Ambitious VAR aims to become Lenovo, HP and Dell Gold partner this year

Manchester firm squares up against Softcat and Insight with framework and certification plans

Manchester-based Green Cloud IT aims to be a Lenovo and Dell Gold partner by the end of this year, according to MD Dean Mason.

The VAR became an HP Gold partner in the past year, which Mason said has helped it win deals and compete on the same playing field as the likes of Insight, Softcat and Total Computer Networks.

Becoming a Gold-tier partner of Dell and Lenovo by the end of this year is part of Green Cloud's strategy to compete and win business through frameworks.

"We are currently a Lenovo Silver partner, and with Dell we are just a standard business partner at the moment," he told CRN.

"Having these Gold partnerships in place allows us to compete on the frameworks.

"There's no point going on a framework being a Silver partner because the majority of businesses on that framework are primarily Gold, and you need to be on a level playing field.

"So Gold partnership allows us to prove ourselves and show our offerings."

Green Cloud's first framework was the G-Cloud 10, and it has applied to be on the Educational Technology and Technology Products 3 frameworks, which go live in May and October, respectively.

The MD added that the Dell Gold partnership would push the company to "another level", should it win a place on the Education Technology framework.

"A lot of schools are still Dell houses," he explained. "Not having that partnership in place would affect what we could offer to them so that Gold partnership is at the front of my mind.

"I knew we needed to get up to speed with that because then we can go to schools at the price point we need to be at to win business on the framework."

Mason also expects to surpass £3m in revenue for this financial year.

The MD's initial expectation was to hit £2.5m in turnover for its year ending in July.

However, he claimed that increasing demand from clients for a level of customer service not provided by competitors has pushed this target up to £3.2m.

"This year we are pushing towards £3.2m in revenue, although if we keep going at our current rate that could be £3.5m," he said.

"Our offering is more attractive. A few competitors have lost their customer service focus and dedicated account management, whereas that is something we have pushed and it is something people seem to want."

Green Cloud has a foot in both the traditional reseller and the managed service spaces, according to Mason, who added that this has been an advantage in winning new business.

"We have picked up a few corporates that just want to deal with one company and know what's being done and when, instead of relying on multiple channels," he said.

The company is undergoing a recruitment drive to add to its current headcount of four, who are based in its office outside Manchester city centre.

Getting on frameworks and adding salespeople are part of Mason's strategy to hit £5m in revenue by the end of the firm's next fiscal year.

"If we hit £3.5m this year, we hope that would get us into CRN' s VAR 300, which would be a massive achievement for a five-year-old company with four staff," he said.