Bytes to raid Thames Valley talent with new Reading office

£240m-revenue Microsoft partner also planning to open Edinburgh office later this year as it ploughs on with growth plan

Software reseller Bytes is opening an office in Reading as it looks to maintain its double-digit growth.

Having launched new digs in Watford last September, the Leatherhead-based firm will set up shop in the Thames Valley town next month, bringing its total number of offices to seven.

Bytes grew sales 24 per cent to £240m last year, with growth in its Q1 ending 30 May accelerating to 30 per cent, Bytes managing director Neil Murphy said.

He admitted though that Bytes must grow at 20-30 per cent to maintain or increase profitability with its largest vendor, Microsoft, which generated 60 per cent of its sales last year.

"This is part of a plan to continue to grow the company and focus on new geographies," Murphy said.

"We've actually found it hard to recruit people from the head office, and there's a whole swathe of experienced sales people who live and work in the Thames Valley area. Our intention is to grow a new sales team focusing on public sector and private sector corporations in that area."

The new office is likely to be located in the same building as, or at least nearby, the offices of Bytes' cyber-security arm, Bytes Security Partnership, Murphy said.

"We are looking at a couple of options on the building at the moment," he said.

Bytes now has 12 staff in Watford, in addition to its offices in York, Manchester and Dublin. It plans to open an office in Edinburgh later this year.

Murphy said Bytes' sales are booming, but conceded repeated cuts in the margins on offer for Microsoft Licensing Solution Partners (LSPs) have forced it to diversify its business.

"We had 30 per cent growth in Q1 of this financial year, and that was across all vendors," he said. "Software asset management is really booming for us and that links to our software sales.

"Margins are under pressure because the Microsoft rebate and reward schemes are not as lucrative as they were, even a couple of years ago. Most of the LSPs are having to diversify their businesses to lessen their reliance on Microsoft, which is pretty common knowledge. In order to maintain our profitability, we've got to keep our revenues growing at double digits - anything from 20 to 30 per cent [with Microsoft] enables us to maintain and improve our profitability."

On that note, Murphy said Bytes has begun doing "an awful lot more business" in the last couple of months with public cloud giant AWS.

"They're not big numbers. We are at an early stage of our relationship but we have already won our first clients with AWS, and that's in line with us being a more diversified soft of business going forward," he said.