Distributor Exclusive Networks, which is backed by private funds, has had a good crisis, with turnover and profits rising strongly, only held back by the strengthening Euro which dented its results. CEO Jesper Trolle (pictured), in place almost exactly six months, has reported its 2020 results showing an 8% organic rise in sales, while it also added territories and 17 new vendors.
“Through all the uncertainty and constraints of 2020, the year was a story of strong resilience, resolve and results for Exclusive Networks. This fantastic performance is a huge testament to our amazing and deeply committed people based around the world, as well as our partners and customers who have all risen to the challenge of ‘business-as-unusual’.
Cybersecurity has been a particular strength – he says some 75% of total security business is supplied and serviced through two-tier channels. Another growth area is DevSecOps, where it has been recruiting skills in native cloud services and containerisation. It acquired specialist distributor Nuaware with its skills in these areas in 2020.
“I am in no doubt that our heritage and specialism in cyber has been a huge factor in our success during this period, which is why it has such a profound influence on our future direction as a business. As the go-to specialist for trusted digital infrastructure, we are ideally placed to support our partners in capitalising on the many significant opportunities that lie ahead.”
The key direction for partners will be specialisation, he says, as he expects the first half of 2021 to be similar to 2020, with some return to “normal” in the fourth quarter. The ”as-a-service” business, which it launched as XOD (Exclusive Networks on Demand) in the year has a growth rate five times traditional business, he said, and now rolled out across Europe with no signs of slowing, is expected to be expanded globally, particularly to the US.
It has made acquisition, notably Veracomp in central and eastern Europe, adding 450 people overall in the year, and this has been for skilled resources as well as vendors and customers. Jesper Trolle added that working from home had led a lot of people to assess the values of the organisation they worked for and that any job has to be very special to outweigh the lack of social contact caused by remote working. He expects to see many positions opening up and people changing jobs once things get back to a new normal.
