Transputec set for European expansion

Director Shalen Sehgal shares ambitious plans for London-based firm which is looking to double turnover in next three years through organic growth and acquisition

Ambitious VAR Transputec is eyeing up opportunities in Europe as it embarks on an aggressive three-year growth plan.

Speaking to CRN, Shalen Sehgal (pictured, right), deputy chief operating officer at the firm, explained how the entrepreneurial style of management is opening doors to growth and allowed the firm to aim further afield.

He said the firm operates three separate business units - a traditional VAR business, an MSP-based unit and also has its own software development capabilities - as it looks to grab other business opportunities outside the traditional ‘saturated' hardware fulfilment market and grow its customer offerings.

"Customers ware wanting more ‘as-a-service' products - we are seeing this in multiple industries -and the hardware market is extremely saturated," Seghal said. "Customers can get hardware from many suppliers so we want to focus where the margin is. The atmosphere of this business is entrepreneurial and new projects are always being suggested, my role has been to take some of those ideas, along with older ideas, and bring them to market."

He explained the firm has invested heavily in cyber security, and recently opened its first office in Israel and has experienced 25 per cent a year growth.

"We are now looking to open up offices in the rest of Europe on the back of some large customer acquisitions," he explained. "We plan to open an office in Spain and then Italy. We are seeing huge demand from customers there, particularly with IBM. So we are not only finding new customers, but we are finding opportunities with existing customers and by increasing the consultancy and advisory side of the business."

Sehgal added that over the next three years, the plan is to grow from its current £20m turnover, to £50m, through a combination of organic growth and acquisition.

"Our ideal targets would be cloud-based service providers that can boost our existing offerings and help us achieve growth in this massive market which is growing month by month," he said. "However as well as cloud service providers, we would also look at ISVs that will complement our software solutions."

And in terms of people, the firm employs 75 staff, along with 150 contractors, and is seeing success in its graduate programme.

"The emphasis isn't so much adding a specific number of employees, particularly now we have structured as a corporate. We are focused on organic growth. We have a few manufacturers sponsoring our graduate programme which gives them skin in the game. They basically contribute half the cost of the new person and as a result they gain someone who becomes their champion. We are seeing a very high RoI in this scheme," he said.

However, the one fly in the ointment for Transputec is its continuing grey market dispute with HP which CRN exclusively revealed earlier this year. Sehgal told CRN he was unable to comment on the case as it was still ongoing.