ScanSource Acquires Resourcive, Names Advisory Business President

Details of the world's first publicly traded technology advisor business emerged on Thursday when ScanSource announced the acquisition of Resourcive.

Buying New York-based Resourcive officially kicks off the distributor's platform for a channel advisory business, which will source technology to end-user customers in an agent route to market. At the same time, ScanSource named Mark Morgan to oversee the efforts of its technology advisor business.

ScanSource's Mark Morgan

Resourcive CEO and chairman Tom Gesky, who founded the company in 2001, said he turned down numerous strategic buyers over the years until ScanSource approached him.

"I never saw the vision that I believed and heard from ScanSource. When I learned about what their vision was, when I considered where the industry was going, and when I looked at our team and who we are, I thought very clearly this was the best fit for us to move forward," Gesky told Channel Futures. "The combined resources of our brands, along with the ecosystem that exists within this ScanSource community and ecosystem that we can leverage, just seemed like a perfect combination."

Resourcive's day-to-day leadership team stays in place, headed by president Kyle Hall, managing director of strategic partnerships Nick Creasey and vice president of operations Kyle Gotzman.

Related:Proteus Acquisition Boosts Resourcive Cybersecurity Consulting Practice

Who is Resourcive?

The purchased company is well known in the channel. Resourcive in 2018 earned platinum status with Intelisys, meaning that it had surpassed $1 million in monthly end user billings through the technology services distributor. The company has grown its base of midmarket and enterprise customers to more than 300 with a variety of technologies, including cybersecurity and contact center. The company has notably specialized in working with private equity and financial leaders to help businesses optimize spend and make technology investments.

Resourcive's Kyle Hall

In an industry where many agent leaders are using M&A as an opportunity to retire, Hall said "there's fuel in the tank and a lot of space to run." He told Channel Futures that business will continue as usual for Resourcive.

"For us, we call our version of an agency business a 'technology value creation partner.' We have a vision for that [a model] that doesn't exist in the marketplace. We see in ScanSource a partner that can help us to execute on that better than ever, and we're very, very excited about about it."

Mark Morgan to Lead ScanSource Channel Advisors

ScanSource has also appointed Mark Morgan, formerly its president of global strategy, to lead the channel advisory business. He now serves as president of ScanSource Channel Advisors.

Related:ScanSource Investors Get the Skinny on New Agency Business

Morgan in his tenure at ScanSource has gotten to know Gesky, Hall and the Resourcive team. Morgan said he met Gesky in 2016 just after ScanSource bought Intelisys. He later met Hall at around the time Morgan was serving as president of Intelisys. He added that his time working in close proximity to Intelisys agents gave him appreciation for the agent route to market. He oversaw the research and acquisition teams that executed the Intelisys deal.

"First and foremost for me, I love this channel. I love this model. I think it is one of the more beautiful models that I've seen," he told Channel Futures.

Morgan said the Resourcive leadership team impressed him with their knowledge of their customers and their knowledge of the market.

"We're going to work closely together. I've got full confidence in their ability to grow organically. I've also had full confidence in their ability to help us think through opportunities to potentially make other acquisitions or acquire books of business," Morgan said.

Looking Ahead

The announcement marks the retiring of the "NewCo" moniker, which captivated the attention of channel since ScanSource CEO Mike Baur announced it in March. Baur has shared that he wants to create a company model that evolves the technology advisor (agent) model. For example, he noted that partner M&A has often resulted in customer churn after the original company owners retire. He has stated his intentions of building a company that drives account management and cross-sell with existing customer bases and forms new best practices for market expansion.

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ScanSource's channel advisory business will operate separately from its tech services distributor subsidiary, Intelisys, and ScanSource and Intelisys executives have stressed that a wall of separation will exist between Intelisys and ScanSource channel advisors.

"We thought about this for a long time before we pulled the trigger," Morgan told Channel Futures in an interview. "We went into it knowing that this could potentially be controversial, but as we've moved along, it has been well received. We're looking forward to what Kyle and his team are going to do for us."

Hall and Creasey are both honorees of the Technology Advisor 101, which recognizes impactful leaders in the agent market.

"I think I've done the work over the last seven years in this industry to earn the trust of my peers out in the field. There's no change. I'm still the exact same person," he told Channel Futures.

Hall said he is looking to tell a "story of collaboration" as he talks about the acquisition with his technology advisor peers.

"I firmly believe we are still only scratching the surface of the size of this market and what it is going to be," he said.