‘We want customers for life’: SCC EMEA software GM
Jean-Philippe Barleaza talks partners, European markets, and growing alongside customers
British VAR SCC, which was born in 1975 in Birmingham, now sees France as its biggest market, Jean-Philippe Barleaza, the organisation’s GM of EMEA software, tells CRN.
“We’re the largest system integrator in the French market,” he says.
The UK comes second, followed by Spain.
The company currently has around 7,000 employees across Europe.
Partners and customers
In the UK, in addition to its collaboration with Dynatrace, which Barleaza recently described to CRN as an “incredibly strong” partnership, the firm also works with vendors such as LogicMonitor.
“It’s about building an ecosystem, and LogicMonitor brings in additional features that we use to deliver a more complete, end-to-end solution,” he says.
“We’re also implementing Dynatrace technology and LogicMonitor within our IT services management.
“We have a large set of customers using IT asset management solutions from our platform.
“With Dynatrace, we don’t just provide the technology and licenses; we also ensure that customers get into production and realise the business outcomes.”
In the UK, SCC works with distributors such as Arrow, TD SYNNEX, Exclusive Networks, QBS, AMS.
“We choose distributors based on the vendor we’re working with and the quality of support they provide in areas like pre-sales and professional services,” he explains.
In terms of customer base, the British VAR works across various industries, such as financial services, retail, and manufacturing.
“We’re also very strong in the public sector, both in France and the UK,” adds Barleaza.
It focuses on the higher end of the mid- and enterprise markets.
While he identifies observability, the capacity to measure a system’s performance based on data like logs, metrics, and traces, as being one of the firm’s top priorities, he also cites cybersecurity, data management, AI, and workplace solutions as key focus areas.
“We aim to be perceived as a trusted advisor, an expert that can deliver capabilities across the full software stack that customers need, and across all these solution towers.”
Evolving technologies in a changing world
Across all three European countries it operates in, the GM explains that a solid data management strategy is the foundation of effective AI implementation, which is why the company has “a very strong practice covering data management, data protection, and data integrity.”
“We help customers with their data projects first.
“Then, AI becomes use case specific.
“[Customers] who see the best return on investment are the ones who identify very specific use cases with expected outcomes.
“We’re fairly agnostic when it comes to AI solutions.
“We offer customers the solution that best suits their needs, depending on their environment.”
To support the organisation’s AI ambitions, Barleaza explains that SCC is evolving constantly.
“Technological innovation has been faster in the last ten years than in the last 100 years.”
“It’s not about selling something; it’s about helping customers consume the technology and realise its benefits.
“If the customer grows, we grow, and we can sell and cross-sell more.”
Beyond the evolution and changes in technology and customer needs, the firm is navigating through macroeconomics factors.
According to Barleaza, the company hasn’t seen a direct impact and remains “very healthy.”
As the company is privately owned, the GM cannot disclose global or European figures, but tells CRN that SCC closed last year with growth.
“We’ve steadily grown both our top and bottom lines over at least the past five years.
“We’re continuing to deliver value to existing customers, gaining new ones, and expanding our footprint across the three countries we operate in.
“We like the concept of ‘customers for life’.”
In FY24, SCC’s turnover was £3.3bn.
In the UK, it generated a £915.7m, an increase of four per cent.
“We’re among the top ten family-owned businesses in the UK, and among the top 250 privately owned businesses globally.”
According to the 2025 EY and University of St Gallen Family Business index, the Rigby Group, SCC’s parent company, ranks tenth amid the largest wholly owned family business in the UK.
The same index also ranks Rigby 420th among the 500 most successful family businesses by revenue worldwide.