Exclusive Networks doubles down up north

Distributor moves to larger office in Chesterfield as looks to go on the attack in SMB space

Exclusive Networks has upsized its northern office as it looks to ramp up its SMB business with vendors including Fortinet and Palo Alto.

The distributor has this week moved into a new Chesterfield office (pictured) double the size of the old building, where the lease had run out.

The northern office, which employs about 45 staff, focuses on renewals and SMB, which UK managing director Graham Jones said will be an area of focus for Exclusive in the second half of 2016.

"When I started three years ago, everything was up for review," he said. "The Chesterfield lease was up and we downsized to an office half the size. Now that lease is up and we've had to go back to an office that is bigger than it was when I started, which shows we're growing quite quickly.

"We are focusing on SMB now and part of my H2 plan is to revamp the strategy we have up there. We've got bigger teams than we had before and are looking at slimming down the vendor line-up and focusing on six or seven vendors in that team. We had a lot of new vendors last year that didn't kick and a handful that have. We are now looking at defining what an SMB product really is, rather than trying to fit a square peg in a round hole - up there it will primarily be Fortinet, Palo Alto, Aerohive and SentinelOne."

Paris-based Exclusive Networks saw sales rise from €627m (£482m) to €840m in 2015, with UK sales growing 55 per cent.

The new northern office encompasses two large training rooms, Jones added.

"We've made it a bit more comfortable because as you grow people are sitting on top of each other."