Chris Gabriel leaves Logicalis for 'hidden gem' TechPulse Group

Channel services firm helps resellers embrace digital transformation

Long-serving Logicalis man Chris Gabriel has left the firm to "put my money where my mouth is" at TechPulse, which helps the channel get on board with digital transformation.

Gabriel has been at Logicalis since 2006 and was most recently its chief digital officer. He now takes on the same role at TechPulse.

His new firm consists of sixmain brands: AV firm ContentWall; security specialist CyberCrowd; infrastructure, professional and managed services outfit NodeOne; vendor incubator Power IT; mobile and analytics arm NetTranslate; and recruitment segment BrightPulse. The combined entity has the same aim, to help the channel, including resellers, disties and vendors, to develop into digital companies.

"I have been talking about how the channel is changing for the last few years, so now it's time to put my money where my mouth is," he told CRN. "In essence, we're helping business reorganise itself for digital."

The firm has about 80 staff and a run-rate turnover of £10m for this year. The young company was set up by Trevor Rolls - who was previously at Prime, 2e2, and NetCrowd, before it sold to Daisy in 2013 - and Steven Kirby, who founded the NetCrowd businesses.

Gabriel said although the company competes with the likes of Comms-care to an extent, the fact that the digital transformation landscape is maturing means the duo retain their unique elements. Having said this, Gabriel added that TechPulse has a simple goal: to become the number-one channel services provider in the UK.

On a post on LinkedIn, TechPulse's founder Kirby said: "Every team member in our business is energised to maximise the rapidly emerging digital channel opportunity - and Chris brings superb experience and unbridled enthusiasm as we accelerate our investment in our partnerships with resellers, distributors and OEM vendors. Exciting times. Welcome aboard Chris."

Logicalis' parent firm Datatec is in the process of completing a somewhat mystery transaction to sell "a major share of Westcon-Comstor's operations".