Auxilion’s ‘quiet ambition’: CEO Patrick Jordan on growth, AI and the next phase
Jordan reflects on his first year at the helm, the pivot from MSP to DSP, and continued M&A hunt
A year into his tenure as CEO of Auxilion, Patrick Jordan is focused on laying the groundwork for the MSP’s next chapter.
Last week the Dublin-HQ group announced a €1.5m (£1.3m) investment to expand its advisory services practice to address the rising demand for governance, risk and compliance (GRC) expertise.
Following a period of sustained expansion, Jordan’s strategy centres on transformation, cultural alignment and positioning the business for long-term growth.
“When I stepped into the CEO role in January last year, I suppose the job at hand was setting the foundations for the next chapter of growth for Auxilion,” he tells CRN.
“We've gone through a pretty successful period of over the last five years, five years of growth. We built the business up across a number of business lines, from consulting, advisory, professional services, managed services, and then our modern workplace, data and AI business unit.
“So we got through a period of pretty intensive growth, and part of my remit was to build the business for the next wave.”
Transforming for the next phase
Central to this has been a company-wide transformation programme.
“We embarked on a transformation program called Project Green Light, which was a transformational piece of work to fix things that need to be fixed, to enhance things that need to be enhanced, to change things that need to be stopped,” Jordan says.
He describes 2025 as a balancing act between change and continuity.
“2025 for me was a year of transforming and performing. Transforming the business and commencing that program of work, but obviously keeping the business going and growing.”
But beyond operational change, his biggest priority has been cultural alignment.
“My biggest job coming in as a new CEO was making sure that I brought the business with me.”
That meant increased transparency and engagement across the organisation.
“We've really focused on being transparent and open, really helping people understand the why. Why are we going through this change? What does that vision look like? Where are we going?
“As a result of all that work, I think we are quietly ambitious for 2026.”
From MSP to DSP
Insights gathered from customers and partners have driven a shift in how Auxilion positions itself in the market.
“We believe the market is changing, and has changed over the last 12–18 months,” Jordan explains.
“Technology decisions are no longer solely owned by IT. There's more of a consensus driven approach to major decisions.”
He adds that customers are increasingly outcome-focused.
“We firmly believe our customers want and deserve outcomes. More than ever, they want strategic partners, not vendors or relationships or transactional relationships.”
In response, Auxilion is evolving beyond the traditional MSP model.
“We've evolved our identity, rather than being an MSP, to a concept of being a DSP, a digital services provider.”
This shift also reflects changing expectations around service delivery.
“We believe that more than ever, customers are looking for proactive and predictive delivery. The more tickets you have, the more problems you have. We've been on a journey around outcome based delivery.”
“Quietly ambitious” growth
Looking ahead, Jordan returns to a phrase that defines his outlook: “quietly ambitious”.
“For 2026 it’s back to that feeling of being quietly ambitious.”
But growth remains the central objective.
“It’s about bringing the company to the next level across our markets, which is UK and Ireland primarily, and also Europe and some global footprints.”
Auxilion’s growth strategy is rooted in expanding its services footprint across existing and new customers.
“We're very focused on helping our existing clients do more,” Jordan says, highlighting contract renewals across public and private sectors.
The business is also targeting new customer acquisition and innovation-led growth.
“We've been doubling down on innovation and our innovation pipeline across the business. We believe we're well positioned to be their partner of choice.”
While recurring revenue remains a key strength.
“We have a very healthy recurring revenue services ratio within the business. It'll get close to 70 per cent in 2026.”
Organic expansion and potential acquisitions are another element to Auxilion’s growth strategy as the Irish company continues down its now three-year-long M&A hunt.
“We also are quite curious this year about acquisition and how we grow, so we feel 2026 is a good year to start to be curious about what we want to do in that space.”
While no deals are guaranteed, Auxilion is preparing to act.
“I would say we are ready to be curious. Yes, and definitely actively looking at 2026.”
But any acquisition will need to align closely with company culture and strategy.
“Fit and value are really important to us, something that complements our customer outcomes or service lines and our strategy.”