channel fi rms have made it onto this year’s top 100 list? The countdown starts here...
eight per cent in its year a Maintel company” – saw 100 Excitech to 30 September 2016. The operating profit hit £863,000 on Revenue: £31.3m Coventry-based firm counts its revenues of £48.5m, up 14 per cent Ominchannel Vision software on a pro rata basis. It specialises Operating profit margin: 6.9% suite as the jewel in its crown, but in workspace, networking and This CAD specialist said its also provides a full range of IT datacentre solutions. short-term profits and cashflow managed services to its clientele in have been hit by vendor partner the retail and distribution sectors. Autodesk’s shift from a perpetual Operating profits for the year fell 97 Red Stack Tech to subscription licence model. In to £3.6m, compared with £4.3m a Revenue: £32.4m its fiscal year ending 31 May 2016, year earlier. Operating profit margin: 3.9% operating profit dipped by over £1m to £2.1m, while revenues This Chelmsford-based Oracle slipped one per cent. The Enfield- 98 Intrinsic partner is one of the few firms in based outfit also complained that this report which practises vendor Revenue: £32.4m (pro rata) a weakening of sterling increased monogamy. Founded in 1998 Operating profit margin: 1.8% its cost of sale. under the e-DBA name and now We have broken out separate owned by US outfit Data Intensity, numbers for this Cisco and Red Stack provides managed and 99 PCMS Avaya partner despite its £5.25m professional services across the Revenue: £31.6m acquisition by #30 Top VAR Oracle hardware and software Maintel in August. For the 18 stack. In its year to 31 December Operating profit margin: 11.5% months ended 31 May 2016, the 2016, operating profits rolled back This highly profitable retail Merseyside-based outfit – which from £1.9m to £1.3m on revenues specialist saw revenues pogo is currently branded as “Intrinsic, that swelled 15 per cent.
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Profit of doom When we introduced a profit component into Top VARs last year, we were pleasantly surprised to Operating profit margin in most recent year 30 discover that the industry’s collective bottom line 30 was on the rise. Unfortunately, that trend appears to have reversed 2525 this time around, with average (mean) operating profit margins falling from 4.36 to 3.42 per cent 2020 across the 95 firms* that disclosed the figure for their last two financial years. 1515 Of that 95, 57 saw their margins fall year on year, while only 38 saw them rise. 1010 Collectively, these firms posted operating profit of £308m in their most recent annual accounts, 5 compared with £376m a year earlier. That represents 0 2.9 per cent of their collective revenues, down from 0 0-1% 1-3% 3-5% 3.9 per cent a year earlier. -10+% 5-10% 10+% Median profit margins – perhaps the most -5 to -0%-2 to -5%0 to -2% meaningful figure given that the data is skewed by one or two outliers – also fell, from 3.2 to 2.6 per cent. It would be easy to lay the blame at the door of last June’s The double-digit club: The 11 referendum result, and indeed some firms did just that in their Top VARs with an operating annual commentaries. Stone partly attributed its fall in gross profits profit margin above 10 per cent to “Brexit aftershocks”, while Excitech said currency Wireless Logic 32.21% Firms fluctuations in the wake of made Edenhouse Solutions 24.04% a loss the vote had increased its 78 cost of sale. Blue Chip 19.35% OneCom Limited 15.40% Firms 17 The reality will of course made be more complex, but with ANS 13.09% a profit market conditions seemingly improving in recent quarters it Adept Telecom 12.58% Biggest operating loss would be tough to bet against PCMS 11.52% NCC Group: -£53.4m a margin rebound next year. Apogee 10.73% *The five firms excluded from the analysis are: Computacenter and Capita, NSC Global 10.50% which reported only adjusted numbers; US outfits WWT and SHI, which Annodata 10.48% do not report UK figures; and Coretx, which has reported only one year of accounts. Claranet 10.08%
During the year it recruited its 96 Natilik first chief financial officer, chief 95 Viadex Revenue: £32.6m people officer and chief digital Revenue: £32.7m officer. It now employs 110 staff Operating profit margin: 4.8% Operating profit margin: 3.4% across its offices in London, This Cisco Gold partner has Sydney and New York. The This globe-trotting virtualisation grown for nine years running, company’s operating profits for specialist has burst into the top with revenues in its year ending the year fell just fractionally to 100 after growing annual sales by 31 March 2017 leaping by a fifth. £1.6m. a fifth. With offices in Cape Town,
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Gibraltar, the USA and Singapore, this LSE-listed comms player Surbiton-headquartered Viadex laid down a further £12m to buy 89 Wireless Logic recently launched a partner schools ICT specialist Atomwide in Revenue: £34.9m programme to help channel August. Its 2017 accounts showed Operating profit margin: 32% firms grow internationally, and operating profits of £4.3m on now draws half of its sales from revenues that rose 19 per cent, “Europe’s leading M2M managed overseas. Operating profits hit with managed services revenues services provider”, as Wireless £1.1m in its year ending 30 June hiking from 44 to 55 per cent of Logic styles itself, is a money- 2016, up from £801,000 in 2015. the total. Tunbridge Wells-based making machine, generating Adept snared a new £30m credit £11.2m of operating profit on facility from Barclays and RBS in revenues that rose 29 per cent 94 eBECS January. in its year ending 30 April 2016. Revenue: £33.1m That equates to an operating margin of 32 per cent – a Operating profit margin: 5.2% 91 TSG report high. The Berkshire-based Proving that firms must grow Revenue: £34.4m business specialises in providing to stay still in this industry, this cloud-based management and Operating profit margin: -2% Chesterfield-based Microsoft monitoring platforms for M2M Dynamics specialist moves up Sage founder Grahame Wylie services across international just one place in Top VARs despite issued a vote of confidence in mobile networks and satellite growing revenues 17 per cent in its TSG by injecting another £1m operators. year to 31 March 2016. Operating into the Newcastle-based VAR profits fell marginally from during its year ending 31 March £2.1m to £1.7m. It has an offshore 2016. Operating losses for the year 88 Esteem development base in Jordan, halved to £682,000 on revenues Revenue: £35m and claims to be Saudi Arabia’s that dropped five per cent, a Operating profit margin: 0.6% number-one Microsoft partner. decline that the Sage and Sophos partner claimed was It was a year of flux for this “not unexpected” given its Wetherby-based managed services 93 The Saville Group decision to chase more recurring provider as it welcomed a new Revenue: £34.4m revenues, which now stand at CEO, chairman, and sales director. 61 per cent of the total. TSG One of the new team’s first Operating profit margin: 5.6% pumped £578,000 into product moves was to make an £860,000 This York-based audiovisual development during the year, impairment provision relating specialist’s chairman, John Sills, including into Traveller, a to managed services contracts hung up his boots after 48 years complaints management system previously held on the balance in April, as part of a management designed for the travel industry. sheet. Consequently, Esteem buyout. Despite a one per cent was left with a modest £199,000 drop in revenues, operating profits operating profit for its year ending for its year ending 31 December 90 Trams 30 June 2016 on revenues that rose 2016 doubled to £1.9m thanks to Revenue: £34.8m three per cent. “a conscious effort to control costs Operating profit margin: 1.8% and improve supplier relations”. The group’s parent, £42m-turnover This London-based Apple partner 87 TET Limited outfit SEA Holdings, also owns AV said that its efforts to expand its Revenue: £35.6m furniture maker Quadra Concepts. repertoire, including in storage Operating profit margin: 3.8% and home-grown cloud services, enabled it to counteract margin With revenues of £35.6m for its 92 Adept Telecom pressure and the threat of direct- year ending 31 December 2016 but Revenue: £34.4m selling cloud providers in its only 42 staff, this City-based VAR year ending 31 December 2016. has one of the highest revenue- Operating profit margin: 12.6% Revenues rose three per cent per-employee figures in the top Having made four acquisitions while operating profit fell 100, at £848,000. Operating profit during its year to 31 March 2017, fractionally to £637,000. more than matched its 35 per cent
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Q&A: Darren Brodrick, SHI UK The global Microsoft partner has big As a traditional Microsoft partner, where does SHI plans to crack the UK mid-market in 2018, stand on the cloud versus on-premise debate? according to its UK general manager I have attended quite a few partner events this year and it’s pretty evident that we now live in a hybrid How large is SHI in the UK? IT world. This is really good for SHI: not only is We have around 130 UK-based staff. We’ve Microsoft a key partner for us, but we’ve had some operated a centralised and dedicated support model really good success with AWS as well. from the UK covering the EMEA region for 19 years My view is that I don’t think it’s a debate anymore and that will continue to be the model for our largest about all applications running in the cloud; it’s more global customers. However, with the investment about what cloud provider and partner has the we’ve made in the last 18 months in the mid-market skillset to help you to assess and decide if moving we have ambitions to grow our UK footprint. workloads to the cloud is right for your business.
Windows 10 refresh was highlighted What are your plans for 2018? as a big growth driver in SHI This year will be the UK’s biggest year in International’s recent results. How far terms of revenue and profit growth, so next through that refresh cycle are we? year we have really big plans to add even Most of the Windows 10 success more headcount in the UK with a focus on we’ve had has been with our US-based expanding our UK footprint. What I really customers with local operations but over get excited about is the investment [SHI the last few months there has been lots International chief executive] Thai [Lee] of interest from the UK market for has committed to make to support our UK Windows 10 migrations. I expect that ambitions in both the mid-market and business to continue to grow in technical pre-sales capabilities and 2018 as well. service offerings. annual sales rise, ballooning from Specialising in managed services £845,000 to £1.37m. The Microsoft, 85 Bechtle for the financial services industry, HP and VMware partner has a New Revenue: £36.3m this London-based outfit has York office and last year drew 28 offices in global financial hubs Operating profit margin: 4% per cent of sales from overseas. including New York, Chicago and One of two Germany- Hong Kong. Revenues hiked 44 per headquartered VARs in the top cent in its year to 31 December 86 Grey Matter 100, this e-commerce specialist 2016, with over half that total Revenue: £35.9m recorded a six per cent uplift in drawn from the US. The Arista revenues in its year ending 31 Networks partner, which more Operating profit margin: 3.1% December 2016. Operating profits than doubled operating profit to Based on the edge of Dartmoor, widened from £1.4m to £1.5m. £3.5m last year, operates and this software reseller grew Its Neckarsulm-based parent is a owns a specification datacentre operating profit fractionally to €3bn-revenue monster with nearly in west London. £1.1m in its year ending 30 June 8,000 employees. 2016, despite posting a two per cent drop in revenue. It claims its 83 ECS 84 Options account managers have an average Revenue: £36.8m tenure of six years and to have Revenue: £36.5m Operating profit margin: 2.8% a direct relationship with 300 Operating profit margin: 9.5% software publishers. The website of this Glasgow-based
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Fresh blood Since its inaugural year in 2011, the revenue Of these, four – AWS partner Claranet, IT services threshold for Top VARs has risen from £12.5m to powerhouse Getronics, UC specialist OneCom £32.3m, reflecting both the growth of the market and managed print outfit Xeretec – turn over more and the fact that each year more firms than £50m. The remainder are 4Com, Cloudreach, 3 appear on our radar. This year is Intercity Technology, ECS Europe, Options IT, Wireless Firms have no different, with 11 Logic and PCMS. Three firms have also re-entered re-entered the new names making the top 100 on the back of a growth spurt, namely top 100 11 their debut. Some Viadex, Natilik and TET. New firms had become known to in Top VARs us following a growth 2011 2017 2017 streak, while others were already sizeable players that we weren’t £12.5m £32.3m aware of, or had previously felt hadn’t fitted the Top VARs mould. Top 100 revenue thresholds
IT infrastructure consultancy a majority-owned subsidiary which was founded in 2003 claims 81 Hardware UK whose mission is to boost student that the company has over 750 Revenue: £37.5m engagement in DTP’s core higher- employees and associates. The education vertical. Operating Operating profit margin: 0.9% largest trading entity for ECS profit dipped fractionally to that we could find on Companies As a specialist in complex £428,000. House, ECS Europe, saw revenues networking solutions, this Juniper, fall three per cent to £38.1m in Dell, HP and F5 Networks partner its year to 31 December 2016. counts service providers, e-tailers, 79 CSI Operating profit stood at £1m. online gaming firms and airlines Revenue: £39.1m ECS’ vendor partners include AWS, among its key clientele. During Operating profit margin: 7.4% Blackberry, Docker, ServiceNow its year to 31 March 2016, the and Microsoft. Swindon-based firm implemented This IBM and SAP partner’s a number of cost-cutting revenue run rate rocketed to initiatives. Despite this, operating £50m following its November 82 Printerland profit fell by more than £100,000 2016 swoop on managed services Revenue: £36.9m to £324,000 on revenues that specialist APSU. For its year ending slipped four per cent. 31 December 2016, operating Operating profit margin: 9.2% profits rose from £2.1m to £2.9m Founded in 1993, this print and on flat revenues of £39.1m. In consumables reseller claims that 80 DTP August, it took on investment from it now sells around one in three Revenue: £38.6m MML Capital in a deal that valued laser printers in the UK. Audited the London-based outfit at an Operating profit margin: 1.1% numbers for the year to 31 March estimated £80m. 2017 that Printerland shared This Leeds-based reseller with us show revenues rising differentiates itself from the 10 per cent to £36.9m. The “multi-brand supermarkets” it 78 Edenhouse Solutions Cheshire-based firm, which competes with by having a laser Revenue: £39.5m sponsors the Sales Sharks rugby focus on HP and HPE. Revenue for Operating profit margin: 24% team, remains highly profitable, its fiscal year ending 30 June 2016 with operating profits for the year rose three per cent, thanks in part This SAP consultancy has nearly hitting £3.4m. to the traction of Solutionpath, doubled in size in the last two
8 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017 years, with revenues for its year helped push revenues up 22 than doubling to £1.2m and to 31 March 2017 hiking 30 per per cent at this Dorset comms revenues leaping by a fifth. The cent. Operating profits of £9.5m specialist in its year ending Heron Tower-based outfit has one also make it one of the most 30 June 2016. It also led to an of the highest average wages in profitable firms in this report. operating loss of £421,000. the top 100, at £72,000. In August During the year Edenhouse made Having bagged a new five-year it bagged a deal to roll out Cisco a “significant investment” in SAP’s credit facility with HSBC in 2015, Meraki’s SD-WAN offering across Digital Suite, S/4 HANA and in its Samsung partner 4Com launched HMV’s 130 retail sites. cloud capabilities. an IP phone under the ‘4Phone’ brand in 2016, and targets firms with four to 250 handsets. 71 Sabio 77 Intercity Technology Revenue: £43.4m Revenue: £40.1m 74 Probrand Operating profit margin: 3.8% Operating profit margin: -12.9% Revenue: £41.1m This contact centre specialist has With a heritage in traditional made two acquisitions in 2017, Operating profit margin: 1.2% mobile reselling, this Birmingham- courtesy of a £30m M&A pot gifted based outfit is busy reinventing This Birmingham-based reseller to it by new private equity owner, itself as a “complete technology and MSP merged with its cloud Lyceum Capital, the previous July. services provider”. Its year ending technology sister company, Icomm, This includes Rapport, a customer 31 December 2016 was described at the tail end of last year and said engagement analytics specialist as a “transitional period” as it planned to remain competitive which counts Thames Water, the costs associated with its 2015 in 2017 by launching a digital BBC, ITV and British Gas among acquisitions of Gage Networks and marketplace. Revenue for the year its clients. Its revenues for its year Imerja dragged it to an operating to 31 December 2016 rose six per to 30 September 2016 rose four per loss of £5.2m. Revenues rose by 12 cent, with operating profits up cent, but operating profit rolled per cent. slightly to £507,000. back £1m to £1.6m.
