Global services firms will increasingly look to their smaller, more specialist counterparts as a means of bolstering their own offerings, and will snap them up.

After all, it beats investing time and resources in training up a whole new workforce, when the answer to your problems is practically right on your doorstep.

Judging by some of the contracts these mammoth services firms are involved in, particularly those in the public sector, they could certainly do with the help of a firm whose sole existence has been to provide an efficient, tailored service within a designated time frame and, more importantly, within budget.

Take the fiasco that is the NHS IT system. This is a typical example of a contract being awarded to a larger firm that no longer has to prove its worth and has become complacent and bloated in terms of resources over the years. This leads to projects that run way over deadline and run multi-millions of pounds over budget.

However, it is not just IT companies that are a victim of this problem ­ it can be found in most of the major services industries. The only ones to really suffer are the end user customers and, as is normal in the public sector, the taxpayers.

In comparison, smaller players such as Vistorm have had years of being overlooked for lucrative public sector or international contracts, and as a result have become tough, lean and extremely competent at their core skills.

Vistorm may be the first channel player to be acquired by a major services firm this year, but it will most certainly not be the last.