‘The UK is our rising star’: Israel Garcia on Econocom’s strategic ambitions
The UKI country manager delves into 2025 goals, M&As, and One Econocom
French VAR Econocom has recently shown appetite for the UK market, turbocharged by acquisitions and organic growth.
While the pan-European company has increased its activities in the UK, the revenue generated in the country still pales in comparison to its performance on the continent.
But Econocom doesn’t intend to be confined to the status quo.
To better understand the company’s evolution, CRN spoke with Israel Garcia, Econocom’s UKI country manager, about the organisation's UK activities, future M&As, and One Econocom.
The UK, a ‘rising star’
Econocom’s birthplace, France, represents 45 to 46 per cent of the company’s total business.
Spain and Italy “are also significant markets” for the group, followed by Germany.
As of now, the UK is still a smaller market for the organisation, but the country should become its “rising star,” Garcia says.
In 2024, the firm generated £85m in the UK.
It expects a revenue rise of around 40 per cent over FY25.
In FY24, Econocom’s global revenue stood at €2.74bn (£2.28m).
While the company’s four main business lines globally are workplace, infrastructure, AV, and financial assets, Garcia says his “immediate priority is to reorganise [Econocom’s] offering in finance, workplace, and infrastructure” in the UK.
The solution provider relies on its network of vendors and distributors in the country to support its mission.
In workplace, this includes Apple, Lenovo, HP, and Dell, while its key infrastructure partners include VMWare and quantum.
“Apple is one of our top partners, but we also work with key Windows-based vendors, Garcia says.
“In finance, we work with various banks and funders; many of our partners in the UK are partners of Econocom in other countries.”
In terms of disties, Garcia identifies “Tech Data, TD SYNNEX, and Ingram Micro as some of [its] main suppliers globally and in the UK.”
Quarterly and AV ambitions
To grow the company’s significance in the country, Garcia identifies a few key priorities, such as reorganising the company’s “offering in finance and workplace infrastructure.”
He also describes Gavin Bell, who became Econocom’s CEO of products and solutions (P&S) UK in July 2024, as “a fantastic asset.”
“He’s already making a significant impact on our company, and in the next four months, I expect to see real growth and a stronger portfolio.
“For finance, we’re also optimising our capabilities and increasing our market penetration, this means expanding our sales operations and improving our service offerings.”
Garcia refers to establishing an AV business in the UK as “a crucial mission” for Econocom.
“The company’s next step in the UK will be to acquire an AV company.
“We believe an acquisition will allow us to establish ourselves in this market more quickly and efficiently.
“[AV] is €250m business for Econocom across Europe, and we need to develop it rapidly in the UK.”
The company has a history of investments.
In 2021, it bought Trams, which allowed it “to expand into the workplace and infrastructure sectors.”
Garcia himself joined Econocom when the VAR bought his company, Altabox, in 2018.
Customer base and headcount
In the UK, the company counts around 45 people in sales, and 45 people in pre-sales.
It is also in the process of building a dedicated department for public sector sales, which, Garcia says, is becoming increasingly important for the business.
He adds that in the UK, the organisation primarily targets medium and large businesses.
“Small businesses require a different approach; you need to have a different go-to-market strategy, often with more web-based solutions rather than a large sales team.
“The way you operate is completely different.”
Econocom’s UK arm counts 200 customers in the workplace sector, many of which are also connected to its finance business.
“There’s still a long way to go in terms of growth,” says Garcia.
“Our budget for the UK is around £120m, so we have a lot of work ahead.”
One Econocom
In late 2023, the company announced the launch of its strategic plan for the period 2024-2028, called One Econocom.
“[Our] goal is to grow the group’s revenue to €4bn by 2028,” explains Garcia.
“This will be achieved through a mix of organic and inorganic growth.
“The inorganic growth will be focused on extending our capabilities rather than just expanding within existing business areas.”
Within this plan, the group has also launched an initiative called “Mission Impossible”, to boost its number of salespeople.
“We have two types of salespeople: traditional employees and independent agents who sell our portfolio while operating their own companies.
“This agent model is quite mature within Econocom and sets us apart from competitors.
“The goal is to expand our agent network to over 100 by 2028.
“The programme has already exceeded expectations, with over 25 new agents onboarded in the first year.
“Previously, agents were mostly concentrated in France and Belgium, but now we have them in Spain, the UK, and Italy.”
In 2024, One Econocom impacted the firm’s operating margin, as the international financial reporting standards (IFRS) don’t allow it to capitalise on these investments, according to Garcia.
“They have to be recorded as costs, that’s why our profit margin has been temporarily impacted.”
In FY24, operating margin went down 3.6 per cent, from €114.5m to €110.4m year-on-year.
Operating profit was impacted the most, falling 15 per cent (FY23: €103.6m, FY24: €88.1m).