76 MTI 73 RedstoneConnect 70 IDE Group Revenue: £40.1m Revenue: £41.5m Revenue: £43.4m Operating profit margin: 2.2% Operating profit margin: 3.5% Operating profit margin: -7.9% Private equity house Endless This smart buildings specialist This recently formed IT managed vowed to restore MTI to a “new grew revenue four per cent and services brand has 560 staff, 130 era of growth” when it bought returned to profitability in its year of which are stationed at its the storage integrator in January. ending 31 January 2017, following service desk and network It immediately installed Scott its rebrand from Coms the operations centre. In December, it Haddow – who previously headed previous year. In September, the rebranded from Coretx following a up former Endless-backed venture LSE-listed firm’s share price soared trademark dispute. The AIM-listed Trustmarque – as CEO. For its on news of a £5.5m contract win firm is a fusion of two firms – year to 31 March 2016, operating to connect over 45,000 data points Selection Services and C4L – and profit hit £887,000 on revenues across a network housed within an this April acquired Cisco partner that fell five per cent to £40.8m. unnamed financial services firm’s 365ITMS. It posted an operating It also operates in France and new flagship London office. loss of £3.4m on revenues of Germany. £43.4m in its year ending 31 December 2016. 72 Cisilion 75 4Com Revenue: £43m 69 PC Specialist Revenue: £41m Operating profit margin: 2.8% Operating profit margin: -1% Revenue: £43.9m This Cisco and Microsoft partner Operating profit margin: 1% An investment in sales, new enjoyed a solid year to 30 May brands and internal systems 2016, with operating profit more The performance PC market
CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 9 CRN TOP VARs 2017 is enjoying something of a This education specialist has renaissance, as evidenced by 66 Zones filed no new accounts since Top this Wakefield-based system Revenue: £46.5m VARs last went to press, meaning builder’s bumper results. Revenues we have had to recycle last Operating profit margin: 4.1% for its year ending 31 August year’s numbers. Budget cuts in 2016 rocketed 16 per cent, with Six years after acquiring its way its core schools market led the operating profit also rising to into the UK, US reseller Zones’ Oxfordshire-based HPE, Aruba, HP, £440,000. Its average number of local operation is close to a £50m Fortinet and Microsoft partner to warehouse and production staff business. It uses London as a post a five per cent revenue drop expanded from 48 to 59 during beachhead into Europe, shipping in its year ending 31 March 2016. the period. locally in 10 EU countries. The EU consequently accounted for 43 per cent of the UK arm’s sales in its 62 GCI 68 Blue Chip Customer Engineering year to 31 December 2016. Revenue: £51.9m Revenue: £45.4m Operating profit margin: -4.2% Operating profit margin: 19.3% 65 AVM Impact A decline in customer scepticism This IBM maintenance specialist Revenue: £47.8m over cloud was cited as an annual saw revenues for its year to 30 highlight for this acquisitive Operating profit margin: 2.6% September 2016 hike 20 per Microsoft partner. For its year cent, with its core maintenance This audiovisual specialist blamed ending 31 December 2016, and managed services streams a 14 per cent annual revenue fall revenues rose eight per cent, both growing “in plan with on a lack of large projects in its while operating losses hit £2.2m expectations”. Operating year to 30 June 2016. Operating (although EBITDA rose to £9.1m). profits hit an impressive £8.8m, profits were flat at £1.2m. The CEO Adrian Thirkill told us in July compared with £8.4m in its Sunbury-on-Thames-based outfit, that its largest purchase to date previous annual results (which which is backed by private equity – that of Poole-based Blue Chip – were to 31 March 2016). Blue Chip house Alcuin, has a relatively low would boost its turnover run rate claims to have 50 IBM power revenue-per-employee ratio of to £95m and headcount to 500. systems in its cloud service, and £119,000, not surprising given that 2.2 million CPW [commercial 200 of its 400 staff are engineers. processing workload] of IBM i 61 Total Computers processing power. 64 Academia Revenue: £52.1m Operating profit margin: 2.3% Revenue: £48.7m 67 Cloudreach After four years of frenetic top-line Operating profit margin: 0.5% Revenue: £46m growth, this Kettering-based VAR’s Public sector budget cuts have revenues were virtually static in its Operating profit margin: -5.1% taken their toll on this education year ending 30 June 2016, despite This born-in-the-cloud ace specialist, with accounts for its a “significant” investment in staff specialises in migrating customers year to 30 June 2016 showing a that saw average headcount for from traditional IT to AWS four per cent revenue dip. The the year top 100. Operating profit and Azure, a trend it claim has Enfield-based outfit is, however, rose fractionally to £1.2m. At the “increased dramatically” in recent counting on its inclusion on an end of its fiscal year it disposed of years. It’s no surprise, therefore, Apple university framework to Australian entity Total Consulting that its revenue for the year to 31 bolster sales until April 2019. Last Services. July 2016 romped up 76 per cent. June Academia acquired recycling During the period, it divested its specialist Charterhouse Muller UK. Google business, and in February 60 Millgate sold a majority stake to private Revenue: £54.2m equity house Blackstone. Operating 63 European Electronique Operating profit margin: 1.9% losses last year hit £2.3m, Revenue: £50.1m reflecting “significant continued Millgate’s auditor told us it did not Operating profit margin: 0.6% investment in the business”. expect any further adjustments
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Preparing for the opt-in revolution
FMXA CEO Alisha Dattani says the arrival of GDPR next May will force resellers to rethink their sales and marketing tactics
Resellers live or die by the quality need to be more self-suffi cient than they might have of their sales leads and marketing been in the past in terms of compiling these lists. activities, which in turn depends Historically the reseller community has always on the quality of data they hold on received leads from vendors who gather them from customers and leads. There’s just contact forms and web downloads. In the new GDPR one problem: the EU General Data world order, vendors won’t be able to hand these Protection Regulation (GDPR) is set leads to resellers for follow-up without explicit and to have a major impact on these specifi c opt-ins from consumers. This could result in efforts. By enshrining sweeping the short term in a dramatic decline in reseller leads. new rights over how data is used To combat this, resellers will need to boost their own and protected, resellers need to in-house marketing and lead-generation capabilities. urgently revisit and revise their processes. Focus on building and promoting your unique The most successful channel players will view brand: hire a PR team and bring in SEO expertise this not as a burden, but an opportunity to improve to improve organic search rankings. The aim customer engagement and drive sales. should be to improve credibility and awareness The GDPR is the biggest change to Europe’s data of your organisation. Develop compelling content protection laws in a generation, designed to bring positioning your business as a thought leader, and them up to date with our cloud, IoT, mobile and don’t forget the power of social media channels to social-driven world. enhance inbound marketing efforts. It is set to affect any business which processes The GDPR will also force resellers to revisit their personally identifi able information (PII) on EU privacy notices, to include more information on “fair citizens. Thanks to the UK Data Protection Bill processing” written in “clear language”. However, making its way through parliament, it will continue privacy notices must be separate from GDPR consent to apply to UK resellers post-Brexit. In addition, notices. Be sure to include here any GDPR-compliant the old Privacy and Electronics Communications sharing of data with third-party services. You must Regulation (PECR) which governed marketing name your organisation and any third parties that communications is to be replaced by a new ePrivacy will be relying on consent. Regulation designed to fall in line with the GDPR. The most obvious element that will affect sales and Under lock and key marketing functions is that the individual (or “data The GDPR also introduces strict rules on how to subject”) must explicitly give consent for their data protect, store, process and transfer this PII. One of to be used and to understand exactly how it will be the core principles is data minimisation; that is, only used (known as the right to be informed). Resellers to collect and store what’s strictly necessary for the will also have to keep a record of how consent tasks for which you have obtained consent. was obtained, and respond speedily to requests to Conduct a data audit to see what data you hold, withdraw consent. Sales and marketing comms will where it’s stored and where it fl ows, inside and have to be more targeted to the specifi c individual outside the organisation. Then check what security in a business, so resellers can argue they had a controls you have on consumer PII and plug any “legitimate interest” in sending it. Business email gaps. The GDPR isn’t explicit about what you need addresses apply, as do personal ones. to put in place, but anything following industry best practices — especially approaches accredited What does this mean for resellers? with ISO 27001 and other frameworks — will All this has major implications for common reseller stand the best chance of appeasing regulators. practices such as buying data lists, following up Pseudonymisation and encryption tools are a given. on leads provided by vendors, allowing vendors The most successful resellers will embrace the to access customer databases for campaigns, or challenge to improve internal data protection and uploading lead data to partner portals. Resellers may become more self-suffi cient in lead generation.
CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 11 CRN TOP VARs 2017
Q&A: Bob Swallow, Logicalis
Logicalis’ UK managing director talks us had been doing these services for the UK market through the firm’s nearshoring move for Computacenter. The time zone and language are also clearly in alignment with the UK, and it has You announced in June that you are shifting 65 affordable labour costs. UK first- and second-line support jobs to South Africa, with the first 40 roles moving in How important is managed services as a revenue September. Has that affected service levels for stream for Logicalis? your UK customers? We are probably doing around £70m in services, We have had no negative comments from any and I would think around £30m of that is recurring customers, and in fact we’ve had at least half a services, and we are looking to get that to £60m dozen quite positive written thanks for the service very quickly. We realise that customers have an they are getting. We got to reinvest the significant increasing challenge with the speed that technology savings this has made in growing our managed is moving in areas such as IoT [Internet of Things] services in the UK, so we have created a new service and security. They need more help, not less, and practice and brought in Dean Mitchell from Gartner more managed services. to head that up. We think we are the right shape now, and clearly we want to get into growth. We Who do you regard as your top five will be going aggressively after growth in the competitors? areas we’ve mapped out. CDW and Softcat are still strong competition for us in the traditional Why did you choose South Africa over more [reseller] space, where we are seeing far obvious nearshore locations such as Poland less of Computacenter and SCC. BT is still or Romania? very strong in public sector. And then you’ve It’s a market our shareholders got a new landscape, particularly in know well. Secondly, we managed services, where we come managed to secure a team that up against Accenture and TCS. to the Sheffield VAR’s numbers £2.1m to £2.7m. The Chesterfield- to 31 December 2016 rose six for its year to 31 July 2017, which based outfit claims it was an early per cent as 2015 acquisitions show revenue breaching the £50m investor in hybrid cloud, with over Wirebird and Coms fed into the barrier, up from £43.9m a year ago. a decade of capability. Its Swedish top line, although operating Sister company, wireless comms parent, which employs 800 staff losses hit £1.7m. The O2 and specialist Millgate Connect, turned in 15 countries, recently won an Vodafone partner recently over £4.1m in its most recent year, award for having the best annual announced a six-figure investment and together the duo generated report of all NASDAQ Stockholm- in robotics and cloud-based IT operating profits of £1m. listed small cap companies. services management platform ServiceNow. 59 Proact 58 Timico Technology Group Stormfront Revenue: £55.4m Revenue: £55.7m 57 Operating profit margin: 4.8% Operating profit margin: -3.1% Revenue: £55.8m Operating profit margin: -0.3% This pan-European storage This managed services provider integrator’s UK arm achieved appointed a new CEO in the shape Strong demand for iPhones was “outstanding profitable growth” of Ben Marham in September behind a 19 per cent surge in in its year ending 31 December 2016, before undergoing a annual sales at this Apple Premium 2016, with sales up 12 per cent Lyceum Capital-backed MBO in Reseller, which operates 23 stores and operating profits rising from February. Revenues in its year across the UK. But losses sustained
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Untitled-1 1 23/11/2017 11:29 CRN TOP VARs 2017
Feeding frenzy An M&A frenzy has gripped the channel over the Apogee grabbed £150m-revenue rival Danwood in last 12 months, with three of last year’s top 25 March. Daisy’s £165m acquisition of Alternative – Danwood, Alternative Networks and Phoenix Networks last December also came after the Software – having been gobbled up by competitors. comms player was taken private in 2015 by founder Much of the deal-making was driven by a small Matthew Riley, Toscafund and Penta Capital. handful of resellers, often backed by private equity Claranet, Sabio and CSI are among the other cash. Indeed, according to M&A adviser Regent private equity-backed players on the acquisition Associates, private equity accounted for 480 of the trail, alongside deep-pocketed privately held VARs 2,688 European technology, media and telecoms Bell, GCI and Chess. Publicly listed outfits such as deals signed in the first nine months of 2017. Maintel, Adept Telecom, Bytes (whose parent Altron Having bagged investment from private equity is listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange) and house Equistone in September 2016, print VAR IDE Group have also got in on the game.
Big fish Major moves of the top consolidators, and their approximate revenue run rates
Bell Integration Portal, £170m Hamilton Rentals Bytes Phoenix £400m Software Daisy Alternative £700m Maintel Networks £160m Intrinsic
Chess £120m Foursys
GCI Apogee Blue Chip, £250m Danwood £95m Freedom £100m £200m £300m £400m £500m £600m £700m at its education arm, which it new managed print powerhouse”. closed during the year, pushed it 56 Xeretec Its directors were content with to a £189,000 operating loss for Revenue: £56.1m results for its year to 31 August the 12 months to 30 September 2016, which showed operating 2016. This August, a gang of seven Operating profit margin: 6.5% profit up from £3.3m to £3.6m on raiders were jailed for stealing This Wokingham-based Xerox revenues that fell nine per cent. £200,000 worth of Macbooks and partner claims its merger with HP Gaining access to HP’s device-as-a- iPhones from its Exeter warehouse, print-focused Platinum partner service offering was cited as a key according to Devon Live. Landscape Group in June created “a reason behind the Landscape deal.
14 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017
Be bold and be brave
It’s an unsettling time for public sector suppliers, but those who take their chances will thrive, argues GlobalData principal analyst Rob Anderson
Indulge me for a moment while I take digital agencies that have cut their teeth on G-Cloud a trip back to 1990, when Manchester contracts and seek growth in the areas of both crooner Mick Hucknall penned the revenues and infl uence. lines, “The end of an era, our future The strategy of increasing engagement with no clearer”. He was referring, in the SMEs has not waned, with the aim of 33 per cent song Wonderland from Simply Red’s business through this channel by 2020 being restated multi-platinum album Stars, to the recently, but the focus has not been as sharp this downfall of Margaret Thatcher, year because of distractions such as Brexit and a but the sentiment has resonance weakened government. The Cabinet Offi ce’s own in the Britain of 2018. Short of an published data shows the proportion of contracts unprecedented political coup, we are still heading won by SMEs fell by a couple of percentage points in to the exit door of the EU despite no one seemingly 2015-16. Nonetheless, the Crown Commercial Service having a clear idea what political, economic and continues to open up new routes to market for social havoc that will wreak. So we live again in an smaller enterprises, the latest being the Technology age of uncertainty. Services 2 (TS2) framework which aims to attract For suppliers to government, these are unsettling those public bodies disaggregating single outsourced times. Yet history suggests that such periods of contracts and features 60 per cent of suppliers with upheaval can also deliver opportunity for the bold designated SME status. The Crown Marketplace and the brave, so I look forward to the coming year will seek to make further advances in ease of doing with optimism for those in the IT supply chain. business for smaller players as it makes its entrance It’s certainly true that radical political reforms in the coming months. away from the Brexit table are highly unlikely In my piece for this publication last year, I with the Tory government limping along after the proposed that cloud and data exploitation would catastrophic snap election. However, transformation be key themes, and while both have seen growth of public services continues apace, and the civil over the last 12 months, many feel the public sector service, stretched to near breaking point by years of is still lagging in the latter. The passing of the cuts, will need all the help it can muster. Digital Economy Bill, with its clauses facilitating With pressure on the Chancellor of the Exchequer greater sharing of data across government, means to increase investment in public services, I expect a the door is now open to drive better, faster, more modest increase in the cash available for agencies innovative uses of these rich datasets. Suppliers that to refresh or renew technologies. GlobalData’s fi ve- can demonstrate robust and secure data storage, year forecasts, however, indicate that there is likely manipulation and analytical solutions should be to be a realignment across the various categories well placed to ride this wave. of expenditure and a slight decline in external To end on a note of caution, the past few months spending to balance the costs of increasing internal have seen two notable casualties in the public IT staff numbers. sector’s supply chain: Misco, with its long and While there is still an aspiration to insource proud history being put in administration just days new service development, an air of pragmatism after being awarded places on the TS2 framework; is emerging that will see a mixed economy of IT and Datacentred, a hosting company that built its delivery via multiple sources. This has reinvigorated business around one predominant client, HMRC, the large suppliers whose prospects for growth and fl oundered when that contract was lost. These had stalled in the early days of a GDS-infl uenced cases at opposite ends of the supplier spectrum cohort of GovTech advocates in Whitehall. Thus illustrate that the public sector market offers we have seen a resurgence in competition from the great rewards, but consequent risks. In times of traditional systems integrators, now joined at the uncertainty, be bold, be brave, but also don’t party by not only cloud-focused multinationals overstretch and remain in control of your own such as Microsoft and AWS, but also younger destiny; I wish you all good prospecting.
CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 15 CRN TOP VARs 2017
Fit for purpose: #51 Top VAR OneCom held a ‘Workplace Race’ in October that saw 150 of its staff monitor their daily activity for three weeks using heavily • discounted Fitbit devices
Annual sales rise recorded by #13 Top VAR GBM, a Sales statistics: Top VARs record Highest revenue per employee: GBM: £5.6m (45 Clock staff and £250.6m revenues) watching: #4 Top VAR Lowest revenue per CDW UK has a clock on its employee: TSG: £91,000 (378 website counting down staff and £34.6m revenues) the seconds until GDPR kicks in
Need for speed: #46 Top VAR Vohkus has sponsored the jet-powered Bloodhound Super Sonic Car as it attempts to break the land speed record and hit 1,000mph. It claimed the project refl ects its own philosophy
•
Amount Sage co-founder • Graham Wylie pumped Amount Ofcom fi ned #10 Top VAR into the #92 Top VAR TSG Kcom after uncovering a serious in its last fi nancial year weakness in its emergency call service
16 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017
55 NTT Data 52 Axians Networks 49 Annodata Revenue: £57.1m Revenue: £59.6m Revenue: £60.1m Operating profit margin: 2.1% Operating profit margin: 8% Operating profit margin: 10.5% This Japan-based Oracle, SAP Part of French engineering Kyocera told CRN at the time it and Salesforce partner appointed giant Vinci, this networking acquired Annodata last December Simon Williams as its new UK and security specialist enjoyed that the managed print and CEO in June. Williams joined NTT lightning growth in its year unified comms specialist would Data in 2012 when it acquired to 31 December 2016, with be free to work with other Value Team, a consultancy he sales rocketing 24 per cent and manufacturers. A year on, the started four years earlier. For its operating profits nearly doubling Hertfordshire-based firm still bills year to 31 March 2017, NTT Data’s to £4.8m. Billing itself as a itself as an independent provider, UK business, which has 470 staff, specialist rather than generalist, counting not only Kyocera but also recorded a one per cent revenue the Basingstoke outfit is reliant Ricoh, Datto, Cisco and Gamma drop, as operating profit fell from on a small number of vendor among its core vendors. Revenues £1.7m to £1.2m. partners, including Juniper for its year to 30 June 2016 shrank Networks. Its core verticals are eight per cent, while operating service providers and public sector. profit fattened from £6m to £6.4m. 54 Centerprise Revenue: £59.3m 51 OneCom 48 Altodigital Operating profit margin: 3.6% Revenue: £59.9m Revenue: £61.8m Founded over 30 years ago by Operating profit margin: 15.4% Operating profit margin: 4% industry stalwart Rafi Razzak, this group of companies encompasses This Hampshire-based fixed- In September, Altodigital CEO not only public sector provider line and mobile supplier, which James Abrahart used a company Centerprise International, but a claims to be Vodafone’s largest UK blog post to quash rumours that number of other brands, including partner, saw revenue rise by nine this print and office equipment business continuity player ADAM per cent in its year to 31 December specialist is up for sale. It was Continuity and custom PC builder 2016. Despite incurring one-off a frenetic fiscal 2016 for the YoYotech. For its year ending 31 costs of £533,000, operating profit Leighton Buzzard-based outfit as August 2016, the holding company stood at a healthy £9.23m. Its staff it made two small acquisitions, posted flat revenue of £59.3m. are currently taking part in a expanded its public sector sales Operating profit inched up eight company-wide fitness challenge team, and opened new branch per cent to £2.1m. using Fitbit step counters. offices in Scotland and the East Midlands. Operating profit rose by a third to £2.5m, while revenues 53 ProAV 50 MCSA Group jumped five per cent. Revenue: £59.4m Revenue: £60m Operating profit margin: 2.6% Operating profit margin: 2.1% 47 ANS The largest audiovisual specialist This Buckinghamshire-based MSP Revenue: £62.7m in this report launched a may share its name with a well- Operating profit margin: 13.1% Frankfurt office this February. known Microsoft accreditation, but In its year to 31 March 2016, its four-letter moniker is actually a This Manchester-based MSP and revenue vaulted eight per cent, portmanteau of its two constituent cloud provider broke the £60m while operating profit rose from parts: Maindec and CSA Waverley. revenue mark in its year to 31 £1.1m to £1.6m. The Egham-based Revenue for the 12 months to March 2017, and is one of just 11 outfit, which is owned by two 31 March 2016 fell two per cent, firms in this report to boast a of its directors and has a 25-year while operating profit rolled back double-digit operating margin. relationship with Barclays Bank, from £2m to £1.3m. It claimed it Recent acquisition Eison, as well saw average staff numbers swell addressed 99.5 per cent of service as strong demand for its cloud from 250 to 295 during the year. calls within SLA during the year. readiness assessments, were among
CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 17 CRN TOP VARs 2017
Q&A: Neil Muller, Daisy Daisy’s CEO tells us why the Lancashire- the strength of our business there is a very, very high based firm is turning its attention to return on investment bar to meet. organic growth following an acquisition What key trend will shape the market in 2018? spree that has transformed it into a We believe data is the key hot topic, which I think £700m-revenue player traditional IT resellers don’t necessarily buy into at the same rate as we do because they probably don’t Can you update us on the enlarged scale of the have the end-to-end capability to enable it. Whoever business following your acquisition spree? owns the connectivity, whoever owns the network, We are now a £700m business, with £120m-plus of is probably going to take market share because EBITDA. From a market point of view, SMB – which data is the new currency and everything that will we address both directly and indirectly – is a £300m give our customers a competitive advantage. Our business; mid-market – which we address directly whole strategy is based on how we can provide our – is a £300m business; and enterprise – which we customers with better levels of access to that data. address indirectly – is a £100m business. If we break it down by product, we are a £130m Profits are down across the top 250 resellers. How voice business, a £150m mobile business, a £170m are you addressing margin pressure, particularly connectivity business, a £170m IT infrastructure considering that margins are thinner in IT than business and a £80m to £100m business continuity your traditional comms heartland? and cloud business. We couldn’t, through the We don’t mind our percentage margins being acquisitions, have chosen a better balance of diluted by [IT] acquisitions, as this is about us a £700m business across the five areas of the delivering customer value. We recognise that you converged world. We talk about Daisy being the only can’t make the same percentage returns on IT as in one that exists which is an independent, converged telecommunications. But actually because we can organisation of scale. blend it all together we are making more money. It doesn’t really matter if the percentage return has You acquired Alternative Networks for £165m at decreased by 0.5 per cent; the fact of the matter is the start of the year. Has the integration gone to that EBITDA has gone from £97m to £120m. We are plan, and do you foresee Daisy making further maintaining our gross margins because 80 per cent acquisitions? of our revenues are recurring. The integration has gone extremely well. Combining the telecommunications and managed services that What is in store for Daisy next year? came with the Alternative acquisition with the IT We’re in an organic strategy, we’ve got our heads infrastructure services and support of the down, and we are focused on serving and Phoenix acquisition has created a mid- protecting our customers, and on cross-selling market powerhouse. We can now deliver to all our existing customers. For instance, converged services across telecoms, IT 50 per cent of our 5,000 mid-market and cloud, genuinely at scale. customers don’t buy mobile from us, and We believe we now have all the that’s a massive opportunity for us to add capability we need in order to address our more value to them. We’re the fourth-largest customers’ requirements. We are therefore B2B mobile operator in the UK in an organic growth strategy. Having now behind EE, Vodafone said that, if any opportunities were and O2, and we can use our to arise to increase shareholder scale and independence to and customer value, naturally we deliver greater value to our would look at them. But given customers.
