JUST A MINUTE
TALKING TAAS
In this interview Michael Lloyd, MD of distributor Nuvola, reveals
how he is tackling the UC market and presenting resellers with new
models in a service offering
CBM: CAN YOU GIVE US AN UPDATE ON NUVOLA?
ML: Certainly, half of our workforce is engineering… Yes, my wage bill is scary! All my
engineers are at least tier two, so anyone you speak to will try and close the call which
means there is no need to pass the call over. We’ve been doing that for a very long
time, we are a very hands-on company.
We are at 30 staff now. We’ve also never used an agency, we recruit solely through
connections. This means we are able to build business divisions with people I can trust.
CBM: WHAT KIND OF THINGS HAS THIS ENABLED YOU TO LAUNCH?
ML: More recently we have been focused on TaaS (Technology as a Service). We want
to deliver as a service, we can even do data networks as a service. This enables the
reseller to go to their customers and offer them everything as a service on a monthly
bill. The customer won’t need skills because it can be a managed service, this is where
the MSPs will come in and do well because they don’t need to skill up.
Whenever our resellers go in to see customers, I always tell them to make sure
they have something new to show them, it’s a philosophy I have always stuck to. My
job is to deliver this new division for TaaS, as a reseller they are already a part of the
business and have their credit lines etc. They can now go and sell something new, it
just gives our partners a lot of choice to go to customers with.
CBM: WHAT ABOUT THE TRANSITION TO RECURRING REVENUES?
ML: We are trying to give partners options on the model to help them transition to
recurring revenues. For example, if they sell 100 users upfront, they’ll get x amount of
thousand which means they can give the salesman a bit of commission but then they
still have recurring revenues coming in. We have different terms depending on the
vendor we are selling.
We have a master agent and a wholesale agent model which gives great options for
partners. It will be down to the partner themselves, but we want to enable reseller no
matter what their preferences are.
Elite acquires MWL
OWNER-OPERATED ELITE
GROUP has agreed its
latest acquisition with
MWL Systems. Operating
from their office in
Wrexham, MWL Systems
is an IT support and
services business, and
this latest acquisition is
Elite’s 17th since 2008.
Elite’s IT Services
division practice has
been expanding rapidly
over the past two
years as it focuses on
the opportunities in
the growing service
sector. Acquiring MWL
Systems gives Elite
access to an additional
40 highly skilled and
experienced IT staff with
a proven track record of
supporting and growing
their business and
customers.
Tech Entrepreneur,
Matt Newing (pictured),
best known for founding
Elite Group, says, “Elite
will continue to grow
through both organic
means and acquisition.
We have a further
£20m in our acquisition
war chest and are
actively looking for
opportunities.”
Is Pollock in for a huge
payday?
RUMOURS ARE CIRCULATING that a Chess auction is
in the making after reports broken by the Telegraph
emerged which indicated David Pollock, CEO, is
looking to offload a controlling stake in the company.
The company is estimated to be worth in the
region of £150 million. Pollock apparently appointed
Rothschild earlier this year to oversee a competitive
auction process which could see acquisitive
companies such as Daisy enter the bidding.
Are we likely to see another private equity takeover
if the rumours are true? Adam Zoldan, Director
of Knight Corporate Finance, commented on the
recent Channel Insider Podcast, “PE is consistently
outbidding trade at the moment. The one of late where
trade has won an auction is the Wavenet acquisition
of Solar. There is also Charterhouse Voice and Data
which has just gone PE and the same for G3 Comms.”
At the time of publication Chess had not responded
to requests for comment.
The Channel Insider Podcast is now available from
iTunes, SoundCloud and the CommsBusiness website.
To read the full stories and keep up to date on the latest news visit
www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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