Top VARs Q&A: Yolanta Gill, European Electronique

80th-ranked Top VARs’ MD on how it has coped with slowdown in its core schools market

How is European Electronique faring in its current year?

Over the past few years we have been reshaping the business and we are now seeing the benefits of the investments made. So far, year to date, we have seen a growth in revenue of 20 per cent on the previous year and the forecast for the remaining five months is quite strong. The increase in profit is forecasted to rise at a much higher rate. This is mainly due to a different mix of business where the larger proportion of sales will be derived from project-based work and service provision.

You've traditionally focused on the schools sector. How is that revenue mix changing?

At the beginning of the decade, European Electronique had a very strong position in the Government Academy Programme which for many years brought a number of large multi-academy projects for the company. With the change of government, funding for schools was radically changed and the sector moved to smaller on-premise free schools projects.

Recently the strongest growth area for us has been in higher education and this year we have had a number of high-profile wins, including the University of Edinburgh, UCL, University of Newcastle, Birkbeck College and Canterbury Christchurch University, with contract values totalling over £15m. Going forward we predict strong growth in higher and further education and health, with aspirations to grow other public sectors along with the corporate market.

What investment trends are you seeing in higher education?

We are seeing substantial investments in network infrastructure driven by the demand for more bandwidth and better performance. Many organisations are considering 802.11ax wireless technology, which, in turn, is driving the adoption of multi-gigabit switching and datacentre connectivity, to support the ever-increasing demand for network-connected services.

What has been the biggest tech flop of 2019?

Perhaps the lack of uptake of mobile engagement platforms and location-based services.