‘Revenue is for vanity’: Academia MD talks Smartdesc acquisition

Mark McCormack discusses the recent Smartdesc acquisition, revenue forecasts and plans for the future

Academia’ s acquisition of MSP Smartdesc, in a move to improve its certification levels with new vendors, came after a long and careful search for the right fit, according to MD Mark McCormack.

Sitting down with CRN after the announcement, McCormack says at one point the reseller was in active conversation with 20 other potential buys.

Smartdesc appeared to be the right and logical fit, as “it wasn't all about necessarily buying scale, but it was buying expertise and adding value to what we've got already,” says McCormack.

He adds that the Smartdesc skill set enhances the reseller’s managed service stack to bring in-house cyber services.

The new team also brings in expertise, as they are trained and knowledgeable in the world of cyber and networking infrastructure.

“We're now an interesting conversation for Microsoft and Cisco,” says the MD.

The acquisition of Smartdesc boosts the VAR’s presence into the Windows space, on top of already being an Apple partner.

“They have consultants, architects, helpdesk, which will enhance all the things we didn't have, while also giving us the ability to transfer those skills into our current customer base,” states McCormack.

The MD wants to make it clear that the focus on Apple will not be reduced by Smartdesc’s relationship with Microsoft.

“Apple is still a massive part of what we do, and it will stay that way, as the majority of what we sell is likely to continue to be Apple and Apple services.

“What we are doing is giving our customers the choice on procurement of products, hardware, services, and software.

“Currently, they are going elsewhere for their integration from Windows environment into Apple.

“We can now do it at scale, and customers are very happy to continue with us.”

He also refers to the company culture being a “huge” factor for the acquisition, as the acquired MSP is a hybrid company, and is “very big on staff recognition”, creating pathways for employees to move up the company ladder.

The merger will allow Academia to grasp more opportunities in the future, with for example the incoming Windows 11 upgrade programme.

The latter will impact multiple practices for the reseller, including its public sector, not-for-profit, and mid-market client bases.

Academia became involved in the public sector a year ago when the company was awarded the technology products & associated services 2 (TePAS 2) framework.

That same year, it put a team in place for mid-market.

“Both sectors have been doing well, and we’re expecting more than double-digit growth as a percentage for both teams.”

Next: Leadership transformations and 2025 predictions…

Smartdesc’s 80 employees will be joining Academia, bringing the company headcount to 300.

Regarding the MSP’s leadership team, McCormack says it will stay in place in the foreseeable future.

“Nothing in their company is broken, so we don’t need to fix anything. We're not buying a company that's going the wrong way, quite the opposite.

“We’re keeping both boards separate for now, but there will be a lot of collaboration, and we'll be working a lot closer together.

“As they come from an MSP and we come from more of a traditional VAR, it's going to be as we are learning from each other.”

The MD adds that when time comes, there will be opportunities to recreate a wider board.

After delivering 22 per cent growth in FY23, Academia has repeated this feat in FY24, exceeding its 15 to 20 per cent expectation.

“Higher education is broadly in growth or flat, but we're growing in schools.

“Commercial, B2B business, and public sector are giving us that double-digit growth.”

After an almost 20 per cent revenue increase in Q1, the company is now projecting 15 per cent growth for 2025.

But this growth, as McCormack admits, is not the most important parameter for the company.

“Revenue is for vanity.

“We don't want to get too hooked on the revenue number, but revenue does drive service and opportunities, so we have to keep an eye on it.

“We really want to make this company as sustainable and profitable as possible, but also having the ability to reinvest and do new and exciting things for the team and open opportunities up for our customer base in way of acquisition.”

In terms of acquisitions, the VAR doesn’t have specific names in mind but admits that there will be more.

“We're always acquisitive,” says McCormack.