Vuzion MD: We can double our size in the UK 'very quickly' as part of Infinigate
Vuzion boss Michael Frisby and Infinigate CEO Klaus Schlichtherle speak to CRN after Infinigate makes its second UK acquisition in two months
Vuzion can double the size of its UK business "very quickly" following its sale to cybersecurity distributor Infinigate, its managing director has told CRN.
Switzerland-based value-added distributor Infinigate yesterday announced it has acquired Hampshire-based Microsoft CSP Vuzion.
Ranked #22 in CRN's recent distributor rankings, Vuzion - together with direct-selling parent company Cobweb - produced more than £50m in revenue for the year ending 31 March 2022.
Vuzion is a Microsoft CSP indirect provider and cloud aggregator focussing on the SMB market. The distributor offers a marketplace, e-commerce and billing platform to help partners sell cloud services and provide data to customers on their usage and consumption.
The acquisition marks the second in the UK for Infinigate in less than two months. Infinigate acquired the cybersecurity and networking divisions of the Woking-based distributor from Rigby Group in July which greatly bolstered its presence in the UK and continental Europe.
Speaking to CRN, Vuzion managing director Michael Frisby, who will become SVP of cloud services at Infinigate, said he expects to double the size of the cloud distributor's UK business "very quickly" as part of larger distributor, before expanding with new headcount across other parts of Europe.
"We will be increasing headcount in the UK, because there's a new community of resellers we want to go and work with here," he said.
"There's lots of opportunity for us. There's opportunity for us to double our size within the UK very quickly before we even go into new European markets."
Frisby added that being part of Infinigate will open the door to invest in "relevant resources" in markets across EMEA and leveraging Infinigate's broad EMEA footprint.
"Ultimately we are a people business, and a lot of the value we add is around the people. So we'll put people to manage those relationships as well as technical people in new countries.
"We are going to be going out and putting teams into new markets to accelerate growth that way, and to work with the existing Infinigate and Nuvias resellers within those markets and bringing together that security and Microsoft portfolio.
The Vuzion business only makes up around five per cent of Infinigate group's total revenues, according to CEO Klaus Schlichtherle, after it ballooned its revenues to €1.4bn after acquiring Nuvias.
But Schlichtherle told CRN that he believes the Vuzion business will grow at double the rate of the already fast growing Infinigate and Nuvias businesses over the coming years.
The CEO said Infinigate grew its organic revenues by 22 per cent in its last financial year.
"I think [Vuzion's] share of revenue will grow very quickly across the Infinigate group, because the growth rates in that cloud area are quite significant.
"If you think of the value proposition of adding the cybersecurity power to the cloud value proposition, I think that will drive the growth even further."
Cloud distributors such as Vuzion and Pax8 have been creating waves in the distribution space over the last few years through offering partners as-a-service billing and cloud aggregation platforms.
Pax8's UK channel head even said last year that "distribution is broken" and had failed to innovate as the market shifts to cloud-based models.
US-based Pax8 recently told CRN that it now has a revenue run rate of $900m and 1,400 staff - including almost 300 in the UK and EMEA - thanks to aggressive organic growth and acquisition.
Schlichtherle said that he sees cloud as an "evolution" rather than a "revolution" of the role a distributor plays in the market.
"We have always had in our minds about how to actually move on to a digital experience for our customers so they can buy a license from us, or through a recurring revenue model or a service from us in any fashion. And that's basically what we're aiming for - to get to this digital experience for our resellers.
"With Vuzion we take a significant step forward, and I think that's the natural evolution. I don't think it's disruptive it's just an evolution of the business model. If you think 10 years away, very likely the majority of the value will move into that model. I think it's more an evolution than a disruptive revolution," he said.