18 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017 the drivers of its 36 per cent annual firm enjoyed a bumper year to at engineering parent NG Bailey. sales hike, recently appointed CEO 31 October 2016, with operating Operating profit climbed from Paul Shannon told us. profit nearly doubling to £7.5m. £3m to £4.1m, while average staff Revenues – which are split numbers soared from 334 to 410. equally between product and The Ilkley-based Cisco Gold partner 46 Vohkus services – clambered 24 per cent. appointed a new MD in May. Revenue: £64.4m Operating profit margin: 0.8% 43 Comparex 40 OCSL Southampton-based Vohkus is Revenue: £72.5m Revenue: £80.5m among a number of Top VARs that Operating profit margin: -1.3% Operating profit margin: 1.2% referenced its efforts to embrace a more consultative, managed This €1.8bn-revenue, global A two per cent fall in revenue at services-driven model in its latest Microsoft partner, which is owned this HPE Platinum partner in its annual accounts. While handing by Austrian bank Raiffeisen, year to 31 March 2016 was “in line it a “platform for continued recently stated that it sees its with the directors’ expectations”. growth”, its investment in more future in managed services. The Operating profit fell by two thirds experienced technical staff hit UK arm, which employs over 50 to £961,000, which OCSL said margins in its year to 31 May staff in Harrow and York, posted a reflects a shift in its revenue mix 2016 as operating profit halved to £911,000 operating loss in its year towards more slow-burning cloud £521,000. Revenues vaulted five ending 31 March 2016. Revenues and managed services streams. per cent. rocketed 72 per cent. It claims to It employs over 200 staff at its now be a major supplier to the headquarters in West Sussex and Ministry of Defence. satellite offices in London, Hove 45 Getronics and Cambridge. Revenue: £66m 42 NTT Security Operating profit margin: -2.8% 39 Storm Technologies Revenue: £72.5m The new owner and CEO of Operating profit margin: -2.6% Revenue: £81.7m Getronics, Nana Baffour, recently Operating profit margin: 2.8% told us he’d rather own this This security integrator now has IT services house than own a no salesforce of its own and acts This Watford-based outfit said goldmine, adding that he intends as the “factory service line” for its results for the year to 31 to double its revenue to $1bn by parent NTT’s three operating December 2016 matched what 2020, mainly through acquisition. companies: Dimension Data; NTT it had budgeted for “almost to The UK arm of the business, which Data; and NTT Communications. the penny”. Revenues shot up 11 has 500 staff and specialises in Revenue for its year to 31 March per cent, while operating profit service areas such as workspace 2016 hit £72.5m, compared decreased slightly to £2.3m. management, technology with £90.8m for the previous Although Brexit and the US transformation and security, sank 15-month period (flat on a pro presidential election dented its to an operating loss of £2.83m in rata comparison), while operating gross margins, its strong liquidity calendar 2016 on revenues that losses shrank to £1.9m. position will underpin further rose by 26 per cent to £66m. growth, the directors’ report claimed. 41 NG Bailey IT Services 44 NSC Global Revenue: £75.9m 38 Stone Revenue: £71.8m Operating profit margin: 5.4% Operating profit margin: 10.5% Revenue: £84.5m Having seen sales plateau in Operating profit margin: -1.6% Founded in 1997, this Cisco 2016, this voice, data and cabling Gold partner specialises in the specialist’s revenues boomed by This public sector system builder development of communication over a quarter in its financial sank to a £1.3m loss in calendar infrastructures for corporate year ending 24 February 2017, 2016 as increased competition clients. The London Bridge-based mirroring a 23 per cent sales spike and Brexit-induced currency
CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 19 CRN TOP VARs 2017
Year ends 35 35 30 30 25 25 20 20 15 15 10 10 5 5
0 0 29 31 30 31 30 31 31 30 31 30 31 31 28 31 30 31 30 31 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul 2016 2017 EstimateRun rate The vast majority of the headline revenue figures in this report are drawn from the last annual accounts filed on Companies House by the firm in question. This covers a big spread of year ends, from 31 July 2017 in the case of Softcat, to 29 February 2016 in the case of Logicalis. In several instances, firms provided us with annual numbers that had yet to be filed on Companies House at the time of going to press. Where this is the case it is clearly marked in the profile. In order to convey their enlarged scale following a transformative acquisition, we have listed a run rate figure for two firms, namely Daisy and Apogee. We have also had to provide an estimate for two large US- based outfits that don’t report UK numbers, namely SHI and WWT.
fluctuations hammered its gross also taken £3.7m in costs out minority shareholder in May as margins. Looking on the bright of the business. Sales of its own part of an £80m refinancing. side, revenues rose seven per cent, intellectual property rose from 24 while the Staffordshire-based firm to 32 per cent of the total last year. said it expected some “residual 35 Jigsaw24 challenges” that lingered into Q1 Revenue: £95.2m of 2017 to “dissipate”. 36 Claranet Operating profit margin: 1.4% Revenue: £94.2m Having acquired creative Operating profit margin: 10.1% 37 K3 industries specialist Root 6 in Revenue: £84.6m This pan-European managed February, this Apple reseller services juggernaut has made 20 became the subject of takeover Operating profit margin: -11.5% acquisitions in the past five years, rumours itself in September. This AIM-listed retail software and now boasts a revenue run rate According to the Telegraph, private specialist endured a torrid year to of £310m, 43 datacentres and 1,800 equity backer NorthEdge Capital 30 June 2017 as a dearth in large staff. The UK arm saw revenue is seeking a buyer, with a deal enterprise wins dragged it to a rise by seven per cent to £94.2m expected to be concluded by £9.75m operating loss. The Sage in its year to 30 June 2016, while early next year. Jigsaw24’s parent and Microsoft partner said it is operating profits fell marginally to company, Insanely Great, posted reshaping its business to focus £9.5m. The AWS partner welcomed operating profits of £1.3m on on its core SME market, and has on board Tikehau Capital as a new revenues that rose 10 per cent
20 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017 in its year to 31 May 2016. The operating profits more than halved director Richard Btesh recently Nottingham-based outfit claims to to £386,000. Its website includes a told CRN. For its year to 30 April have 25,000 customers and to hold dedicated zone for business clients, 2017, revenues jumped by a £5m in stock. offering servers, enterprise storage, quarter, while operating profit networking, security, commercial rose from £5.6m to £6.5m. With virtual reality and professional a heritage in fixed-line telecoms, 34 CAE services. Chess is seeking to reinvent itself Revenue: £95.7m as a ‘unified solutions provider’ and in April leapt into the Operating profit margin: 3.6% 31 Redcentric cybersecurity space by acquiring This Watford-based reseller, which Revenue: £104.6m Foursys, a deal it said would add describes itself as “fundamentally £11m to its top line. Operating profit margin: -2.9% manufacturer agnostic”, posted a 61 per cent revenue hike in its year This MSP appointed a new CEO in ending 30 June 2017, according October – industry stalwart Chris 28 Bell Integration to audited figures the company Jagusz – as it looks to return Revenue: £111m shared with us. Operating to profitability and minimise Operating profit margin: -0.5% profit also trebled to £3.4m. The reputational damage from a Cisco, HP and Microsoft partner recent accounting imbroglio. For We’ve had to recycle last year’s is gearing up to open its first its year ending 31 March 2017, numbers for this Portsmouth- northern office. the AIM-listed firm sank to a £3m based IBM, NetApp and Oracle operating loss on revenues that partner. It’s a sure bet, however, slipped five per cent. It operates that Bell’s revenue run rate is 33 Ultima Business Solutions five datacentres, including one in far higher than the £111m listed Revenue: £96.8m its home city of Harrogate. above following its acquisition of IBM software partner Portal last Operating profit margin: 2.1% November and short-term IT and A recent £18m upgrade to this 30 Maintel AV rentals outfit Hamilton Rentals VAR’s HQ will serve as a template Revenue: £108.3m this February. for mid-market clients embarking Operating profit margin: 2.8% on digital transformation projects, its CEO Scott Dodds told CRN in In August, Maintel CEO Eddie 27 Phoenix Software May. Ultima enjoyed a “highly Buxton told CRN that the AIM- Revenue: £118.4m successful” year to 31 March 2016, listed comms provider’s acquisition Operating profit margin: 4.0% with revenues hiking by a tenth of #98 Top VAR Intrinsic would and operating profit hitting £2m create a £160m company. Results Phoenix Software was the subject – flat on an annual comparison. for Maintel’s year to 31 December of a channel mega-merger in It was founded in 1990 by Max 2016 show an operating profit of September when it was gobbled up McNeill, who also created the £3m on revenues of £108.3m. The by fellow Microsoft partner, and Reading business park in which £5.25m Intrinsic deal will hand #17 Top VAR, Bytes. It currently the Microsoft, Citrix, VMware, HP Maintel a strategically important still operates under its own and Dell partner is based. Cisco Gold badge, and follows its brand, hence why we have kept its reverse takeover of Azzurri the figures separate. Software asset previous year. It now has 700 staff management services were an area 32 Scan Computers and nearly 7,000 customers. of increased focus for Phoenix in Revenue: £99.7m its year to 31 October 2016, which saw a modest increase in its top Operating profit margin: 0.4% 29 Chess and bottom lines. Just one more large order and Revenue: £110.3m this Bolton-based PC builder, Operating profit margin: 6.3% retailer and e-tailer would have 26 Avanade breached the £100m turnover This M&A grandmaster gets Revenue: £119.7m barrier for its year to 30 June 2016. approached by up to 20 wannabe Operating profit margin: 9.7% While revenues rose 15 per cent, acquisition targets every month,
CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 21 CRN TOP VARs 2017 Noteable and quoteable “I would rather be an owner of Getronics “I would like to categorically state in than of a gold mine.” writing that these rumours have no substance to them and that I have no The new owner of #45 intention of selling the business.” Top VAR Getronics, US/ Brazilian entrepreneur James Abrahart, chief executive of #48 Nana Baffour, who Top VAR Altodigital, wrote an entry on the was also appointed company’s blog in September this year CEO in August, to quash rumours that it will follow talked CRN through in the footsteps of fellow print players his plans to double Danwood, Annodata and Midshire by global revenue selling up. to $1bn.
