Kocho CEO Hannah Birch: ‘We expect revenue to rebound to above £50m in FY26’

Birch tells all on why she left Node4, how Kocho is “strategically” deploying AI, and her goals for year one as chief exec

Hannah Birch set off from Node4 for pastures new and a fresh challenge, and is now chasing more than £50m in revenues as CEO of Kocho Group.

Having joined Kocho in February from Node4, Birch fills CRN in on why she swapped one MSP for another.

She describes wanting a new challenge where she could make an impact at scale following her role leading the strategic initiatives and integrations of Node4’s acquisitions.

The Microsoft-centric MSP, which also works with Juniper Networks and Jamf, emerged owing to its reputation.

“I knew of Kocho as a Microsoft security and digital transformation specialist, but also the entrepreneurial spirit and its strong growth was just too much of a major draw for me,” says Birch.

“The opportunity to build on the legacy that co-founder and former CEO Des Lekerman has built with a hugely successful business was, for me, too compelling to pass up.”

Now heading up The London-HQ group, which has two more offices in Cardiff and Cape Town, South Africa, Birch outlines what she’d like to achieve in the role by her one-year anniversary.

“Growth is my primary goal,” she explains, “and the return to strong, sustainable growth with a clear focus and drive towards our sweet spot, which is upper mid-market enterprise clients who value secure digital transformation.

“By the end of this year, I want to see us delivering on revenue and our margin targets and having successfully embedded our new sales structure, which we have done already, and that's starting to perform very well.”

Birch treats CRN to some hard figures to paint a clearer picture of the BGF-backed Kocho’s growth ambitions.

“When I talk about returning to growth, I talk about returning to a double-digit growth in FY26 (fiscal year starting April 1) and revenue is expected to rebound to above £50m, and alongside improving EBITDA margins as we adopt much more automation and AI within our business.”

AI in sales

The new sales structure Birch mentions focuses both on existing clients and new logo acquisition, but with the new added flavour of AI.

This is another target Birch names for her one year in post - making real, tangible progress on Kocho’s automation and AI initiatives.

“AI is banded around a lot. But we’re using it in a couple of areas, strategically,” she says.

“We're using it to automate our processes more across our security operations centre in Cardiff.

“We’re also using automation around our sales function, ensuring our sales people have processes that are automated, whether that's responding to client bids, assimilating statements of work, making sure we've got the playbooks to hand for those and that it’s easily accessible to our sales function.”

New logos and recruitment

Birch reaffirms what is top of her agenda, executing Kocho’s FY26 plan.

“And that is retaining focus, driving growth, improving margins, and ensuring our operational excellence alongside our client experience,” she states.

“They all sound like very basic things, but if you take your eye off those, you're in the wrong headspace.

“Whilst we're focused on maximising returns for our existing client base and making sure that the technology is providing value to them, we also need to make sure that we are scaling that client base.”

Birch adds Kocho is also focused on net new logos and talent, currently counting more than 400 people on its roster.

“We’re recruiting and developing the right people to support that growth trajectory, and that's especially across two areas - sales and technology delivery.”