PCM parts ways with UK sales director Dutton
But new hires planned for next month will push UK headcount beyond 200, says UK MD Donavan Hutchinson
PCM's UK boss Donavan Hutchinson has promised there will be no let-up in the US reseller's UK expansion drive, despite confirming rumours that its sales and marketing director Lee Dutton is heading for the exit.
PCM poached Dutton from Misco in October, and has since taken on a raft of sales staff who worked with Dutton following Misco's collapse into administration in November.
Hutchinson confirmed that Dutton is leaving, "but not immediately", although he declined to comment on the reasons for his departure.
He also confirmed that PCM is relocating its legacy Scottish office, which was on a temporary lease, following its acquisition last month of Scottish Cisco Gold partner Provista, whose Glasgow HQ is situated just 20 miles away.
But Hutchinson said talk of cutbacks were wide of the mark, emphasising that PCM's headcount will top 200 next month when the next batch of new starters joins. This is despite it only launching in the UK last May.
"We've not cut anyone, apart from salespeople who have maybe not performed - not just in Scotland but other offices. We're constantly reviewing, as obviously we took on a tonne of sales staff [from Misco] all at once who were more product-focused and not solutions-focused, so have found it quite difficult. But everyone is doing well, and we are growing significantly, which will be shown in our financials when PCM in the US releases its financials," he said.
The Provista acquisition not only handed PCM a Cisco Gold badge, but also made it the "most highly accredited" Cisco partner in the UK, according to Hutchinson (pictured).
"When we look at the likes of Computacenter and Insight, and various others, we hold the most competencies in-house as a Gold partner. We've won some major contracts off the back of that," he said.
"We're hiring at a rapid pace now. I think people get caught up because they are watching us so closely. People come in and decide it's not for them, or are not perfect for the business; whatever the reason, people seem to talk about us a lot. We have 183 staff and with the new starters it will be north of 200."
PCM recently took on experienced industry head Jim Mooney to head up its solutions and services sales, and Hutchinson said he is in no hurry to appoint a replacement for Dutton.
"I got a couple of texts this morning from people at competitors who were looking to reach out to replace Lee's role. I'm happy to look at roles, but given my skill set, I'll be running the sales division for now," he said.
PCM is one of a number of international resellers ramping up their UK operations, a trend that was addressed in our recent Top VARs roundtable.
CAE managing director Justin Harling said during the discussion that US firms expanding on this side of the Atlantic would have to earn their stripes.
"It's great that the UK is such as an attractive market," he said.
"I don't think the UK market - or any other - you just walk into and just start hoovering up business because of who you are, what your name is, or how many countries you operate in."