“The opening of our second global delivery ““For me, those e-tailers” that are centre is another important strategic milestone trying to emulate Amazon are for the business and underlines our credentials finished, because you cannot out- as an international company with scale.” Amazon Amazon, therefore you have to borrow some traditional James Rigby, managing director of #6 Top VAR retail skills around product and SCC, cut the ribbon on a second global delivery people, to differentiate yourself.” centre in Vietnam in Nick Glynn, managing director at February, alongside #26 Top VAR Buy IT Direct told secretary of state Liam CRN in January that any e-tailer Fox and SCC founder not investing in traditional retail Sir Peter Rigby. techniques“ is doomed. ” “Many customers are choosing “I think this is an isolated incident. migrations to Windows 10 as a timely In general resellers are doing pretty opportunity to upgrade end- well. If you’re struggling at the moment, user computing you need to look in the mirror.” devices.” In October, Mike Norris, CEO of #1 Top VAR In August, Thai Lee, Computacenter, global CEO of #14 said the collapse Top VAR SHI, flagged of Misco bucked up a rebound in PC the trend of the sales in its half- wider market. year results.
22 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017
Q&A: Martin Hellawell, Softcat Softcat’s outgoing CEO opens up about Your gross margins declined from 18 to 16.4 what he would change if he had his time per cent during the year. Are you feeling margin again, and why he thinks the reseller pressure? model is not dead If there is incremental, absolute profit in a deal where we are going to make money, but which will You grew sales 24 per cent to £832.5m in your bring our margins down, I will happily take it. We are year to 31 July 2017. Is that level of growth much more interested in gross profit growth, rather sustainable? than gross margin percentages, so I haven’t felt Revenue is not the most important factor for us. under any particular pressure. But [24 per cent growth] is pretty exceptional. It’s way above what we’ve guided you to in the past. In What do recent events say about the viability of the past we’ve talked about absolute growth rates the traditional reseller model? more in the region of £60m to £90m a year, so last It depends what you mean by traditional reseller. year was a bit of a bumper year. Certainly in terms If it is a logistical warehouse operation selling PCs of revenue that kind of growth rate is probably not and printers, which is where the reseller business sustainable, but a good double-digit growth rate is started 30 years ago, you’ve got a problem. If you’ve probably sustainable. evolved your reseller business to get into areas such as security, networking, datacentre and so on, and You’ve indicated in the past that Softcat you are providing advice and guidance to your may break from tradition by making an customers based on the customer need, then I acquisition or expanding outside the UK. think you are in a fantastic place. How much of a priority are those two things right now? As you look back at your time in On a list of 100 things, they’re charge, is there anything you would somewhere between numbers have done differently? 95 and 100. The strategy is I’ve made thousands of mistakes about UK growth and about along the way. I probably would have organic growth. Clearly we will gone faster in terms of diversifying look at opportunities outside that our portfolio and opening up our through acquisitions and potential branch network. But overall it’s been international growth, but it is a good journey, so there’s no point certainly not one of our priorities looking backwards at what I should at the moment. have done, as it’s done alright.
The UK arm of this global showing “disproportionately high Microsoft consultancy enjoyed 25 Buy IT Direct growth”. It also stocks drones, a solid year to 31 August 2016 Revenue: £120.7m phones, TVs, kitchen appliances as revenues vaulted 13 per cent and furniture. Operating profit margin: 2.2% and operating profits came in flat at £11.7m. UK headcount, This Huddersfield-based e-tailer’s surpassed 350 during the numbers continue to head in the 24 SoftwareONE year. A joint venture between right direction, with revenues for Revenue: £125.8m Microsoft and Accenture, Avanade its year to 31 March 2016 rising Operating profit margin: 0.6% employs 30,000 staff globally 16 per cent. Headline revenue for and has 24,000-plus Microsoft fiscal 2017 is likely to hit £146m, The UK arm of this software certifications and 17 Microsoft CEO Nick Glynn told us, adding licensing giant enjoyed a bumper Gold competencies. that its IT business is currently year, with revenues booming
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64 per cent and operating Cisco, IBM and HPE partner, as profits more than doubling in revenues slumped 9.4 per cent and 18 Ebuyer calendar 2016. Its Swiss parent, operating losses hit £2.1m. During Revenue: £188.6m which has 3,000 staff and $7bn the period, a bumper, seven-year Operating profit margin: 0.7% revenues, bolstered its unified Welsh public sector deal came to comms business in September an end. Following a restructure, Despite complaining that its by acquiring global Skype for which included moving first and electricals stomping ground Business partner UC Point. second-line support roles to South remains “exceptionally Africa, Logicalis UK is gearing competitive”, this e-tailer recorded up for growth again, according flat sales and gross margins in its 23 SBL to its UK managing director Bob year to 31 December 2016, with Revenue: £130.6m Swallow (see Q&A on p12 for more). operating profits rising from £1.1m to £1.2m. Ebuyer claims to be one Operating profit margin: 2.7% of the “very few” UK firms that Founded in 1987, this York-based 20 BT Business Direct can take orders until 11pm and Microsoft partner claims it is Revenue: £156.5m deliver them next day. The East “widely recognised” as a market Yorkshire-based outfit is part of Operating profit margin: 2.6% leader in information security, and the £500m-revenue WEST Retail has counted the MoD as a customer This is now BT’s sole representative Group. for over 20 years. It posted a in Top VARs following the marginal rise in operating profits liquidation of BT IT Services in in its year 31 August 2016, despite June. Billing itself as a one-stop 17 Bytes revenues falling three per cent. shop for business computing, Revenue: £238m In October, SBL announced it had networking and ICT needs, the Operating profit margin: 3.6% invested in new accommodation to Bolton-based outfit saw revenue house its service centre, technical hike by 29 per cent in its year to It was a year of frenetic expansion and project teams. 31 March 2017. Operating profit for this Leatherhead-based rose at a similar rate to £4.1m. software licensing specialist as it Our best understanding is that BT opened a seventh office in Reading 22 CCS Media IT Services’ £300m business has Park and acquired fellow Microsoft Revenue: £153m been dispersed into various parts partner, and #27 Top VAR, of BT, including its major accounts Phoenix Software. For its year to Operating profit margin: 2.7% unit, although this has not been 28 February 2017, total revenues This Chesterfield-based reseller confirmed by BT. boomed 23 per cent to £238m, recently told us it aims to hit with Microsoft arm Bytes Software £250m revenue within five years Services contributing £215.8m by growing headcount, investing 19 RM and Bytes Security Partnership in staff development, and building Revenue: £167.6m chipping in a further £22.2m. its IT services business. For Together, they posted operating Operating profit margin: 9.5% calendar 2016, revenues pogoed 24 profits of £8.7m, compared with per cent, while operating profits This London-listed education £7.7m a year earlier. have trebled in the last two years. supplier posted “solid results in a It claims its account managers difficult market” in its year ending each look after an average of 30 30 November 2016. Its flagship ICT 16 NCC Group clients, compared with an industry arm, RM Education, employs 900 Revenue: £244.5m average of 50 to 70. staff, and provides IT outsourcing, Operating profit margin: -21.8% cloud-based SaaS solutions and software and services to 7,000 UK NCC Group’s CEO, Rob Cotton, left 21 Logicalis schools and colleges. Its revenues with immediate effect in March Revenue: £153.9m fell four per cent to £77m – a following a downturn in the slower rate of decline than Manchester-based cybersecurity Operating profit margin: -9.4% previous years – as the wider provider’s fortunes. For its year to Fiscal 2016 was a year to forget group posted an operating profit 31 May 2017, the FTSE 250 firm for the UK arm of this global of £15.9m on revenues of £167.6m. swung to an operating loss of
24 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017
£53.4m on revenues of £244.5m, This Apple specialist has climbed is now planning to build a custom and a search to find a buyer for a whopping 64 places in the software development team of its web performance and software rankings after posting the biggest up to 75 people at its Canary testing business is now under way. sales hike in Top VARs history. Wharf HQ through its Asynchrony For its year to 31 December 2016, Labs brand. the Manchester-based outfit saw One of a small handful of Dell 15 Apogee revenues balloon from £34.9m EMC elite-level Titanium Black Revenue: £250m to £250.6m – a 618 per cent rise partners, St Louis-based WWT – while operating profit more currently ranks as the US’ 51st Operating profit margin: 10.7% than trebled to £2.2m. GBM’s largest private company, according Apogee became the 800-pound website features a number of well- to Forbes, with 4,000 staff and gorilla of the UK managed produced video case studies on $9bn revenues. print market in March when iPad deployments it has carried out its acquisition of troubled rival in the schools market. Danwood more than doubled 10 KCOM its revenue run rate to £250m. Revenue: £331.3m Danwood was Apogee’s fourth and 12 Dimension Data Operating profit margin: 9.9% largest acquisition since taking Revenue: £258m on investment from Equistone This LSE-listed comms giant’s Operating profit margin: 0.5% Partners Europe in September enterprise arm put in a strong 2016. Apogee’s accounts for its year This global Cisco partner is as performance in its year ending to 31 December 2016 show revenue likely to appear in the pages of 31 March 2017, with revenues up rising by a third to £112.7m and Cycling Weekly as CRN now that it five per cent to £91m. This part of operating profits more than has its own cycling team, whose KCOM’s business specialises quadrupling to £12.1m (hence the riders include Mark Cavendish. in IP-related comms and IT 10.7 per cent operating margin Fiscal 2016 ending 30 September solutions, and counts BUPA, quoted above). was an uphill slog for its main HMRC and NFU Mutual among UK trading entity, however, as its customers. operating profits shrank by 86 per Group revenues were down five 14 SHI cent and revenues came in flat. per cent to £331.3m, however, Revenue: £250m New personnel have arrived and since year end, the LSE-listed since year end, including former outfit has been landed with a Operating profit margin: N/A Cisco and BT Global Services £900,000 fine relating to a failure This global Microsoft Licensing bigwig Andy Ritchie, who was around emergency calls in its Solutions Provider may fly under appointed as UK and Ireland native Hull. most people’s radars in the UK, sales director in February. Based but based on market sources we in South Africa but owned by estimate its local business now has Japanese giant NTT, Dimension 9 XMA a £250m revenue run rate. Fronted Data turns over $7.5bn globally, Revenue: £358.5m by Thailand-born Korean American with offices in 58 countries and Operating profit margin: 1.7% billionaire businesswoman Thai 31,000 staff. Lee, New Jersey-based SHI is the This Nottingham-based reseller largest minority and woman- continues its swift rise up the owned business enterprise (MWBE) 11 World Wide Technology rankings on the back of 17 per in the US, with 3,500 staff and Revenue: £320m cent growth in its year ending 31 $7.5bn revenues globally. See p7 for December 2016. Operating profit Operating profit margin: N/A our Q&A with UK general manager was flat at £6.2m. Darren Brodrick. This US-based technology solutions The public sector specialist provider does not report local pressed the fast-forward button numbers, but based on market on its private sector growth plans 13 GBM sources we estimate its UK sales by taking on 20 staff from fallen Revenue: £250.6m run rate has doubled annually rival Misco’s Weybridge office in to over £300m. Having touched October. The new team will work Operating profit margin: 0.9% down in the UK five years ago, it under newly recruited corporate
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Where in the world 7 Insight Origin of the top 100’s ultimate parent Revenue: £452.5m Operating profit margin: 1.5% International This NASDAQ-listed goliath’s main UK trading entity, Insight Direct (UK), grew revenues by three per cent in its year ending 31 December 2016, which it UK public company attributed partly to brisk trading at its public sector division. The resulting shift in its revenue mix, however, was a factor in gross margins falling from 14.2 to 13.9 per cent. UK private company While software and services sales beefed up a respective 17 and 50 per cent during the year, Insight’s core hardware business endured a patchy 2016, with a “difficult” first half counteracted by double-digit growth in the second half. Annual operating profit fell by £1m to £6.6m. The US parent turned over $5.5bn last year.
