'We're here for the long-term': ALSO Cloud UK one year after debut

CRN catches up with the Swiss distributor one year after its launch in the UK

Pan-European distribution giant ALSO is on the hunt for partners one year after kicking off its UK expansion with the premiere of ALSO Cloud UK.

The group initially planned to recruit around eight UK staff to support the local roll out of its cloud commerce marketplace.

One year later, Mark Appleton, chief customer officer at ALSO Cloud UK tells CRN the number is now in the double digits.

"We now have 11 UK employees," Appleton says.

"We've been in the phase of finding the right partners because we're not after the mass but after the niche in terms of the type of MSP, those that are wanting to grow and how we can help them grow with our value added services.

"It's been a good first year and things are heading in the right direction."

ALSO Cloud UK currently has just over 100 partners.

Its head of sales Stephen Grey gives CRN more insight into what ALSO wants that number to be by the end of this year.

"It depends on the size and the skill. We're not going to go out there saying ‘the more the merrier' because I don't think that's where we want to be," Grey says.

"It's not something we can put a specific number on, but into the low 100s is where we see we will be at this time next year.

"But again, if it was less than that, but we were working with the right type of partners, then absolutely we'd take that."

The right type of partner

Grey also lifts the lid on what a partner needs to tick their boxes.

"We're not looking to just be a transactional business. So if there are resellers out there that want to buy the licences, they can," he says.

"Our platform is strong and has a lot of features that enable them to manage everything themselves.

"We've got a very strong support mechanism for that, so we wouldn't turn any partners away who are looking to transact."

He adds a key focus for ALSO in the UK are partners that are looking to develop a growth plan.

"But the ones we're looking to work with are those slightly bigger MSPs rather than the smaller ones, in terms of building go-to-market strategies with them, helping them to create events, webinars and leads that they can turn into new customers."

Challenges

When ALSO Cloud UK first debuted, Appleton says the key obstacle to overcome was getting its name out there.

"The biggest challenge and the biggest thing we needed to get over was the awareness of the ALSO brand in the UK.

"The group is very strongly positioned in most of the other European countries, but because we were a start-up and never really trained in the UK market then the main focus for us was to get our name out there, get the awareness out there of who we are, and what we can bring to the channel."

Explaining more about what exactly ALSO Cloud UK brings to the channel, Appleton says its platform is critical.

"We are Microsoft's number one indirect provider in EMEA.

"We have our own platform. Our platform is used in 144 countries around the world, although we are only trading as ALSO in mainland Europe. So our platform is highly recognised as a strong part of our business.

"Our goal is not a short-term goal. It's a five to six year business plan where we aim to be number one or number two in the UK. We would never go to a new country and want to be just a number. We want to be in the top three, and of course that's our goal within five years.

"To achieve that it takes a lot of graft but in the end, we believe our platform and strong Microsoft presence will bring us to that in that period of time that we're targeting."

Another element of its UK growth plan is where ALSO plans to invest.

"The two biggest things are security and AI, Appleton says.

"We know it's in the public eye what's happening on cyber attacks, and obviously AI is super new, Microsoft have launched Copilot.

"It's still in the early days, there's obviously a lot of security and data that needs to be secured before people roll that out en masse but that's going to be a huge piece of the 2024/5 for market development."

Appleton concludes: "The key message is we're here for the long-term. It's not a short-term project.

"Our platform and our status with Microsoft is critical. We need the awareness out there, and that's coming."