CCS Media boss predicts tough year ahead for industry

On the back of a strong 2015 performance, Terry Betts aims for growth across the board in new financial year, but warns it won't be an easy ride for any channel player

VARs are going to have to continue fighting hard for business in 2016 as customers demand even more value for money.

That is the belief of CCS Media's managing director Terry Betts (pictured), whose firm enjoyed a healthy 2015 performance, with plenty of plans for growth ahead.

Turnover for the year ending 2015 hit £124m, compared with £110m the previous year, representing a 12 per cent year-on-year growth. But he said margins had dropped slightly from 15.6 points in 2014 to 15.3 points in 2015.

"Last year was definitely harder than the previous year and I think we are in for more of the same this year," he told CRN. "We are going to have to fight even harder for business, but we have maintained a strong position in the reseller market.

"Technology is changing far too quickly and PC ownership is not going to be about for much longer. We are watching the market very closely. People will eventually stop buying PCs altogether over the next five years, and will just rent them and all their hardware on a subscription basis. Of course, that will affect the whole channel."

However, for the 12 months just gone, Betts said CCS has enjoyed a solid performance from all its products and services, particularly from vendors such as Apple, Dell, HP and Microsoft.

He said he felt the HP split had caused the vendor to take its eye off the ball slightly because it was "concentrating on the split", but said things were returning to normal post-split, and that CCS had seen particular success with HP Enterprise in the past year.

He also hinted that CCS Media would open a further two new offices in the UK this year to add to its 20 existing premises, but refused to elaborate further on their location.

"We will definitely be increasing staff," he said, adding that headcount currently stands at 370 people. "We are offering a lot more training, starting with Cisco and Microsoft, where we will have teams trained on the product sets and ready to go. We are looking forward to 2016 being another strong year for us and anticipate similar growth."