Top VARs 2018 Q&A: Neil Muller, Timico

Newly appointed CEO on joining the £50m-revenue, private equity-backed managed services provider

This Q&A was featured in CRN Top VARs 2018.

Your previous roles include UK MD of Computacenter and CEO of Daisy. How does this challenge compare with your previous roles?

There are similarities from both a capability and platform perspective, with differences from a target customer and company size point of view. Timico is wholly focused on enabling the growth of ambitious UK mid-market customers through relevant IT, connectivity and cloud managed services. I continue to be a fan of the "ever-converging" world of IT, telecommunications and cloud, so capability-wise Timico is right in my sweet spot.

I also continue to believe that this business segment is being wholly underserved within the converged world.

What are your ambitions for Timico?

As you would expect, we are highly ambitious but the results (and the growth of the business) will be defined by us delivering on our customer promises in the UK mid-market. As with any private equity-backed organisation, Horizon Capital will look to deliver shareholder value and returns and that, of course, is my job. I'd like to think I will be running Timico well into the long term, and I'm sure capital and ownership structures will evolve along the way.

Timico just announced its acquisition of 25sevenIT, its first purchase since Horizon Capital bought a majority stake for £50m in February 2017. How does it fit into the acquisition strategy?

25sevenIT adds a significant quality of mid-market customers to the base and enhances the IT capability from a skills point of view. The 25sevenIT colleagues will join the Timico team, making it around 300-strong at present. Our growth strategy over the next 18 to 24 months will be a combination of organic growth and M&A activity with the support of Horizon Capital.