SOUTHERN TECH 100
TM South’s top tech businesses honoured at awards
The Business Magazine’s annual Southern Tech 100 private dinner and awards in March recognised the region’s outstanding technology businesses
Barclays, Blake Morgan, Moore Stephens and Roc Search sponsored the event at Oakley Hall, near Basingstoke. Judges from the sponsoring companies commented that choosing five winners from a very strong line-up of 20 finalists was difficult.
The wide-ranging tech sector includes IT innovators, science and bioscience companies, hardware suppliers, cloud service providers, telecoms business and tech-focused manufacturers.
“These businesses are helping establish the south’s digital economy,” said The Business Magazine’s publisher David Murray. “Our awards recognise some of the successes in a sector that contributes so much to our economy. Tech businesses are key to the Thames Valley. On the South Coast, there are fast-growing tech clusters in Southampton, as well as Bournemouth and Poole. They are hotbeds of tech start-ups.”
People and strategy underpin Centerprise restructure
The evening’s guest speaker Jeremy Nash, CEO at Centerprise International, described how the Hampshire-based IT provider is undergoing major organisational restructuring while maintaining an impressive growth trajectory.
Centerprise grew revenues and margin by 25% in its last financial year and has already grown sales by 30% in the first half of its current financial year.
Two years ago, 85% of its client base was in the public sector, with about 65% of these in defence. Now, the public/private split is roughly equal, with defence accounting for only 25% of its clients. The company has around 200 staff, with about a quarter in sales roles.
“Our vision is to be one of the UK’s leading privately-owned technology solution providers that is renowned for delivering outstanding services to its customers,” said Nash.
He added: “We want to move from reselling to delivering solutions. And we want the business to remain private because it gives us greater agility and pace in our decision making.”
Chairman and owner Rafi Razzak faced a tough decision about the future of his company. “Centerprise was relatively static with turnover in the £55 million-£60m bracket. The easiest route for Rafi would have been to keep going for as long as he wanted, then sell up. But he didn’t want to do that; he wanted to leave a lasting legacy of a business that continued creating jobs,” said Nash.
Razzak and Nash recognised that transformation meant spreading management decision-making. “We
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out as you expect you’ve got to be able to look at other avenues, so you can continue to move forward,” said Nash. “You won’t be able to do that if you are comfortable at being directed and simply go along with what you think the company is trying to achieve.”
Centerprise’s cash reserves put it in a strong position to invest and acquire. “We don’t need to seek external investment, we have pace and agility, so we can keep ahead of the competition,” said Nash.
are empowering our senior managers, encouraging people to make decisions and then supporting them. It’s about trust, backed by training. Our values play a massive part in empowering people to make decisions,” Nash explained.
He outlined the three reasons behind the company’s success: people, strategy, and healthy levels of retained profit. The company has invested in people by bringing in new recruits and running extensive training and development. It now has a mix of staff who have been there over 20 years and new talent.
“We took time to appoint the right people in the right roles, who would make an immediate positive impact,” said Nash.
As well as encouraging staff to be courageous in their decision making, the company culture also urges them to act as entrepreneurs.
“The market is changing so quickly. We have a clear vision to execute on our plan, but at the same time when things don’t turn
Having retained profits also allows the company to turn threats into opportunities, as Nash explained: “Brexit is making the price of technology goods more expensive. We looked at a 6-12 month pipeline and bought in stock so we could protect our customers from price increases, and protect our profit margin.”
During an audience Q&A, Nash was asked how Centerprise was managing the skills gap in the IT industry. He said it was difficult, and that getting the right people was equally challenging.
“I work as hard talking candidates out of joining us as I do talking them into it,” he said. “I’m frank, I explain things we aren’t so good at. I don’t want people to find any surprises after they join. We have to get it right.”
Within three months of beginning its business transformation, Centerprise had created and introduced a new organisational structure that completely changed the way it is set up. “And we continue growing revenue while going through change,” said Nash. “We are heading to £90m revenue by the end of our current financial year.”
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – MAY/JUNE 2018
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