Print in the Channel - issue #6

EKM PROFILE

Growth and change

EKM Global was recently acquired by TD SYNNEX but it is business as usual for the managed print services provider, which is now focused on growth in the UK and across the world.

Growth focus The focus for EKM Global is now on growth, especially in Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA), the US and Latin America. “We are growing quickly in EMEA, having secured major new customers in the Middle East recently,” Ian says. “But EKM Global is growing across the globe. We are in 104 countries and have more than 2,000 resellers – of which about 1,000 are in the US. We now have 20 languages in the system – the last one we added was Finnish – and have the capacity to add more as necessary.

For Ian Silvester, the past few months have seen many changes personally, as he has stepped up to a new role at EKM Global, following the departure of founder Colin Bosher after the completion of a deal that saw TD SYNNEX acquire the company, but he is content for EKM Global’s customers to see very few changes – apart from upgrades to the company’s services. While TD SYNNEX now owns the shares of EKM Global, as Ian notes, the company remains a separate legal entity. “This means that our data remains our data and our customers’ data remains our customers’ data,” he explains. “This is important because customers don’t want their data shared. “The relationship we have with TD SYNNEX works well, as it means that we’ve got a backing of a big partner, but we still have the flexibility and nimbleness of a small company. It also means there has been no real difference for customers.” As mentioned, there have been some changes in personnel at the top and additions to the team, especially within the team that runs EKM Insight, the company’s MPS software infrastructure. Ian, as director of product management and customer care, now heads up EKM Insight and has been building the team to help achieve his growth ambitions for it.

Ian Silvester director of product management and customer care EKM Global

ekmglobal.com

We’re working with many dedicated managed print services resellers, but we’ve also got programmes with distributors. “ ”

“We’re looking to gain volume in the US and in Europe,” says Ian. “We’re working with many dedicated managed print services resellers, but we’ve also got programmes with distributors. The Open MPs programme is one with TD SYNNEX and that’s being pushed heavily into IT solutions providers that haven’t got any print experience. Their key market is servers, desktop, support routers and such like.” EKM is working with distribution partners to put packages together that they can sell to their resellers. “We’re working very closely with them in the UK, EMEA, the USA and Latin America,” says Ian. “We’re just doing a programme with one of the big reseller distributors in Latin America that want to offer the services their resellers. So that’s going to

12

Powered by