6 SCC Revenue: £602m Operating profit margin: 2.9% It is a symbol of SCC’s standing as a British tech success story that secretary of state Liam Fox sales director Tony Brooker, Telent Technology Services isn’t was on hand to open its new himself a former Misco bigwig, the first brand most people would Vietnam delivery centre in and one of several industry big associate with the IT channel, February. hitters XMA has hired in 2017. but its acquisitions of server and The Birmingham-based outfit’s According to its website, XMA storage VAR Richardson Eyres and UK arm continued to subscribe is included on 25 government, Cisco partner Telindus have thrust to a “sales are vanity, profits are education and healthcare it squarely into our market. sanity” philosophy in its latest frameworks, and three-quarters Its Network Services arm, fiscal year as its top line shrank of its projected 2017 sales of £400m which among other things supplies and its bottom line expanded. will come from its public sector Cisco and Juniper kit to telecoms Including the contribution stronghold, CEO Lee Hemani told companies such as Virgin Media, of managed print arm M2, UK us in October. is currently building a ‘Telent revenues were down 7.8 per cent Cloud’ across two datacentres. to £602m in the 12 months to 31 Founded in 1961, Warwick-based March 2017. In contrast, operating 8 Telent Technology Services Telent’s revenues fell two per cent profit powered up from £13.1m Revenue: £386.3m in its year to 31 March 2017, while to £17.2m. operating profit rose fractionally Its main UK trading entity, Operating profit margin: 6.4% to £24.8m. Specialist Computer Centres plc,
26 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017 turned over £574m. Services in March when he resigned as a In March, Daisy chief executive generated £178m, or 31 per cent, director of the firm. Neil Muller told CRN the firm of the total, compared with 17 per CDW UK enjoyed a barnstorming would take a break from M&A cent in 2013. In contrast, SCC said year to 31 December 2016 as activity because it had amassed its focus on removing low-margin revenues hit £648.6m, compared the converged capabilities needed product revenue reduced product with £425.7m for the nine months to reach its £1bn revenue goal turnover by £65m. ending 31 December 2015. That’s organically. Read our Q&A with “EBIT growth will remain our a 14 per cent rise pro rata. During him on p18. objective ahead of revenue,” CEO the year its headcount soared James Rigby said in SCC’s annual through the 1,000 mark. results. It also boasts one of the healthier 2 Softcat bottom lines in the top 100, with operating profits last year of Revenue: £832.5m 5 Capita £40.5m equating to an operating Operating profit margin: 6% Revenue: £616.7m margin of 6.2 per cent. In the This Marlow-based reseller previous period it posted a big loss trounced expectations for its Operating profit margin: 4.9% due to equity awards built into the year ending 31 July 2017 as (underlying) Kelway deal. sales ballooned by 24 per cent. The relevant arm of this public GDPR is a hot topic for the Operating profit rose nearly as sector behemoth – Capita firm, judging from the clock on quickly, from £42.2m to £50.2m. Enterprise IT Services – saw its website counting down the Softcat CEO Martin Hellawell revenues jump 15 per cent to seconds until 25 May 2018. announced in May that he is to £616.7m in calendar 2016, largely step back into the non-executive thanks to its acquisitions of chairman role once a successor Trustmarque, Electranet and 3 Daisy is found. Six months later, on 13 Pervasive. Revenue: £700m November, the board got their man in the form of distribution Capita appointed Jonathan Operating profit margin: -2.4% Lewis as its new chief executive in big hitter Graeme Watt, who will (EBITDA margin: 17.1%) October after issuing its first ever start on 1 April 2018. profits warning last year. Trading This Lancashire-based outfit’s The FTSE 250 firm attributed the across the Capita Enterprise IT rapid ascent up the Top VARs 2017 sales boom to winning 800 Services division – particularly in rankings list continues following new customers and selling more to its ‘Technology Solutions’ reseller its £165m acquisition of last existing ones. business – proved “challenging” year’s #19 outfit Alternative “It has been a privilege to lead in the second half of 2016, Capita Networks. Softcat through a period of 48 admitted in its annual report. For its year to 31 March 2017, quarters of top-line and bottom- Although Capita Enterprise IT Daisy saw revenues hike 18 per line year-on-year organic growth Services’ underlying operating cent to £602.9m, but the firm and, while we are far from perfect profit fell from £49.7m to £30m told us the figure would have and have much we can improve in 2016, its bottom line has stood at £700m if 12 months of on, the business is in good shape recovered this year following a Alternative’s revenue had been and the opportunity ahead of us is restructure of the division, Capita included, hence the headline clear,” Hellawell said at the time of indicated in its first-half progress figure quoted above. its annual results. Turn to p23 to report. EBITDA for the year hit £97.1m, read our Q&A with him covering but after adding in costs associated several topics. with M&A, Daisy was left with 4 CDW UK an operating loss of £14.7m. Revenue: £648.6m Mindful of the importance Daisy Read on to find out which attaches to EBITDA, we have Operating profit margin: 6.2% channel heavyweight quoted both the operating margin Having founded Kelway in 1990 and EBITDA margin in the profile has bagged the coveted and sold it to US outfit CDW in heading, the latter figure being number one spot in Top 2015, Phil Doye closed a chapter based on a £120m EBITDA run rate VARs 2017... in this reseller giant’s history the firm gave us.
CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 27 CRN TOP VARs 2017 1 Computacenter £1.392bn Adjusted operating profit margin: 3.4%
The UK channel’s undisputed two consecutive years, the UK “New technologies, digitalisation silverback still towers head business is now matched in size and our customers’ appetite to and shoulders above its closest by Computacenter’s fast-growing invest is as buoyant as we can competitors, despite enduring a German arm. A new UK managing remember, which is obviously mixed 2016. director, in the shape of Neil Hall, driving our professional services Computacenter’s UK business put was appointed in October. and supply chain services,” the in a “disappointing” performance Group pre-tax profits fell 31 per firm said in late October. in the year to 31 December 2016 cent to £87.1m on revenues that Computacenter’s 2017 as adjusted revenues in its home rose 6.1 per cent to £3.25bn. highlights of include acquiring UK market dipped one per cent to Thankfully, 2017 has been a ServiceNow partner TeamUltra, £1.39bn and adjusted operating different story for the LSE-listed refurbishing its Blackfriars office profits fell sharply from £59.3m to channel bellwether. UK revenues and opening an operation in the £46.7m. Breaking that down, UK are up six per cent for the year to US, which CEO Mike Norris told services revenue fell by 7.6 per cent date, according to a Q3 trading us in July that it may look to to £491.9m, with UK supply chain update, with group revenues bolster through an eight-figure (product) revenue expanding 2.8 currently tracking 18 per cent acquisition. per cent to £899.8m. ahead of last year. It has upgraded Having seen revenue fall for its outlook twice this year. 2016 group revenue breakdown SUPPLY CHAIN Adjusted UK revenue by year (2017 tracking 6% ahead) £ Total: £3.25bn Total: £2.21bn £1.5bn 1.5 (+6.1%) (+6.8%)
MANAGED PROFESSIONAL 1.2£1.2bn SERVICES SERVICES Total: £763.7m Total: £274.2m (+4.9%) (+4.3%) 0.9£0.9bn
£1.41bn £1.39bn £1.24bn £1.37bn 4,356 0.6£0.6bn £1.16bn
UK staff 0.3£0.3bn £310,000 £57,400 Average UK revenue per 0.0 £0 Average UK salary employee 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
28 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK Untitled-1 1 23/11/2017 11:28 CRN TOP VARs 2017 Special forces End users are buying from an increasingly broad spectrum of suppliers and now value specialisation as much as price, this year’s survey of over 250 UK IT decision makers has found. Doug Woodburn reports
A few years ago, big was Are end users generally working By size (see figure 2), 19 per considered beautiful when it with a wider variety of tech cent worked for 10,000-plus-seat came to IT vendors and suppliers. suppliers these days? And to what organisations, 37 per cent for But today, a new school of extent do they value specialisation organisations with 1,001 to 10,000 thought – embodied by HPE’s as a trait in their IT suppliers seats and 20 per cent for those Meg Whitman – has emerged, against opposing factors such as with 251 to 1,000 seats. Some 17 namely that big is cumbersome breadth of offering? per cent worked for SMEs with 25 and unwieldy. HPE’s headcount, Conducted in October, the to 250 heads and six per cent for compared with when Whitman research questioned 258 IT micro-businesses with between took the helm of HP in 2014, has decision makers on a range of one and 25 staff. Respondents were plunged from 300,000 to 50,000. topics including IT budgets, screened out of the survey if they According to this philosophy, supplier strategy, emerging were not an IT decision maker technology has become so technology, and what help they within their organisation. complex that no single vendor are seeking from tech suppliers can hope to cover all the bases, around GDPR. Budget bonanza or move fast enough to fulfil all The respondents worked for a We started off by asking our IT customer needs. Vendors – and diverse range of public and private buyers about their tech budgets. by extension channel partners – sector organisations. The verticals IT suppliers will be high-fiving must be content with providing with the highest representation at the spread of responses (see figure a piece of the jigsaw. The smaller (see figure 1) were education (12 3), with significantly more end and more fleet of foot, the better. per cent) financial services (10 users saying their budgets were In this world, specialisation is per cent), local government and up (48 per cent) than down (18 the new watchword. professional services (nine per cent per cent) in their current fiscal In this year’s Top VARs end-user each), healthcare and telecoms year. Some 30 per cent said their research, we wanted to put this (seven per cent each) and retail and war chest was level-pegging this theory to the test. media (six per cent each). with last year. In even more
1. Which of these best characterises the industry of which your organisation is a part?
Education Financial services Other professional Local government Healthcare Telecoms 12% 10% 9% 9% 7% 7%
Retail Media Other public sector Central government Legal All other 6% 6% 5% 4% 3% 24%
30 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017
2. How many people are employed by your organisation?
One to 25 26 to 250 251 to 1,000 1,001 to 10,000 >10,000 6% 17% 20% 37% 19% positive news, these numbers are per cent of IT leaders having room HP and Microsoft, are pushing significantly up from when we for it in their budgets. This was aggressively into these markets asked the same question last year, closely followed by big data/data with their partners – HP via its Jet when 41 per cent reported an analytics on 53 per cent. Fusion range and Microsoft with uplift in their kitties. Artificial intelligence and the Hololens, respectively. The results are certainly Internet of Things are two buzz consistent with analyst numbers phrases many people feel are Resellers lose crown showing a relative rebound in IT suffering from over-hype. But it In an intriguing development spending this year, with Gartner, appears the hysteria is justified for the channel, IT hardware and for one, recently upping its 2017 in both cases, with over a third software vendors came out top growth forecast to 4.3 per cent. of respondents having set aside when respondents were asked In a first for this annual budget for each. from which breeds of IT supplier research, this year respondents Perhaps even more surprising they buy (see figure 5). They were quizzed about which is the fact that nearly a fifth of commanded scores of 64 and 62 emerging technology areas their end users have budgeted for per cent respectively, ahead of IT organisations had budgeted to 3D-printing and augmented- product resellers on 60 per cent. invest in in their current financial reality projects. This will make When we asked the same question years (see figure 4). comforting reading for resellers, last year, it was IT product resellers Out of the six options listed, particularly considering that two who topped the pecking order, hybrid cloud finished top, with 59 of the channel’s traditional allies, albeit only marginally.
3. In your current fiscal year, has your overall budget for IT goods and services: Increased Stayed flat Decreased
7% 18% 23% 30% 8% 8% 2%
>20+% 5-20% <5% = <5% 5-20% >20+%
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4. Which of the following technology areas has your organisation budgeted to invest in its current fiscal year?
