Nuvias CEO Lifts Lid on Cloud Distribution Acquisition

The acquisition of Cloud Distribution will allow Nuvias to address opportunities earlier than it has previously.

That’s according to Nuvias CEO Simon England, who has shared the reasons behind the deal with Channel Futures.

One of the biggest reasons, he said, was to leverage Cloud Distribution’s model of early engagement. From its creation in 2009, the distributor has built its business on introducing emerging vendors to UK partners. One of its biggest successes was introducing Meraki to the market before it was acquired by Cisco.

“If we want to reflect evolving market needs, we need to step up in what we’re doing in that space,” said England. “If we want to unlock new opportunities [and] be a trusted adviser for our partners, we should be more than we have been — a partner from early engagement of a technology through to scalable acceleration.

Nuvias’ Simon England

“Cloud fits in perfectly in a strategy of positioning ourselves as a go-to-market partner,” he added. “[We are] helping to make growth opportunities come alive more than we have in the past.”

England also noted that a distie like Cloud also has “a limit” as an opportunity matures. He said this is probably most obvious in cybersecurity.

“It’s not just cloud; it’s cybersecurity distributors that have been early engagers and typically have a certain lifetime. Customers want solutions, not point products. You see vendors trying to create platforms and partnering or trying to integrate an aggregate solution. They need to be thinking more complete in terms of the portfolio.

“Therefore, early engagement through to acceleration becomes a richer proposition now than it may have been.”

Different Swim Lanes

Cloud Distribution will remain a separate organisation within Nuvias, with its management team staying in place.

“We have, to a high degree, been operating in different swim lanes,” said the CEO. “There’s not a single vendor that we share. So there’s no requirement to integrate from a cost centre perspective. So why would you want to take the disruption?

“We see opportunity to help them grow beyond the plan that they had. So at least for the next two years, we’ve committed to maintain that structural integrity, and then we’ll see. There’s no decision right now.”

A ‘Win-Win’

The acquisition was welcomed by Willem Hendrickx, SVP, international, at Vectra AI, which has worked with both distributors.

Vectra AI’s Willem Hendrickx

“Nuvias gets a specialist, fast growing arm to its distribution to focus on emerging technologies and vendors, where there is a lot of growth,” he said. “And Cloud Distribution gets to boost its resources and widen its scope. It’s a win-win, and for vendors like us in the security and AI space, it opens up new channels.

“Having worked with both companies, I think they are very compatible in terms of their ethos and approach.”

Further Acquisitions

England also said Nuvias is potentially eyeing acquisitions in other areas.

“We’ve built a European platform from a systems perspective; it’s very easy to make that available to a third party. We built a central supply chain organisation from a procurement perspective. Anything we do there can be leveraged very easily for another country. We have a platform that lends itself to acquisitions.

“So, if we can find similar fits in other countries, we may be mirroring the same model. If not, we’re going to be making organic investments. If we had not been able to secure Cloud, we would have made an organic investment in the UK, consistent with that strategy.”

But as well as strategic alignment, England said acquirers need to see cultural alignment.

“You need to see how people go together, especially if you’re buying a business with 29 people,” he said. “If you don’t take culture into account or the key people, and you lose half the team, what have you bought? If you lose the business because you lose the people — what have you got left?”