‘I see no reason why we should slow down’: QBS CEO on growth and acquisitions
Dave Stevinson sat down with CRN to discuss the company’s priorities, M&A pipeline, and AI strategy
“We’re on the right track towards our $1bn revenue plan,” Dave Stevinson, CEO of QBS Software, tells CRN.
Stevinson met with CRN to discuss the company’s plan for 2025, one of which includes its plan to reach $1bn in revenue by 2030.
“We're going to try and get over 50 per cent compound growth this year, which is quite a confident and ambitious number.”
To achieve this goal, the CEO hired Alex Tatham as strategic board advisor and Kevin James as independent non-executive director last year.
Integration a top priority for 2025
The CEO also lists three priorities on which he wants to focus this quarter.
“First of all, we're focusing on what we call ‘PAI’; post-acquisition integration."
“We integrate companies through three lenses; ‘Have we got the people into the QBS system? Are we following the same QBS processes? Have we got an integrated and a modulus tech stack?’
“The second priority is executing on our M&A pipeline.
“We blend double digit organic growth with acquisitions, and we try and do about three per year on average.
“We certainly have seven to ten in the pipeline for execution within the next four years.
“I see no reason why we should slow that down.
Last year, the distie acquired three companies: KSoft Korlátolt Felelősségű Társaság in Hungary, as well as Maxtec and Titus in South Africa.
“The third priority is delighting our partners and vendors with best-in-class service.”
Partnering firms aren’t the only ones on which the company is focusing this year, as Stevinson also wants to drive a “best in class employee experience.”
The CEO says that he’s looking to “continually raise the bar in terms of making QBS a place where great people work together, while driving collaboration and improving the employee benefits and experiences.”
Consolidation, services and AI set to dominate the agenda
For 2025, Stevinson also identified two big trends reshaping the channel
The CEO thinks that “there is going to be further consolidation in the channel as there are more acquisitions taking place, particularly in the MSP space, where people are seeking scale.
“That's going to remain consistent in 2025.
“More and more channel partners, particularly resellers, are also going to amplify their services wrap.”
The company also plans to double down on AI as the technology is a key element of the channel now and is expected to significantly grow within the UK, given the government's recent AI plan.
“About the AI plan, any initiative that embraces technology is good for the channel, as there’s no better way of delivering technology than by working through it.”
“This is one thing the government fully understands.”
For Stevinson, “AI obviously is an unstoppable force” that firms have to take advantage of when seeking growth.
“It’s going to be embedded into everything as we’ go forward.
“I would estimate about 75 per cent of our partner base has purchased one or more AI tools from the QBS platform in the past 12 months.
“Literally every vendor we talk to has an AI plan and strategy, and they're integrating it into their tooling.
“AI is becoming table stakes.
“At QBS, we’re using a blend AI and IA (intelligent automation) to complement our great people strategy, which will allow us to deliver on our goals.”