QBS beefs up integration team as it works to digest recent buys

Averaging two acquisitions a year since 2018, the software distributor is now looking to harmonise operations, culture and IT

Software distie QBS has expanded its integration function, doubling the size of the team.

The move comes as QBS works to integrate recent acquisitions, including South Africa’s Titus, rival UK-HQ distie Prianto and its most recent buy, Turkish VAD Elmer Yazılım.

The team includes both full-time specialists and consultants.

Chief development officer Matt Lee has been with the business since January 2024, and boasts experience at PWC and Alantra, while integration consultant Jon Rawnsley has previously worked at Lloyds Banking Group, Purple Bricks and MBNA.

Systems integration manager Chris Grunwell joined as an integration manager in December from K3 Syspro.

Adam Whitfield, who is project managing the integration programme, has been with the business since 2022, but moved into the function last year.

The team is supported by William Geens, the founder of Prianto, who owns the cultural integration workstream.

Finally, QBS is set to welcome a new head of process harmonisation in early May.

The team covers all aspects of the post-merger process, including “functional integration, cultural alignment, process harmonisation, and IT systems consolidation,” per QBS.

“Post-acquisition integration is where the real value is won or lost in M&A, and too many companies underestimate its importance,” said CEO Dave Stevinson.

“We’re doubling down on this area because I, 100 per cent, believe in getting it right.

“Our expanded team brings deep domain expertise across all aspects of integration, and I’m confident they will deliver significant uplift as we continue to execute on our M&A strategy.”

QBS has completed fourteen acquisitions over the past seven years and remains firmly on the acquisition trail, as Stevinson told CRN in January.

“We’re on the right track towards our $1bn revenue plan,” he said at the time, projecting a 50 per cent CAGR in 2025.

The acquisitions followed organic expansion in QBS’s software platform, which reached 12,000 vendors as of November 2024, as UK&I managing director Andreea Dumitrescu stated this was “just the beginning.”

“Our focus is on working with vendors in hypergrowth areas like AI, cybersecurity and sustainable software,” Dumitrescu told CRN at the time.

As QBS expands, it has shifted its business model away from a more traditional distribution pure player and towards a distribution platform with a high self-service capability.