Tom Kelly invests in 'born-in-the-cloud' VAR BCN Group

Channel veteran takes minority stake in 30-strong Mancunian firm, which he claims boasts a world-class net promoter score

Channel veteran Tom Kelly claims the latest VAR he is backing is one of fewer than 10 world-class IT support businesses in the UK.

The former Logicalis boss, who also recently invested in collaboration vendor Sipsynergy, has this week become chairman of and acquired a minority stake in Manchester-based BCN Group.

Founded in 2009, 30-strong BCN Group is set to record revenues of £7.5m with an EBITDA margin of 20 per cent, according to Kelly (pictured), who said he was drawn to the firm's high profitability and "entrepreneurial flair".

BCN has a net promoter score of 89 per cent, according to due diligence recently carried out by an external firm, which Kelly claimed makes it "one of only five or 10 world-class IT support businesses in the UK".

"This is a young and dynamic business conceived and born in the cloud. They are not tied to any one vendor and they put together a proper mix to solve the individual client's issue," he said.

BCN Group recently became accredited to sell a range of cloud services, including Office 365, application hosting, platform-as-a-service and UC-as-a-service, through G-Cloud 8. Vendor partners include VMware, Veeam, Microsoft, Citrix and Nimble Storage.

Since leaving Logicalis in 2013, Kelly has also invested in Sipsynergy and inventory-as-a-service outfit Agilitas, supported by private equity houses YFM and MVM, respectively. He is also chairman of Cisco Gold partner ONI.

BCN Group explored the private equity route late last year before deciding this was not the right option, Kelly said.

"They decided not go down that route as they would have been penalised in the percentage they gave away, and they didn't need the cash. They are sitting on a lot of cash and are very profitable," he said.

"There is a thing at the moment where people are afraid to say that their business is profitable - but clients should actually want to know that the business is profitable."

Now based at Manchester Airport's Trident Park, BCN Group was formed in Wilmslow in 2009 by entrepreneurs Simon Kelf and Matt Smith.

Since beginning dialogue with the firm last year, Kelly has helped BCN Group enlist a new sales director in the form of his former Logicalis colleague Stewart Dalziel.

"Without taking away any of their flair, Stewart is building some processes and procedures into the area of forecasting and getting salespeople to work in a certain way," Kelly said.