59% 53% 36% 34% 20% 18%
Hybrid cloud Big data/ The Internet AI/cognitive 3D printing Augmented data anlytics of Things computing reality
This trio were by far the has arguably become more This upward trend becomes even most popular IT supplier types, complex, which could make a more apparent when comparing finishing well ahead of telecoms/ jack-of-all-trades approach harder these results with the answers mobile operators (54 per cent) to pull off. we received to the same question cloud services/hosting providers The issue of IT providers in 2016. Back then, the highest (52 per cent), ISVs/app developers spreading themselves too thinly number of respondents (45 per (49 per cent), IT managed services was highlighted in a recent CRN cent) indicated the tally had stayed providers (45 per cent) and IT debate on what traits CIOs seek in the same. Only 34 said the number consultancies (44 per cent). their IT suppliers. had increased a little and four per Bringing up the rear were systems One of the IT leaders present cent that it had increased greatly. integrators (25 per cent) and big said his major bugbear was paying outsourcers (23 per cent). suppliers to learn on his time. Supplier spread “Technology is moving so fast, The theory was also put to the test Big no longer beautiful it can be difficult finding people when we asked respondents how Returning to the key theme who know what they’re talking many suppliers they buy from (see of the research, we also asked about and who are not using me figure 7). respondents several questions as a pilot,” he said. Although more than half said about how many IT suppliers Another added: “One they have relationships with they work with, and how they problematic thing we’ve come three, four or between five and 10 pick them. across is people trying to sell suppliers, 31 per cent indicated A few years ago, big and broad services they don’t actually know that they buy from 11 or more was the order of the day for IT themselves.” suppliers. That compares with vendors and suppliers. End users When we asked respondents in just 25 per cent when we asked were collapsing their supply chains our survey what had happened to the same question a year ago, and with the goal of dealing with as the number of IT suppliers they 24 per cent in 2015. End users few suppliers as possible, or so the work with “in the last few years”, are also less likely to work with argument went. the largest number of respondents a single supplier, or with two Since then, of course, two of the (39 per cent) indicated that it had suppliers, than in previous years. world’s largest vendors, HP and increased a little (see figure 6). Some Variety, it seems, is the spice of life Symantec, have voluntarily split eight per cent said it had increased these days. in two, citing the need to become greatly. While 29 per cent said it For good measure, we also more dynamic and specialised. had stayed the same, only 17 per questioned respondents about how With the rise of hybrid cloud cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively, many IT suppliers they would want and the proliferation of security said the tally had decreased “a to work with in a perfect world threats, the world of technology little” or “greatly”. (see figure 8). The vast bulk, 65 per
32 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017
scored above average. 5. Which of the following types of IT supplier does your It is perhaps telling that ‘breadth organisation buy from or work with directly? of offering’ (3.2) scored the second lowest out of all the options, ahead Major IT software vendors and devs 64% of only ‘based locally’, which scored a lowly 2.9. IT hardware manufacturers 62% In your own words IT product resellers 60% We also asked the end users to Telecoms providers 54% briefly tell us in their own words about how they choose their Cloud services/hosting providers52% IT suppliers, and some of the responses can be read on p34. Independent software vendors 49% With GDPR the undisputed £ topic du jour, we couldn’t resist IT MSPs 45% picking respondents’ brains on the IT consultancies 44% incoming data protection rules, Sys integrators25% which kick in on 25 May 2018, specifically in relation to what Big outsourcers 23% kind of help and guidance, if any, they are seeking from their IT suppliers (see p38-39 for some advice on how resellers should be preparing for cent, plumped for the nirvana factors are when choosing their IT GDPR internally). of ‘a handful of suppliers, but suppliers (see figure 9). Although there was a marked not too many’. The number who Price was only the third most range of responses, several selected ‘a wide array of specialised important of the nine options respondents made it clear they saw suppliers’ stood at 14 per cent, up listed, with a mean score of 3.8 GDPR as being outside the remit from 12 per cent two years ago. out of five. Topping the pile were of their tech suppliers. “GPDR is Conversely, the number preferring ‘honesty and integrity’ (4.0) and viewed as a business/governance a single-supplier scenario fell from ‘demonstrable track record of issue in our organisation, rather eight to seven per cent. specialism in relevant area’ (3.9). than an IT issue,” one said. The question of specialisation ‘Financial stability and scale’ Another had this pearl of was addressed even more directly (3.7), ‘highly recommended by wisdom: “Contracts with specific when we asked respondents peers’ (3.5 per cent) and ‘existing suppliers will need to be rewritten about how important a range of relationship’ (3.5 per cent) also to ensure they cover GDPR
6. In the past few years, has the number 7. How many suppliers of IT goods and services of suppliers you work with... does your organisation currently work with?
8% 39% 29% 17% 4% 3% 1% 6% 16% 11% 27% 31% 8%
Increased Increased Stayed Decreased Decreased Don’t greatly a little the same a little greatly know One Three Don’t Two Four Five-10 11+ know
CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 33 CRN TOP VARs 2017
What I look for in my IT suppliers: Andy Maxwell, director IT, Pyrotek What does Pyrotek do? Cold calls never work for me. If a phone number is Pyrotek is a global engineering not known, I will normally let it go to voicemail. The leader in the aluminium industry. same applies to email spam as most of this goes It operates in more than 35 into Clutter and is highly unlikely to be looked at as countries with over 60 locations there are far too many of these items. with products and solutions I would say that often the key for us is good in use around the world in information online as normally we will investigate automotive, aerospace, rail needs when we need to explore something. Now, transportation and high-tech that does not always work with innovative technology manufacturing. as we don’t even know it is there and we are more The IS [information systems] team’s role covers likely to discover this at shows and conferences, or supporting PCs, servers, network, security, cloud in the IT press. services, ERP and CRM systems. It is currently in the middle of moving to O365 having moved Exchange Can you give us an example of a project where an already, as well as upgrading 44 ERP instances to IT supplier has really impressed you? What did a newer version with major schema changes and a they get right? new version of SQL. Probably the best experience was working with a partner on selecting our CRM vendor. This was a What traits do you seek in your IT suppliers? US firm which specialised in CRM. Their knowledge I look for IT suppliers who are able to provide a was excellent, they very quickly understood our global service at a reasonable cost. We manage to business and unlike other partners, did not point a tight IS budget and are not interested in being out our failings unless asked for opinions. They had a test bed for a vendor to learn a new application experience across many different market types and themselves. We need honesty from vendors so that if business cultures and could work well with both IS they are suggesting an original approach, they need and the business teams. They were a trusted adviser to be very clear that this is new to them as well. through the selection and this continues beyond go-live. We discovered them via articles they had What are your main dos and don’ts for resellers published online. when they are selling to you? One very annoying approach is to scattergun people Do MDs see you as part of their digital journey, at the company, so when I get the same email or are you still just viewed as a massive cost that forwarded to me from CFO and marketing staff, it everyone wants to bring down? does not tend to get a lot of attention. The same This is a tricky one to answer. Yes, IS is a part of the applies when I say something is not of interest, to digital journey and for some people we are moving then email my boss about it. All that does is solidify too slow and for others there is far too much change my mind more. A major ‘do’ is to listen to what we at the moment. People would like more money spent want and not what a vendor wants to sell. As I said on IS in areas that affect them, but would like the previously, be honest. If something will not work, total cost to reduce or to not be in their costs. I then tell us upfront; finding out later will leave a very would say the company is making good progress on bad taste. We have had a vendor in the past quote the journey to digital transformation but there is still pricing based on the Professional version and then a long way to go. demonstrate the features of Enterprise and at no A good example is a US project for a paperless point make this clear. This was a significant reason shopfloor with work orders, bills of materials, for their not getting the business. drawings and so on all available on screens. This is progressing well but hits issues such as not having How can IT suppliers best influence you early in a standard drawing vault or different processes in the sales cycle? Do email spam or cold calls work? different places.
34 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017
8. In general, would you personally prefer to work with: ?
7% 65% 14% 14% One supplier to A handful of A wide array It’s impossible fulfil all our IT suppliers, but of specialised to generalise needs not too many suppliers requirements if these suppliers Judging from the comments, aside budget for hybrid cloud this process (or store) data for us.” most end users see GDRP as a year and over a third for IoT. Even A summary of the responses can legal or business assurance issue augmented reality and 3D printing be read on p38-39. largely outside the remit of their feature in the budget plans of technology suppliers. However, a nearly one in five end users apiece. Conclusion second category of end user can Generally speaking, end users The results of this year’s Top VARs also be identified who is looking are broadening the spectrum of IT research will provide an equal for resellers to step up and play a suppliers they buy from – with blend of encouragement and trusted adviser role in the run-up nearly a third of respondents now concern for resellers. to May 2018. For resellers, it will working with 11 or more partners. In the minus column, resellers be about sorting which of the two In today’s market – where the have lost their status as the most categories their customers fall into. technology landscape is becoming commonly used breed of IT On the plus side, nearly half of all more complex and multi-faceted supplier. That accolade is now held end users have seen an expansion – end users are as likely to buy by hardware and software vendors, in their IT budgets year on year, on the specialisation suppliers albeit by a narrow margin. significantly up on last year. can demonstrate as they are on Resellers may also have to Some of the buzzphrases price. Those that can demonstrate accept that they will often have resellers have embraced in recent domain expertise in their chosen only a limited role to play in end years are clearly more than hype. areas of specialisation, therefore, users’ GDPR compliance plans. Nearly six in 10 end users have set are sure to prosper.
9. When thinking of how you go about choosing your IT suppliers, please score these factors out of five, with 1 being not at all important and 5 being extremely important
2.9 3.2 3.4 3.5 3.5
s V d p g n H i e e E B y B n o i x h a ll r ri nd ti g d is s sed oca ea ffe o ita hly en tin ion
l dth of o r accred recomm g relat
T
n r
a 3.7 3.8 3.9 o 4.0 F i e c l t i n k a a a c r s H ty s e li o i nc c a n r ia & ord ci es teg l stability Price of spe ty & in
CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 35 CRN TOP VARs 2017
■ How end users select IT suppliers “Based on service, credit checks.” “Formal ITT process, short selection “Send out requirements to a few (Telecoms, 26-250 seats) then proof-of-concept.” companies, receive the best price (Telecoms, 10k+ seats) – that’s what we go with.” “Tend to purchase from suppliers (Education, 251-1k seats) on national procurement “Global purchasing is now taking frameworks.” precedence over local partners.” “We use some resellers specifically (Education, 1,001-10k seats) (Healthcare, 10k+ seats) to ‘box-shift’ – usually large organisations that have the best “It’s all done by tender, which is “We find out the costs for certain buying power to offer the best scored (weighted by quality and items and see how they compare prices. Smaller resellers usually price).” with what we currently pay. I would offer better service, advice and (Local government, 1,001-10k seats) speak to them on the phone and support so they will be used get a ‘feel’ for them.” “Capability of the software, then where a more consultative (Transport, 26-250 seats) professionalism and integrity of approach is needed.” provider.” “They are selected according (Financial services, 1,001-10k seats) (Professional to a previous relationship if “There is a formal procedure that services, possible. Cost is considered, as is needs to be followed to onboard 10k+ expertise, flexibility and scalability. a new supplier; it’s nothing seats) We initially make a smaller particularly demanding but it is commitment and take on more surprising how few actually make services if the experience is good.” it through the process.” (Telecoms, 251-1k seats) (Professional services, 10k+ seats)
■ Characteristics respondents value in suppliers “A good fit culturally – and willing over to help as we had a deadline “Honest to be flexible.” to meet. You cannot buy that kind assessments (Financial services, 10k+ seats) of service!” of vendors’ (Financial services, 1,001-10k seats) products. “Flexible, secure, scalable, open Reasonable source, minimised costs. GDPR “Ability to focus on a long- offers are compliant.” term relationship with some nice to see. (Public sector, 1,001-10k seats) ability to understand our sector Good-quality (where relevant). Still have to be “You build up a good rapport and support is competitively priced.” they know your company and needs important, but (Non-profit, 26-250 seats) really well. You cannot pass that not at high prices.” kind of knowledge to someone “Honesty about pricing. Not being (Central government, 10k+ seats) else quickly. Constant changes in charged more than other buyers – “Prefer suppliers who have previous account manager tell me that those transparent prices.” experience of the same industry.” people don’t wish to stay in the (Public sector, 1,001-10k seats) (Retail, 1-25 seats) role long and it doesn’t fill me with “I appreciate genuine sellers who confidence. I’ve had one account “Price is king in the education are upfront about their services manager come to unbox a load of sector. The supplier with the and give realistic goals on the IT monitors and terminals because the cheapest price will win 99.99 per service. We know it’s never perfect delivery was late. Even though the cent of the time.” and sometimes things go wrong.” fault didn’t fall on him, he came (Education, 1,001-10k seats) (Financial services, 1-25 seats)
36 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017
■ Tactics that drive respondents crazy “Trotting out people who used “Hard sells, not answering our orders; to work for us and took a job questions and a lack of integrity they get with a supplier, making out are all big problems for us.” delivered that they better understand our (Manufacturing, 10k+ seats) incorrectly requirements, is an irritant; as is so often.” “Cold calls are a no – we ignore jumping on the latest buzzword (Education, them and blacklist the supplier.” bandwagon and pretending to be at 251-1k seats) (Financial services, 251-1k seats) the vanguard of the next big thing, “Hard-sell and when they are only following.” “Not a fan of suppliers who think no-depth suppliers are bad. We (Central government, 10k+ seats) their products should cost much suffered from this with a major more than their competitors “When suppliers cold call and supplier a while ago.” however they dress it up.” suggest they are from a big player (Professional services, 1-25 seats) (Media, 26-250 seats) to get through to your desk.” “I get annoyed when people try to (Professional services, 26-250 seats) “Arrogance of product line – ‘we sell you stuff before asking what can do everything, no need to talk “Big brands and hard sells.” your needs are.” to anyone else!’” (Legal, 26-250 seats) (Education, 251-1k seats) (Non-profit, 26-250 seats) “Cold calls and emails are more “Buzzwords, jargon and slimy “We never deal with someone likely to put me off using a supplier high-pressure sales are all a big who has not bothered to properly rather than induce me to use them. turn-off. Also suppliers who don’t understand our business.” I am thinking of removing myself understand our environment, (Charity, 1,001-10k seats) from LinkedIn because it just and we are big enough that they generates cold calls.” “The worst thing about IT should.” (Engineering, 251-1k seats) companies is the addressing of (Healthcare, 1,001-10k seats)
■ How respondents think suppliers can stand out “A truly useful offering, for which a “Show trustworthiness and [their] what your needs are. In addition, clear use case can be seen for our track record.” they need to be responsive and business, is the surest way to open (Local government, 1,001-10k seats) flexible.” a dialogue. Being expert in what (Professional services, 1-25 seats) “Research and articles in sector- they do and having a genuine USP specific publications/websites not “IT firms that are clear about what are good indicators.” owned/promoted by vendors.” their capabilities actually are tend (Central government, 10k+ seats) (Distribution, 1,001-10k seats) to get further – the vague ‘we can “Client testimonials are critical, as do whatever you need’ answers “Be able to offer a wide range of are example projects. Certifications become frustrating and reduce products and services as well as from external bodies confidence.” good pricing but above all, need ensure we feel (Retail, 10k+ seats) great customer service. The that a degree of account manager needs to be “An existing relationship with a independent ‘static’ as well. I don’t like it known quantity will usually trump vetting has been when account managers change modest price differentials.” performed.” frequently.” (Media, 26-250 seats) (Education, (Financial services, 251-1k seats) 251-1k seats) “Wide ranges, expertise, and free “Suppliers should get to know delivery.” your business and understand (Wholesale, 251-1k seats)
CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 37 CRN TOP VARs 2017 OUR IT DECISION MAKERS ON...
