Intec Micros one year on: John Hayes-Warren talks taking on the challenge and business turnaround
The CEO brings experience from other parts of the channel to operationalise the PE-owned distributor
Intec Microsystems is just emerging from the first leg of a transformation under CEO John Hayes-Warren, and the profit margins speak for themselves. Having stepped into the business in late 2023, after a two-year tenure at Agilitas, the channel vet has been hard at work building the foundation for Intec’s reintroduction.
In his own words, he brought in experience across all parts of the channel, spanning vendor, distributor and partner firms. Hayes-Warren says he was excited to work with a business that boasted a strong workforce and was positioned for growth after an investment from Chiltern Capital in 2023 and a subsequent private credit transaction.
While the CEO praises Intec’s workforce at the time of his appointment, he makes no bones about the fact that Intec was in need of a turnaround. He attributes this to a lack of operational strategy at the time.
“You’re a hardware distributor trying to translate something highly technical to a salesforce built on relationships, without any real technical support. You’ve got no chance,” he tells CRN.
“I decided the best thing to do was add focus to our vendor network.
“By July, I’d moved the organisation to a healthy profit-before-tax position.
“We were growing sales and finally capitalising on some wins.
While the business had to make tough decisions, coming out on the other side means Intec now has room to grow, specifically in the sub-£200m SME space.
With a refreshed brand and a renewed services focus, it is now going out to market with a more tailored proposition, leaning on what the team was already doing well.
“We rebranded the business around networking and intelligent connectivity.
“Networking was obvious; intelligent connectivity gave me latitude for anything connected to the network.”
The transition wasn’t just cosmetic. The org structure has been standardised, with new lines of reporting, new tech being explored, and fresh faces on the exec board, Hayes-Warren says.
“I didn’t set out to make it a diversity play.
“I just went for calibre, but now about 60 per cent of my management team are women, and the business runs better for it.
“We’ve now got managers with single-line accountability, iterative improvements running through the whole organisation, and people genuinely connected to the strategy.”
Vendor revamp
The internal restructure serves as the skeleton for Intec’s reintroduction to the market. But the message more likely to resonate with partners is the distributor’s revamped vendor roster.
“The key for us now is to add brands credibly and do them well. That’s the whole point of distribution.”
This is where, according to Hayes-Warren, his cross-channel experience comes in especially handy.
“I’ve been on every side of tech, including vendor, MSP, distribution, global enterprise, SMB.
“What I’ve come to realise is that distribution is about translating value ot your customers, not just about the amount of customers on your books; it’s about getting vendor value through to the market.”
Beyond the streamlined supply of kit, which Hayes-Warren is working to make as frictionless as possible, he sees the role of a distributor as making the value proposition clear, visible and communicating it frequently.
“Vendors build phenomenal technology, but most end-user value depends on the supply chain making that value visible, he says.
“Channel partners are stretched, so distribution has to step up.
“If all you do is ship and stock product, that’s a limited game.
“The market’s changed. Distribution needs to transcend that and accelerate time-to-value for partners and customers.”