The UK's top 40 IT distributors generated nearly £13bn revenues in their latest years, CRN research has found. Here we count down those ranked 10th to 1st...
"If I was a betting man, I'd put my chips on cloud and security vendors"
6. Westcon-Comstor
UK revenues: £361.5m (+0.2%)
UK headcount: 547
Specialism: Networking, UC, security
Key vendors: Cisco (Comstor); Avaya, Palo Alto Networks, Extreme Networks, F5 Networks, Check Point (Westcon)
UK HQ: Bracknell
Part of Johannesburg-listed IT group Datatec, this networking, comms and security specialist saw global revenues rise 4.6 per cent to $2.6bn in its year to 28 February 2021.
According to numbers it shared with us, the UK generated $511m (£361.5m) of the total, up from $510m a year earlier. Its Cisco-focused Comstor arm contributed $272m of the UK top line (down three per cent annually), with Westcon chipping in the remaining $239m (up four per cent).
Quickfire Q&A with Westcon UK&I MD Antony Byford
What specialism is your firm known for, and what sets you apart from your peers?
Ask any of our vendors and they'll tell you "execution". We are famous for it! We are great enablers of technology and knowhow to generate the best leads for our partners and vendors.
Which emerging vendors are you betting big on this year?
In the last year, partners have had to make sure they add cloud and security products and services to their portfolio in order to meet the unprecedented demand generated by the pandemic so if I was a betting man, I'd put my chips on cloud and security vendors - we've seen significant promise specifically with CrowdStrike, Infoblox, and Menlo. I'd also put forward 8x8, which we signed on earlier this year.
Have you made any significant vendor signings in the last 12 months?
CrowdStrike, Infoblox, Menlo, and 8x8 are the largest vendors we've onboarded in the last 12 months.
How would you summarise the health of the distribution sector in 2021?
Strong and growing! Digital distribution is at the forefront of enabling new technologies to land and expand faster than ever before. Just look at acquisitions - VCs are backing distribution more than ever.
What's been your biggest disappointment of the last year?
Not seeing people. One of the best things about being at Westcon is the people and the culture but we managed to maintain it. We're coping really well with internal digital events - I even entertained a few as a DJ. But nothing beats being with people in person.
Do you expect to grow in 2021?
Absolutely! We're only a few months into our FY and we're doing really well - I expect that we'll outperform our key vendors.
At first glance, the rise of cloud must be pretty devastating for distributors if there is no physical product to ship. How have you adapted?
This is the misconception of distribution, in fact most of our business is now digital distribution.
We've always enjoyed a large percentage of our business being software, and not shifting boxes is cost efficient as we don't have to worry about shipping tangibles. We've embraced cloud through our digital platforms and have taken on new vendors that have an interest in or are born in the cloud.
How do you see the role of distribution changing in the 2020s?
The move to cloud, software, and subscription style services have skyrocketed and we need to be ready to not only have a GTM to support the channel but programmes that attract more vendors and schemes to reward our people appropriately.
Tell us one thing most people won't know about your company?
We don't talk about it enough but we're an incredibly diverse business. We're strict with all our recruiters about having an even split of women and men from a range of backgrounds and cultures.
Who claims to be the only global distributor left providing "the full spectrum of technology supply from electronics and semiconductor all the way to datacentre and cloud."? Find out on next page...
