'I don't recognise the business from what it was three years ago' - Total Computers boss on nearing £100m revenue in 2021 results

Long term investment in services and consultancy-led selling while lengthening sales cycles, have ultimately led to bigger deals, claims MD Aidan Groom

Total Computers is ‘unrecognisable' from what it was three years ago, according to MD Aidan Groom, who said that investments in services and a more consultative-led sales approach have dramatically changed the face of the reseller.

For full-year 2021, Total Computers' sales grew by a little more than 30 per cent to £92m, Groom said.

Gross profit meanwhile ballooned by 27 per cent year on year, while operating profit surged by 75 per cent, because of a change in business mix.

The MD said he believes the reseller is gaining share of wallet within some of its larger customers in the enterprise space, thanks to winning several multi-year digital transformation projects with its customers.

"I've been with Total for almost 18 years, but aside of covid-related changes, I don't recognize this business from what it was even three years ago. It has changed to the point where it is unrecognizable," he said.

"We've been laying the foundations to become a more services driven organisation for a number of years now. The number of transformational projects we're involved in, the services we're delivering and the size of organisations we're delivering them to has increased significantly. As a result, customers are viewing us as a far more strategic partner".

"What's equally pleasing is our managed services and contractual revenue is growing significantly year-on-year and looking at 2022 the pipeline is extremely strong. That certainly hasn't happened overnight and hasn't come without its challenges. It's taken a significant amount of time and effort to change customer perception and to get traction and referenceability in the market."

Groom also said that Total Computers' transactional business was booming in 2021, thanks to huge demand for client devices during the pandemic. But many of those deals also included managed services and consultancy elements, particularly around hybrid working and cloud-based services.

"We've always tried to stick to a simple plan which is: listen to what our customers want but play to our strengths and only promise what we know we can deliver, and I believe that's held us in good stead."

Many resellers enjoyed higher-than-usual operating profits in 2021 as usual expenses such as travel, hospitality and events were taken out of their business due to Covid restrictions.

But Groom said that Total Computers' 75 per cent jump in operating profits for the year were not down to Covid cost savings.

"While travel and entertainment costs remain lower than pre-pandemic levels, cost savings relating to Covid were minimal."

"In the main, the jump in operating profit reflects the ongoing transition in what we're selling and how we're selling it. We're winning higher value, higher margin deals which provide an attractive blend of professional services, product and contracted support services".

"Many of the bigger ticket deals last year were exactly that and formed part of a long-term strategic engagement. We're certainly doing far more business this way".

Looking at the rest of the year ahead, Groom said Total Computers will continue to invest in itself. This will include the launch of a new digital platform.

"The objective is not to simply create an e-commerce tool, but an expansive digital offering capable of servicing the needs of customers, vendors and distributors alike. And there's a few functions that we're working on that I haven't seen elsewhere. So, I'm really excited about that," he said.

"We've got a good understanding of what customers want from their IT provider and we're successfully re-inventing ourselves as exactly that," concludes Groom. "These are very exciting times for Total."