Leadership Lessons from Scaling a Technology Business | Future Ready with Bechtle

Leadership Lessons from Scaling a Technology Business | Future Ready with Bechtle 

What does it take to scale a technology business rapidly while protecting the culture that made it successful in the first place? 

In this episode of Future Ready with Bechtle, host Stephen Harley is joined by James Napp, Regional Director for UK & Ireland, to explore the journey behind Bechtle’s expansion in the region and the leadership philosophy driving that growth. 

James reflects on the evolution of the business from its early roots to becoming a strategic technology partner, his insights into Bechtle’s acquisition journey and the realities of bringing together different teams, cultures and capabilities. He highlights the importance of preserving what made those organisations successful in the first place. 

In this episode, we cover: 
The evolution of Bechtle UK & Ireland from transactional sales to a strategic IT partner 
Why acquisitions have become a key part of Bechtle’s growth strategy 
The leadership challenges of integrating businesses and aligning cultures 
How organisations can scale without becoming a “faceless” company 
Why trust, communication and adaptability are essential during integration 
The changing role of technology in improving business outcomes 
Why investing in technology helps organisations stay competitive 
Building a people-first culture while growing rapidly 
Bechtle’s vision to become the strategic IT partner of choice 

Watch the full episode to learn how Bechtle is building the next phase of its technology business.

👉 Learn more about Bechtle UK’s services and solutions: https://www.bechtle.com/gb/bechtle-library/bechtle-pillars/services

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The Bechtle Future Ready Podcast explores how technology is transforming the way we work. Hosted by Bechtle UK, each episode features thought leaders and innovators discussing digital transformation, cybersecurity, sustainability, and the modern workplace.

Discover insights and strategies to help your business stay agile, connected, and ready for what’s next.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome. I'm Steve Harley from Beckler here in the UK, and this is the Future Ready Podcast. Today I'll be meeting with James Knatt, the UK Managing Director and Regional Director for UK and Ireland. We're going to be speaking about Beckler's story in the UK, its growth, the acquisitions it's made, the integrations that James has led through, the challenges of merging different cultures across businesses or retaining their value. And then what makes Beckler unique in the UK? I hope you enjoy the episode. It's really interesting to speak to James. It's not often you get the chance to speak to somebody that's gone through multiple acquisitions and integrations so successfully. Welcome to the Future Ready Podcast. I'm Steve Harley. I'm here today with James Knapp, who's UK MD and Regional Director for UK and Ireland, as I understand, James. Welcome to the podcast. Excellent. Thanks, Stephen. Um, before we get going, James, um just take us back a little bit. How would you describe Beckley, UK and Ireland's now journey over the last few years?

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Well, I mean, I think if you if if you look back, you have to almost look back right to the beginning. And when I think about the journey, I think about when we started off 28 odd years ago in an office probably about the same size as this one. And uh yeah, we we had three people in an office and and we grew, it was a very transactional kind of start. So we had a a catalogue, we had 40,000 uh pages in that catalogue. My first job was to translate those 40,000 pages, took about six months. Uh, we sent the catalogues out, the phones rang, we called people, and that's how it started. Um, so it's it's a complete, complete shift from those early days. Uh, and we grew transactionally up to I would say uh you know about 2015. And and from 2015, we really started to build uh kind of solutions and services organization. Uh, we we adopted uh a lot of uh new cloud uh initiatives uh and we built that practice out, uh, and then we grew and invested in uh a complete services and solutions team from 2015 uh and uh up to today, and it's and it and that investment is still going. Um so I think if you if you go back to uh say 2020, 2021, uh that was when we saw a real inflection point in the business. Uh a lot of that investment started to come through. Um so in our own right as a business, we got up to about 120 million uh organically uh to that point. And uh at that point, we we started to look beyond what we had internally, and we realized that within the market we needed to own more of the delivery, and so we we had some great contacts. One of those uh great contacts that I'd made over the years was a chap called John Thorpe, who owned ACS uh Office Solutions, uh you which you know very well. I was gonna say I'd never heard of them. And uh and and you know, John said, Hey, we're not for sale, and we said, Well, we think you are, and we think it'd be a great fit. And uh and and we worked it through and it and it's been great. And so that added uh a managed service capability in-house. It also added, very interestingly, an interiors division, uh, which I know you've talked about on the podcast before. And that interiors division is not just an interiors division, it's a turnkey uh modern workplace solutions uh uh division, really, because you know you can't do as uh you've heard already from Michael, you cannot do an office refit without looking at both the interiors and the technology uh in in one go. So that has driven actually some some really interesting projects and some really interesting new customers uh for us since we we bought that on board. So that was 22. Very quickly then uh tangible benefit came onto the market and it was too good to not take a look. We took a look uh and within I think about two months uh we'd close that acquisition as well. So from going from uh you know many years of organic growth to then moving to to acquisitions and uh integrating those acquisitions, you know, it was it was a big change, but it was an exciting change, and uh we had a lot of uh uh exciting new opportunities with uh with the customers and the and the people within both of those businesses. And then in 24, uh we went out, we added some uh skill sets which we didn't have uh in the business uh with Qualcomm with the Qualcomm acquisition, uh and that's given us a real uh additional uh set of capabilities within uh network as a service, within network delivery, uh within uh IoT, within with the vision platform. And so that's again another really exciting uh acquisition which has added to our portfolio.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

They're a really good company, real depth of uh strength there technically. Um it's getting exciting to work with those companies. Absolutely. We've got some really interesting projects, I know. Um you mentioned there, James, that that transition from organic growth into acquisition. I suppose the thing that comes with that afterwards that that lots of businesses and um business leaders out there struggle with is how do we integrate those uh acquisitions? What's that journey been like for yourself? What were your thoughts around that?

