‘We will become a different business’: Exclusive Networks UK country manager

Adam Williamson talks services shift, regional leadership reshuffle and €1bn run rate

Adam Williamson, who has taken on the role of UK country manager after 16 years at Exclusive Networks, intends to use his background to help shape the future of the company.

His appointment, combined with the organisation’s recent move to go private with CD&R, means the investment will allow Exclusive to become a different business over the next few months, a year, and beyond, as it works through various value-creation plans, he tells CRN in an interview.

Williamson identifies the biggest shift as professional services, training, support and managed services.

While the firm already has these elements, he says the distie needs to be bundled more coherently, including health checks, licence-use reviews and feature enablement to ensure customers get full value from what they buy.

“A renewal shouldn’t be the end of the sale; it should be the beginning of the next one,” he explains.

The strategy will now centre on customer success and helping partners deliver more effectively to end customers.

“We’re kicking off a number of regional and global projects,” he adds.

“We’re reviewing systems usage, what CRM we use, how we manage renewals and we’re deploying AI and automation to remove labour-intensive tasks.

“It’s not about reducing headcount but improving how we engage with partners and vendors.”

Vendor and reseller relationships

In terms of vendors, the UK leader notes that the firm’s relationship with Palo Alto Networks is “excellent”, pointing to its acquisition scheme and approach to AI.

“Their recent AI strategy resembles their original firewall message: ‘if you can’t see it, you can’t secure it.’ They’re not blocking AI, they’re enabling it safely.

“Every organisation wants to embrace AI. If people aren’t allowed to use it, some will move to companies that let them.”

He adds that growth with Rubrik is “extremely fast,” while Netskope is accelerating in security service edge (SSE) and SentinelOne “remains strong.”

Mimecast is also growing, supported by aligned enablement and joint planning.

Moving forward, the firm intends to bring new vendors into its portfolio and is currently in talks with an AI security company focused on giving visibility into where AI is already being used inside organisations.

When it comes to resellers, Exclusive has about 1,500 trading customers in the UK, up roughly 300 from a couple of years ago.

Some of its major accounts include Computacenter, but the organisation also works smaller MSPs such as Khipu Networks, which it has partnered with for 16 years.

Workforce and leadership changes

The UK business employs around 280 staff, with about 50 of them involved on the corporate side.

Its two other branches, Ignition and Nuaware, count approximately 80 and 45 staff respectively.

Under his leadership, Williamson plans to reshape the executive team by appointing a new vendor alliances director and a marketing director.

He also needs to backfill his previous position as sales director.

“My priority is to re-establish the UK board,” he says.

“We’re close to announcing the two critical hires. Once they’re in place, I’ll begin appointing my own successor.”

Williamson’s promotion in October came alongside other directorship changes, as Matthew Paynter became vendor alliances director for Northern Europe and Hannah Jenney transitioned to the role of marketing director for the same region.

Organic and inorganic growth

He also confirms Rob Tomlin’s expectation that Exclusive will reach a €1bn run rate in the UK and Ireland by year-end.

“We will comfortably achieve the billion this year,” he tells CRN.

Around 70 per cent of the group’s revenue comes from EMEA, with growth also focused on North America and ANZ.

Beyond organic evolution, the UK business plans further M&A moves, but not in the same style as the DAN Distribution buyout in the Baltics, as any deals would likely target specific service capabilities.

“We’re building certain elements internally, but we wouldn’t rule out acquiring a services business that complements what we’re doing,” he explains.

While the regional boss is not ruling out any takeovers to consolidate territory presence or increase headcount, he notes that it is not a pressing need right now.

‘Glocal’ model and 2026 predictions

Despite its global footprint, Exclusive says it has not been significantly impacted by recent macroeconomic challenges.

“We operate a ‘glocal’ model: global structure, local expertise,” Williamson highlights.

“Certain functions, like warehousing, have been centralised.

“Brexit was difficult for the UK, but beyond that, no major operational impact.”

Heading into 2026, he points out that the priority is to embed customer success across the business.

“If customer success is still just a background conversation in six months, that would be a failure. We need the plans to leave the spreadsheet and become reality so customers actually feel the difference.”