Exertis UK CEO: 'This is the biggest organic opportunity we have in our portfolio across DCC'
Tim Griffin swapped his role as MD of parent company DCC Technology for the newly formed position as CEO of Exertis UK in February
Distribution powerhouse Exertis is switching focus to its retail and B2B business in the UK with newly appointed CEO Tim Griffin leading the charge.
Griffin traded in his role as managing director of parent company, DCC Technology for the job as the first Exertis UK CEO in February.
Clive Fitzharris took over as DCC Tech MD while Paul Bryan, the previous UK MD, moved into a new international role leading DCC Technology operations in the Benelux, Nordics, France and Middle East.
CRN chatted with Griffin to find out more about this newly created role.
'Growing what we've got versus pure acquisition'
"My responsibility for the most part at the DCC technology level as MD of that division was really to grow the inorganic agenda," Griffin said.
"We've spent the last four and a half years on a fairly aggressive acquisition trail. We acquired extensively in North America, extensively across northern Europe, and we've 'internationalised' the portfolio. We doubled it in scale and, and tripled it on the bottom line."
Griffin explained his previous role as DCC Tech's MD was "non-operational", sitting across 20 or 30 companies which he "influenced" on a day-to-day as opposed to "run" on a day-to-day basis.
"Moving into this new role, it's more about taking operational responsibility for the biggest entity within our group and I'm excited about the inorganic opportunities - growing what we've got versus pure acquisition."
The opportunities Griffin alluded to lie within the distributor's retail and B2B business in the UK.
"The bottom line is, this is the biggest organic opportunity that we have in our portfolio across DCC, not just [DCC] Technology," he said.
"And we really believe that some focus on that can deliver great growth opportunities for us as a company.
"So I've been asked to help provide that focus and it comes on the back of a period of investment that we've been making in infrastructure.
"And that investment didn't always go according to plan. But we're now in a position to take full advantage of those investments both operationally, and also from a digital, data analytics, customer interface, and the experience that we can drive for both vendors and customers."
Keep reading to find out how Griffin plans to grow business in this key area...
Exertis UK CEO: 'This is the biggest organic opportunity we have in our portfolio across DCC'
Tim Griffin swapped his role as MD of parent company DCC Technology for the newly formed position as CEO of Exertis UK in February
How will the new Exertis UK CEO drive growth?
Outlining his game plan for this new focus area, Griffin said he "fundamentally" believes in a value creation scheme that starts with people, customers and business.
"We have a very, very big agenda around our people, and how we enable them to unleash their potential and reach their full potential, and that's everything from creating an inclusive environment as well as training and driving their development," he explained.
"If you've got happy people you've got a chance to create happy customers, and in the distribution world, you've got two customers.
"On one side is the vendor community and how do you provide reach and simplicity for them, and then on the other side of the equation is the retailers and the resellers and again, how you provide simplicity for them, but also leverage in terms of being able to fulfil their needs, and allow them to do more of what they're good at."
Exertis UK CEO: 'This is the biggest organic opportunity we have in our portfolio across DCC'
Tim Griffin swapped his role as MD of parent company DCC Technology for the newly formed position as CEO of Exertis UK in February
Where is Exertis UK investing?
Griffin told CRN that priority number one is around building the foundations and the capabilities around infrastructure, which he said Exertis will continue to invest in to ensure it's optimised to be able to "delight customers".
"Other parts of where our investments will fall in the portfolio include, how do we address the cloud for example, and building out our capabilities in that space is crucially important," he added.
"But I come back to my opening statement around value creation. It really starts with people. So a lot of our investments in the coming year are going to be focused very much around our people agenda, how we organise the success, getting them aligned to the customer requirements, and building an execution culture that delivers on that."
Exertis UK CEO: 'This is the biggest organic opportunity we have in our portfolio across DCC'
Tim Griffin swapped his role as MD of parent company DCC Technology for the newly formed position as CEO of Exertis UK in February
Supply chain issues easing and European competitors
Griffin acknowledged the current global headwinds of inflation and mass job cuts. However, believes the reality is "not all bleak".
"The landscape around the supply chain is improving. We still have spot issues from time to time where we end up either feast or famine. There are still issues but it's improving."
Meanwhile, Swiss distributor giant ALSO Group recently entered the UK with the roll out of its cloud commerce marketplace.
However, Griffin kept cool about the emergence of a new, big European player to contend with.
"They're a very formidable competitor and they've launched a platform here being able to do cloud and effectively be a first virtual distributor," he told CRN.
"It's a very natural way of entering and creating a beachhead into a new market. I wouldn't go so far as to wish them well, but obviously, that's part of our competitive landscape."
On his competitive landscape, Griffin said he firmly believed Exertis is matching up to Swiss giant ALSO.
"And interestingly, we have the capabilities to be able to stretch into Northern Europe. So I understand the need, and if you think about that particular space, architecturally, from a CIO's perspective, it's an important part of the solution."
He added: "But actually, most of them want to buy a hybrid solution that takes multiple pieces, so cloud's, only a piece of the jigsaw and that's one of the things that we pride ourselves on is being able to provide all those elements of the jigsaw."