Calyx reignites hardware biz after management shake-up

Getting in on the ground floor with hardware projects is the only way to managed services glory, VAR concludes

Calyx Managed Services has quashed talk that it is abandoning its managed services aspirations and returning to its roots as a reseller, following a wholesale management shake-up at the firm.

ChannelWeb has learned that a string of top management figures have departed since former Azzurri operations director Steve Clark replaced Martin Mackay as Calyx's chief executive in the summer.

Director of technology and strategy Peter Deacon, sales director Dave Everest and financial director Neil Waterman are all known to have moved on in recent weeks, with operations director Paul Taylor to follow them out the door later this month.

At the same time, Clark has moved to bring in his own lieutenants, including former HP Networking man Clive Hallam as sales director and former Pervasive Networks sales manager Mark Adderley as the new business sales manager.

Shortly after buying the firm from administration in 2010, venture capital firm Better Capital brought in Mackay to help shift Calyx further from its heritage as a reseller and deeper into managed services that yield recurring, subscription-based revenue.

But rumours that Better Capital has forced Calyx to abandon or water down that strategy because it was not generating enough cash are wide of the mark, Clark told ChannelWeb.

But he did confirm that Calyx is re-igniting its hardware business as a means to drum up annuity sales, admitting that approaching customers cold with a managed services proposition had been a tough sell.

"Not many customers will completely outsource their IT to you if you have not first done a project with them," he explained. "You have to do something to gain their trust and confidence."

Previous management had de-emphasised Calyx's business with storage vendor Brocade – historically its most important hardware partner – but this relationship has now been rekindled, Clark confirmed.

"We will be selling Brocade, Juniper, VMware and HP as a lead in, then the success rate will allow us to develop a proposition to the customer around managed services," he said.

"This is not a U-turn or a revolution, but an evolution. We are not a tin shifter, and never will be and this is not about selling product for the sake of it, but to gain the customer's trust and show our capabilities."

Clark also strenuously denied suggestions that Better Capital was not prepared to pump any more cash into the firm, stressing that Calyx is on course to quadruple its EBITDA profit to £1.2m for its fiscal year to 31 December on sales just shy of £30m.

The firm has also just made a £0.5m investment in its infrastructure-as-a-service capabilities, he added.

"This business is not short of money," he said. "We are cash rich and have plenty of money in the bank. Better Capital is very happy with the progress we have made in the past few months.

"Once we have got the fundamentals of the business correct, we will look at acquisitions."