Bamboo bets on IoT to help reach £50m revenue goal

Managed service provider hopes IoT connectivity service will be big hit in verticals including healthcare

Managed services provider Bamboo Technology is counting on the Internet of Things (IoT) space to help it reach an ambitious £50m revenue target.

Having trialled it with select channel partners, the Cheltenham-based MSP has launched its M2M [machine-to-machine] service to its direct customers - M2M being the data connectivity for the IoT.

Bamboo's M2M SIMs operate on all UK major networks, and on over 600 networks globally, due to an international roaming agreement with its core vendor partner Telefonica.

Bamboo managing director Lorrin White (pictured) told CRN that she sees IoT becoming a substantial chunk of Bamboo's business, and she revealed the firm has set itself the ambitious goal of hitting £50m revenue in a "couple of years".

Bamboo's revenues are currently tracking at around £13m to £14m but White said the MSP stepped up its ambitions when she became MD following a boardroom restructure in 2014.

"Some will be acquisitive growth and a portion of it will be organic growth," she said, adding that M2M is integral to those growth plans.

"It had become a bit of a lifestyle business but I had always seen the opportunity that sits within the business," she explained. "We set about revisiting the strategy and figuring out what we wanted to achieve and why, and the last two and a half years have been about putting everything in place so that we can reposition ourselves as an MSP and can go for that ambitious target."

Having traditionally defined itself as a telecoms service provider, Bamboo has historically drawn 40 to 50 per cent of its revenues from mobile, White said.

"The M2M piece is a natural move for us because of the O2 relationship. Telefonica came knocking on the door and have almost taken us with them," she explained.

White picked out healthcare as a key vertical for its new M2M data connectivity service, which Bamboo can offer either on a wholesale pence-per-kilobyte basis, or as a bespoke data bundle.

As an example, one possible application for healthcare might be alerting staff in care homes to the fact that a patient hasn't put the kettle on by 8.30am, she said.

According to Gartner, the IoT device install base will rise 31 per cent to 8.4 billion this year.

However, recent data from Compubase suggests that only one in 12 UK resellers operate in the IoT sector.

Bamboo has already rolled out six or seven significant M2M projects with its channel partners, she said.

"Some of these opportunities come through very small to begin with but gain traction over a short period of time," White explained. "We had a client that started off with 15 connections and is now ordering hundreds each month.

"We see [IoT] becoming a substantial part of our business. Initially, we launched it into our channel side of the business to get a feel for it before we hit the direct side. Because of the potential it has in terms of the applications it has for any business, we are really quite excited by what that might do for our direct clients."

White said Bamboo - which recently rebranded from Total Ltd - is currently looking at funding options to help support its expansion.

"The rebrand we've undertaken, the ISO accreditations, the additional product development have all been part of putting those building blocks in place so we can rocket towards that [£50m] goal," she said.