‘The North West is our playground, and that’s where we want to be’: commited CEO

Ian Hudson discusses acquisitions, rebrand and £100m ambitions

“Anything touching the North West, that’s our playground, and that’s where we want to be.”

That is the philosophy underpinning commited’s acquisition strategy as the MSP looks to grow from a £25m business into a £100m organisation without abandoning its regional roots.

Speaking to CRN, founder and CEO Ian Hudson says the company has moved away from opportunistic buyouts and now follows a structured buy-and-build strategy focused on strengthening its presence across north-west England, the Lake District and West Yorkshire.

Rather than following the nationwide M&A strategies adopted by many larger MSP consolidators, Hudson says commited wants to become what he describes as a “hyper-local consolidator”, combining regional scale with strong local customer relationships.

From opportunistic deals to a defined M&A roadmap

Commited’s regional strategy has evolved significantly over the past 18 months.

While the business has completed 14 acquisitions in 20 years, Hudson admits its earlier deals were driven more by opportunity than long-term planning.

“It’s probably only in the last 18 months that we’ve actually got a strategy,” he explains.

“Prior to that, we went down the same route that every other acquisition. We had no idea what we were doing.”

The organisation now has a structured M&A framework identifying target businesses, the rationale behind each purchase and how every deal would be integrated depending on geography, capabilities and leadership.

“We’ve got a full document which shows strategically who we’re going to buy, who our targets are, where they are, why we’re buying them, what the different integration plans are.”

Hudson says takeovers now fall into two categories.

Some fill geographical gaps where commited already has customers but lacks a local presence, while others add specialist capabilities.

Recent buyouts have strengthened the MSP’s telecoms, managed print and education offerings.

Building a regional powerhouse

Hudson founded the business more than two decades ago with a friend under the Hudson Hill Consulting name before gradually expanding across the North West.

A major turning point came in late 2019 when Hudson collapsed with what was later identified as Covid-19, forcing him away from the business for around 18 months.

Rather than weakening his will, the experience strengthened his confidence in the leadership team.

“It gave me the confidence to put my foot down and go and do some more acquisitions,” he says.

Later deals transformed the business beyond traditional managed IT services, adding managed print through SBS Technologies and specialist education expertise through Tech Hub.

Today, commited employs around 110 people with five offices across the North West, Cumbria and West Yorkshire.

The firm currently serves 2,500 customers, with around 800 buying services every month and partners with vendors including Microsoft, Dell, HP, Netgear and Acronis.

Chasing £100m, not private equity

Commited currently generates around £25m in revenue, with Hudson setting a long-term ambition of reaching £100m.

The company has no private equity investors driving fixed growth targets.

“I don’t really care when we get there,” he tells CRN.

“If we buy one that’s a duff, we wait a year and we fix it, and we don’t go again until we’re ready to go again.”

The CEO believes that patience differentiates commited from larger consolidators that are under pressure to continually increase revenue and EBITDA.

Running a business at its current scale has already required significant operational changes.

“The dynamics of running a £20m-plus business are very, very different to running a £2m or £3m business,” he says.

“You think it’s just more of the same, but it’s not.”

Despite refusing to commit to a specific timetable, Hudson says he would be disappointed if commited had not achieved its ambition within the next decade.

A rebrand built for the future

The company’s recent rebrand from Hudson Hill Consulting to commited reflects those long-term ambitions.

Previously, the group’s businesses operated under separate identities, each generating less than £10m in revenue, allowing them to remain largely below the radar.

Hudson says the new identity provides a platform for the next stage of growth.

“The branding comes around with comms, IT and education, which are our three main areas of where we spend our time,” he says.

While commited has no immediate plans to expand beyond its northern heartland, Hudson believes the brand could eventually support national growth.

“Our next move, if we get to £100m, would be to go national and take that brand nationally,” he says.

For now, the focus remains unchanged.

“There are enough opportunities on my doorstep,” says the CEO.

Hudson’s pragmatic approach to AI

While AI dominates industry conversations, Hudson believes many MSPs are overstating the commercial opportunity.

The CEO argues AI currently accounts for only a small proportion of channel revenues.

Rather than rushing into new technologies, commited intends to focus on areas where it already has expertise.

“We’re a wait-for-other-people-to-do-it-and-copy-it-when-it’s-good type organisation,” he says.

“We’re less about diversifying into things we don’t know and sticking in our lane and doing the things we know really well.”

Instead, the company sees greater potential in boosting supplier relationships, expanding recurring services and increasing cross-selling across its existing customer base.