'The market is quite fragmented which means opportunities to consolidate': Conscia enters UK and Ireland with ITGL acquisition

Portsmouth-based Cisco gold partner has sold up to Danish solutions provider who are eyeing up further growth

Danish Cisco gold partner Conscia has debuted in the UK and Ireland with its acquisition of digital transformation provider ITGL.

The deal marks the European services and solutions provider's 17th acquisition over ten years and adds the UK&I market to its operating roster which covers Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovenia.

Headquartered in Denmark, Conscia, which also works with vendors like Palo Alto Networks, VMware, and Microsoft, employs over 1,020 people serving more than 1,000 customers.

Its core markets include the finance and healthcare sectors.

Speaking with CRN, Conscia CEO Erik Bertman explains what drew the group to ITGL and the UK.

"Conscia covers six countries. Since we wanted to be a leader in Europe of course we want it to be in the UK as it's such a large market in our industry.

"When we were looking at companies to join the Conscia family, for us it was very important that we had a cultural shift in terms of being driven by competence and trying to help and solve customer challenges.

"ITGL fits very well with us in terms of culture and being driven by the curiosity of always improving in terms of competence."

Bertman adds he is "super excited" by the opportunities in the vast UK market.

"It's a big market where I think there will be a lot of changes going forward.

"When you look at the landscape it's quite fragmented which means there's opportunities to consolidate."

Diving deeper into how Conscia plans to execute its growth strategy in its new region, Bertman reveals it's a mix of organic growth and M&A expansion.

"We are very focused on cybersecurity and networking and will continue to focus on those technology areas.

"On one hand we believe we should grow organically and help more customers and add more services.

"But then to look for other acquisitions in the UK because it's a big market. There is a lot more room for ITGL to grow both organically and through M&A."

On whether to expect more acquisitions from Conscia this year, Bertman says ‘never say never'.

"We are always on the lookout for acquisitions. Over the past ten years we've done 17 and I don't think we'll be stopping in the near future.

"We normally look at two different types of acquisitions either in our core business around networking and cybersecurity, or sometimes in adjacent competencies that we may want to acquire, to be able to accelerate our own growth."

ITGL, part of Conscia

Also a Cisco gold partner, ITGL has sites in Portsmouth and Oxford, and brings its 70-strong team to Conscia.

Its CEO Neil Pemberton becomes chief executive of Conscia UK, reporting to Bertman.

Pemberton explains to CRN what attracted the pure Cisco partner to its new owner.

"We operate in a very similar way, with very similar vendor partnerships, but in very different markets.

"They have an innovative approach to technology, specifically in areas such as service delivery, managed services and security which are very important areas to us as well."

Pemberton seconded Bertman's comments on culture.

"The sorts of people and the sorts of expertise Conscia have are very similar to what we've built at ITGL, high competency technology, consultative led approach."

The third element was what the deal allows ITGL to do for its clients, who Pemberton states are often asking for more.

"Being part of Conscia group allows us to broaden out somewhat from where we have been technology wise, but still maintain the quality and the high level of expertise that we've built our reputation on."

He also reveals what the deal adds to ITGL, which will operate as ‘ITGL, part of Conscia' post acquisition.

"It falls into two categories. The first one is around managed services. When we set ITGL up six or seven years ago, it was very much set on the basis of being a services-led organisation.

"Conscia have been on that journey longer and have developed services that are richer and deeper and very much in line with what our clients are asking us for.

"The second area is around the mature, very highly skilled, offering around the whole security MDR in the area of business."

Conscia to focus on managed services

A major trend seen within the channel in recent years has been partners ramping up their managed services.

Conscia's Bertman reveals this plays a significant role in the group's business moving forward.

"It's a very important part for us. The last two or three years we have been growing very fast in managed services.

"The reason why it's so important for us is that many of our large, complex customers that have mission critical IT infrastructure sometimes find it difficult to be able to attract and retain the best people in the industry and then look for experts to help them manage things.

"It's a trend we've seen quite heavily in northern parts of Europe where historically outsourcing was more general. But now because of the complexity of technology more companies are looking for experts within certain areas. That's where we play as an expert in networking and cybersecurity."