CRN Hot Seat 2013 - Gavin Lyons

Chief executive of Accumuli outlines what he sees as the technology hot spots for the year ahead and explains the importance of value and relationships. Sara Yirrell reports

What are your plans for this year?

The sale of Webscreen [the firm recently sold its Webscreen assets to Juniper for $10m] was to allow us to focus on our core business. Webscreen was a software vendor in its own right and conflicted with what Accumuli did because it needed its own channel. We will remain a reseller of Webscreen and focus on our core competencies and strategy.

We have three pillars of the business: technology solutions, managed services and professional services. We add tangible value and aim to recommend technology that enables companies to do more with the same or fewer people. It makes their existing technology more accurate and through our services it enables companies to save money.

Focusing on those three core business pillars will enable us to help customers become more efficient and save money.

The prime reason for the sale of Webscreen was to focus on and invest in our three pillars. We have a very clean strategy and portfolio and if the opportunity to acquire a company that fits comes along, we have the funding to do so. It will also allow us to look at larger acquisitions than we have before.

We have been a company that has been busily working away in the background and has been focused on build and buy, which has resulted in the creation of a real powerhouse in our field. My job is to accelerate the growth of the company.

We are currently 60 strong and have offices in Basingstoke and Leeds. Last year we hit £12.6m in revenue and we intend to grow at a rapid rate this year. We are always looking to recruit – in areas such as professional services and technically accountable people as well.

What technology trends do you see in 2013?

I think we are looking at four key trends for the coming year:

■ Security intelligence. For companies to protect their business, they need to be able to detect, prevent and mediate threats. Having an intelligent information security platform that tracks internal and external threats will be vital. The volume of attacks and data is impossible for companies to handle – having a real-time platform will take away that headache.

■ Big data in terms of security analytics. Big data is becoming a strategic asset for any business. It is valuable to anyone looking to steal it. Having the security measures in place to protect that big data is becoming a boardroom-level question.

■ Cloud already has an enormously heightened profile. Businesses will look at the cloud to outsource the next wave of their non-core systems. Companies want to focus on their core system that will make their business unique and drive growth.

■ Consumerisation and the control of that trend. Enterprises have been hit by an unstoppable wave of consumer technology in their organisations over the past year and they have let it happen because they don’t want to be seen as a blocker and stopping innovation. This year companies will look to regain control and retain security of those devices.

How do you see the economy panning out this year?

It is all a case of confidence. The next 24 months will be much of the same, with a gradual recovery. The object is to continue recovery without being too adversely affected by the US, Europe and China.

Companies tend to invest and support growth, and organisations are trying to do more with less to save money. We are aligning our core offerings with customer needs and budgets.

Do I feel confident? Yes – we have cash in the bank and a very clean strategy. Our core proposition works with the current environment and we have a stable financial business.

I agree with others who are saying there are funds available in the IT industry. The right projects are seeing sales cycles becoming longer and due diligence becoming greater. There is pressure on organisations to get value for money in procurement.

We are making sure we work with customers that recognise the value in what we do and build a relationship with them. We are not interested in low-margin business just for the sake of doing business.

We have about 250 customers and have expanded the range of industry sectors we cover – and we have a global customer base – active in retailing, gaming, financial markets and government. We are well proportioned and geared for growth.

COMPANY PROFILE

Accumuli is a Basingstoke and Leeds-based security specialist, focusing on helping its customers protect their businesses against cybercrime and other security threats.

The firm’s offerings – a mix of technology, professional and managed services, and secure IT infrastructure – provide real-time security intelligence and reduce total cost of implementation and ongoing management.

It partners with more than 20 vendors including Cisco, Fortinet, Check Point, Juniper and Blue Coat. Accumuli has a global customer base with companies of all sizes in a range of sectors including financial services, utilities, telecoms, manufacturing and government.