‘GenAI and high-performance compute will be our measure of success in 2025’: WWT VP of global accounts on EMEA goals
Dominic Pierce discusses WWT’s AI focus, M&A and UK activities
As WWT’s global business works to absorb its recent acquisition of Toronto-based Softchoice, the UK arm is working on getting more deeply embedded in the local market.
Case in point, the recent launch of a new integration centre in Coventry.
CRN met Dominic Pierce, WWT’s VP of global accounts, during the company’s AI Day in London to discuss plans for growth in EMEA, the place of MSPs, and the solution provider’s AI journey.
In EMEA, Pierce identifies three growth priorities.
Firstly, the organisation wants to “go very deep and build very long-term relationships” with the “substantial number of large enterprise customers.”
“I'm talking about 15 to 20 of those types of organisations.”
The company is also “targeting additional large global enterprises headquartered in Europe.”
“Establishing relations with these customers will take time.
“It'll take a year, it'll take two years; we're very patient, and we want to do a good job and establish our credibility.”
The third priority Pierce outlines is around genAI high-performance compute, where the company has created a dedicated team.
“We want to significantly grow our genAI and high-performance compute business across consulting services and our traditional integration business.
“There is also a set of organisations who we know are already investing in or are about to invest in genAI high-performance compute, particularly if they're doing so on-premise and maybe not in the cloud.
“We have established a team of people to pursue the opportunity with those clients, based on our investments we're making in genAI and our capability.
“Our progress in that area will, in many ways, be our measure of success in 2025.”
UK activities
Within EMEA, the UK arm stands at around £2.6bn in revenue.
Pierce adds that WWT’s headcount in the country “is north of 250.”
The organisation recently expanded its logistics capabilities in the UK with the launch of a new integration centre in Coventry, to support its “clients and partners, by lowering delivery costs and speeding up delivery in terms of having to deal with customs going back and forth between the UK and EU,” according to Pierce.
Alongside the Netherlands, the UK is the only country in EMEA where the company has “a substantial physical presence.”
“We have a large European integration centre in the Netherlands, with over 200 people working there.”
In the UK, the firm partners with Cisco, Dell, HP, Pure Storage, and a lot of up-and-coming storage providers.
“The networking space is becoming increasingly competitive, so we have a lot of interest in that world, and then there's a very broad range of cybersecurity partners that we're working with.”
Operations and customers expansion
The conversation turns to Softchoice and WWT’s acquisition strategy.
The buyout of Canadian software-focused solution provider Softchoice by WWT will allow the organisation to tap “into the commercial segment, though not necessarily SMBs,” in the North American market.
This also represents the first acquisition made by the company since 2015.
According to Pierce, Softchoice also brings “strong capability in software, AI, cloud, and being a very strong Microsoft partner.”
WWT also remains open for investments in EMEA-based companies “if the right opportunity comes along.”
“Any acquisitions in EMEA would focus on enhancing our capabilities in the UK or serve as ways of entering in new European markets.”
The VAR label
While the company is often listed as a value-added reseller, Pierce explains that the leadership shares a different view on the matter.
“If you spoke to our CEO, Jim Kavanaugh, he would very much disagree with you.
“We have that capability, but we are a global technology integrator with strong consulting expertise.
“Our competition at one end can be Deloitte and Accenture, it could be some niche consultancies in the genAI game and the cybersecurity world, and it absolutely could be some of the more traditional value-added resellers.
“We have a data consulting business, we have a use case business consulting capability, we have the ability to test those use cases in our AI proving grounds.
“We also have the ability, once the client has made a decision, to do the complex integration work that's required with these very complex, expensive, and sometimes fragile AI technology stacks, and deploy them.
“We don't think anyone else can do that, and that's why we're doubling down on that opportunity.”