■ What GDPR support end users need from their IT suppliers “A number of suppliers “Help with assessment “We are self sufficient “We’re of the view that will be needed to and changes required. – we bought a security GDPR will require IT undertake GDPR work. IT suppliers must consultancy!” investment but that it’s Others will be contracted understand our business (Telecoms, 251-1k seats) not solely an IT solution. to help.” challenges with GDPR, We need to change our “Some support and (Industrial, 10k+ seats) and not just want to sell mindsets when it comes guidance to fill specific another magic bullet to data and treat it like “Better engagement knowledge/skill gaps in product that will solve stock, holding only what from suppliers/training.” the short term.” all GDPR problems. We we need, and being clear (Local government, 10k+ (Healthcare, 10k+ seats) have not completed our about what’s sufficient. seats) preparations!” “GDPR support from The tendency in the past “Encryption technology (Retail, 10k+ seats) suppliers will be in the has been that more data from our database main related to their own is better; the future view “Just assistance with supplier. That is all compliance with GDPR.” needs to be on the right ensuring that discovery I need (and already (Retail, 1,001-10k seats) data at the right time.” and deletion tools are have).” (Utilities, 26-250 seats) effective and included.” “We don’t want (IT, 1-25 seats) (Retail, 10k+ seats) additional help from “Will not need any help, “Gap analysis, planning people who claim to This is the new Y2K and “Knowing what is and consultancy. know GDPR when we are lots of suppliers are just going on.” (Manufacturing, 251-1k working through it.” trying to make money out (Education, 251-1k seats) seats) (Financial services, 26- of the panic!” “Managing existing 250 seats) (Education, 251-1k seats) “Guidance around resources in the cloud.” technical solutions (e.g. “We advise on this, so “Deep technical (Manufacturing, 26-250 for avoiding extraction we have the expertise.” knowledge; solutions that seats) of data). Experience of (Professional services, work in the real world.” what is working well in “No support needed as 10k+ seats) (Retail, 1,001-10k seats) other businesses.” we specialise in GDPR.” “We have an onsite “Desktop support, office (Consumer (Professional services, employee whose part- networking support.” goods, 251- 1-25 seats) time role is to asses and (IT, 26-250 seats) 1k seats) “Our legal team is look at data protection “Lots!” currently working on issues. Where in-house (Transport, 10k+ seats) our GDPR requirements is not always possible but these will involve or appropriate, we will “Maybe some security considerable IT look at temporarily consultancy.” considerations. hiring a third party to (Public sector, 1,001-10k However, many of our get us up to the relevant seats) suppliers are also expertise.” “We need suppliers to investigating the impact (Telecoms, 251-1k seats) be fully aware of GDPR of this.” “We have taken advice and not just use it as (Healthcare, 26-250 from companies not a buzzword to sell us seats) trying to sell IT services.” things.” (Manufacturing, 251- (Public sector, 1,001- 1k seats) 10k seats)
38 CHANNELWEB.CO.UK CRN TOP VARs 2017
■ Whether they are compliant with GDPR “Going OK so far and “GDPR is not to big a “Given that GDPR is “It’s all being dealt with most companies have deal for us, we have not fully defined and in-house, with a select been responsive to our little PII and it’s mainly doesn’t necessarily have number of individuals requests.” in email form, which is a broad understanding having outside training.” (Housing, 251-1k seats) being secured.” in the wider world, it’s (Education, 251-1k seats) (Logistics, 251-1k seats) to be expected that “GDPR completed.” “We have already some of the detail will (Education, 1-25 seats) “I think we should be OK completed preparations end up being sorted already.” for GDPR.” “GDPR is embraced by out in court. Given (Local government, 10k+ (Telecoms, 26-250 seats) our organisation and that GDPR is not fully seats) taken very seriously. We defined and clients/ “Our legal department are ready.” “I feel like we have suppliers consequently carried out a gap (Manufacturing, 1,001- already complied with can’t be fully analysis to current 10k seats) the GDPR standards and prepared, some practice and we made preparations but level of mess is have developed an “GDPR is in hand and we it would be good if IT inevitable.” action plan based have specialists involved suppliers helped.” (Professional on this.” in the risk assessments.” (Financial services, 1-25 services, (Manufacturing, 10k+ (Healthcare, 251-1k seats) seats) 10k+ seats) seats)
■ Whether they feel GDPR is outside IT suppliers’ remit “GDPR is primarily legal ensure we meet our “We are looking at GDPR protection team and and we believe we are obligations. I would see across functions and it implemented by IT.” close to compliance this as quite specialist is definitely not limited (Local government, already. It only really and not something to IT. Third-party supplier 1,001-10k seats) affects suppliers where we would look to our assurance is not yet in “GPDR is being dealt we take an external existing IT suppliers for.” place across the board with as an issue for the service hosting key data. (Public sector, 1,001-10k but any new services are compliance department, Nevertheless, it is an seats) subject to DPIAs.” not IT.” important concern.” (Utilities, 1,001-10k “It is mostly a business (Manufacturing, 26-250 (Financial services, seats) operations issue which is seats) 1,001-10k seats) outside the IT domain.” “GDPR spans across all “GPDR is largely outside “It’s an internal/legal (Retail, 251-1k seats) departments and needs the remit of suppliers issue.” to be taught to every “GDPR isn’t an IT issue (they should however (Public sector, 1,001-10k employee who uses a on its own. IT is and can raise the issue where seats) computer.” be an enabler to help relevant). It’s a (Hospitality, “GDPR is seen comply but too much business issue, 1,001-10k more as a legal or focus is being put on this although the seats) compliance issue and being an IT solution. The business may is managed separately board and company need “GDPR will not be aware to cybersecurity. to get in line, then bring have an of this without Anecdotally it’s covered in IT to see if they can effect on IT prompting.” off, but possibly some help the process.” but should also (Distribution, 1,001- support or guidance (Professional services, 26- be directed via the 10k seats) might be useful to 250 seats) legal/HR/data
CHANNELWEB.CO.UK 39 CRN TOP VARs 2017 1-100 index 1 Computacenter £1.392bn 39 Storm Technologies £81.7m 77 Intercity Technology £40.1m 2 Softcat £832.5m 40 OCSL £80.5m 78 Edenhouse Solutions £39.5m 3 Daisy £700m 41 NG Bailey IT Services £75.9m 79 CSI £39.1m 4 CDW UK £648.6m 42 NTT Security £72.5m 80 DTP £38.6m 5 Capita £616.7m 43 Comparex £72.5m 81 Hardware UK £37.5m 6 SCC £602m 44 NSC Global £71.8m 82 Printerland £36.9m 7 Insight £452.5m 45 Getronics £66m 83 ECS £36.8m 8 Telent Technology Services 46 Vohkus £64.4m 84 Options £36.5m £386.3m 47 ANS £62.7m 85 Bechtle £36.3m 9 XMA £358.5m 48 Altodigital £61.8m 86 Grey Matter £35.9m 10 KCOM £331.3m 49 Annodata £60.1m 87 TET Limited £35.6m 11 World Wide Technology £320m 50 MCSA Group £60m 88 Esteem £35m 12 Dimension Data £258m 51 OneCom £59.9m 89 Wireless Logic £34.9m 13 GBM £250.6m 52 Axians Networks £59.6m 90 Trams £34.8m 14 SHI £250m 53 ProAV £59.4m 91 TSG £34.4m 15 Apogee £250m 54 Centerprise £59.3m 92 Adept Telecom £34.4m 16 NCC Group £244.5m 55 NTT Data £57.1m 93 The Saville Group £34.4m 17 Bytes £238m 56 Xeretec £56.1m 94 eBECS £33.1m 18 Ebuyer £188.6m 57 Stormfront £55.8m 95 Viadex £32.7m 19 RM £167.6m 58 Timico Technology Group 96 Natilik £32.6m 20 BT Business Direct £156.5m £55.7m 97 Red Stack Tech £32.4 21 Logicalis £153.9m 59 Proact £55.4m 98 Intrinsic £32.4m (pro rata) 22 CCS Media £153m 60 Millgate £54.2m 99 PCMS £31.6m 23 SBL £130.6m 61 Total Computers £52.1m 100 Excitech £31.3m 24 SoftwareONE £125.8m 62 GCI £51.9m 25 Buy IT Direct £120.7m 63 European Electronique £50.1m 26 Avanade £119.7m 64 Academia £48.7m The figures on this list are intended to 27 Phoenix Software £118.4m 65 AVM Impact £47.8m be a fair and reasonable reflection of the 28 Bell Integration £111m 66 Zones £46.5m annual sales of each company that are generated in this country by a UK-registered 29 Chess £110.3m 67 Cloudreach £46m trading entity. They are based on annual 30 Maintel £108.3m 68 Blue Chip Customer accounts filed at Companies House or, in 31 Redcentric £104.6m Engineering £45.4m select cases, reliable first-hand testimony or informed market research. Figures may 32 Scan Computers £99.7m 69 PC Specialist £43.9m have been recalculated to account for sales 33 Ultima Business Solutions 70 IDE Group £43.4m or acquisitions; extended or truncated £96.8m 71 Sabio £43.4m reporting periods; the identification of a UK 34 CAE £95.7m 72 Cisilion £43m sales figure from a larger total; or a currency conversion at a historically appropriate 35 Jigsaw24 £95.2m 73 RedstoneConnect £41.5m exchange rate. 36 Claranet £94.2m 74 Probrand £41.1m If you have any questions, comments 37 K3 £84.6m 75 4Com £41m or complaints, please email [email protected] 38 Stone £84.5m 76 MTI £40.1m
Incisive Media, New London House, 172 Drury Lane, London WC2B 5QR Tel: (020) 7484 9000 Editor Doug Woodburn 9817 Deputy editor Trevor Treharne 9734 Reporter Tom Wright 9797 Senior reporter Josh Budd 9854 Reporter Nima Green 9781 Senior production editor Amy Micklewright Commercial director Matt Dalton 9896 Head of global sales Nina Patel 9943 Client manager Naomi Cregan 9959 Account director Jessica Feldman 9839 Group publishing director Alan Loader Managing director, Incisive Media Jonathon Whiteley © 2017 Incisive Media
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