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Yeah, I I think in terms of integrating acquisitions it it's definitely not an easy thing to do. And I and the first thing I say is I I think you have people that fit into one of three categories typically when you make an acquisition. Uh and the first category is those people that say, This is absolutely not for me. I do not want to be a part of this. And and I and the best thing to do is to say, okay, we understand that. We would love you to stay, but we understand if it's not for you. And uh and you know, I I think with with hindsight, that is definitely the the best approach. Then you have the people who say, I'm willing to give this a go. I'm not convinced day one, but I'm willing to see where it goes. And the third category are people that say, amazing, this is a great opportunity. I can see the future, uh, and I want to be a part of this, uh and I can see the growth, I can see the opportunities. And and I think uh that's a kind of that's that'll be a reflection for me having done those three acquisitions. Uh and uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

It's really interesting. I tell I that's one of the things that I really admire about how Beckler's done acquisitions within within the UK, and I'm sure it's the same across Europe, is that that approach of there's an opportunity for for everybody um uh here. That that's really refreshing when you when you hear about you know acquisitions, not horror stores, etc. But I suppose that's that that's that then leads into that kind of big tension. How do you preserve what makes the business that you're acquiring successful? Because presumably that's that's why we're investing in them, right? Um, whilst aligning them into that wider Beckler vision. How do you go about doing that?

SPEAKER_00 7:14

Yeah, I I think it starts with trust, uh, and I think you have to build the trust. If you know, if I rock up day one and say everything's gonna be great and you're gonna be looked after, what they don't know me, you know, why should they believe me? You have to have the leaders of that business on board and they have to, you know, be supporting the the vision that uh that you've both got for that business post uh acquisition and and moving forward into the uh integration. Um and and I think it it's also important to to be very adaptable and to be flexible uh as you go through the the integration process and say, hey, do you know what we we understand and we respect the value which we've bought and we do not want to destroy that value. I'm really big on that. You know, we've we've bought a business for a reason, uh, and we don't want to just definitely don't want to destroy the value which we've bought. So we try and bring people in, we try and bring them into social events uh early on, we try and build working groups uh so that we get to know people because without getting to know people and and having that two-way communication, then you're just somebody that is coming in with you know a big idea. And of course, people have a lot of fear initially, you know, what's gonna happen. Uh, and and so that building of trust is is absolutely huge. You need to make uh you need to set out a roadmap, you need to stick to the promises that you make on that roadmap, and you also need to understand it's not gonna be easy. I think you know, I spoke to a guy that's done 50 acquisitions uh in his career in one company, and you know, he said there's no acquisition which will take place without you know without breaking some eggs, you just it's just not possible. No. And and and I can absolutely agree with that. There's a lot of obviously there's a lot of emotion that that people have, and uh, and you you need to be really respectful of that uh as you go through the process. So yeah, lots of lots of learnings, but I also think it's it's important to say, you know, we don't have all of the answers. Everything we are doing in our business today isn't necessarily the nirvana, it's not the the best way to do things. So you we have to be super open to best practices in in other organizations, ideas, structures which we could maybe adopt and bring in. And we've we've done that with uh so far with all three acquisitions. Um we've listened, we've learned, we've tried to find compromises on certain things. And I think from the feedback that we've had, that's gone pretty well. Uh, you know, people like that.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

There's uh I mean that's the way we we we recently come from our our kickoff uh and and there was a great video um for of feedback from actual people that had joined through acquisition and how they'd found it. And and and that because you have your your your own perspective, but hearing that from the actual people is really interesting, I thought, um, and and kind of grounded that journey for for me. I just when we talk about the differences in those businesses and how we align them, how do you deal with that the different culture and aligning that and making that intentional? Because you know, each of those different acquisitions within the UK and Ireland, yes, there's I think a set of shared values, um, but there's certainly very different cultures when you go now from office to office, and that that's kind of you can see that blend, if that makes any sense. How do you manage that? How do you make that intentional? And how do you keep it positive and so it doesn't clash?

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yeah, it's a really good point. And I think you know, I've met I have talked about this before. When we did the acquisition, I'm gonna say, especially of tangible benefit in London, you know, it's a very different, it's a very different area of the country, it's a very different way about uh going going about a business. But I think the the way that people work the fundamentals of the cultures they might they might look different, but actually underlying people are the people that we've got within all of our businesses, they're driven by the same uh goals, they're driven by the same characteristics underlying, which are people want to work hard, they want to be successful, they're prepared to put in that effort. Uh they are sociable characters, um, some more than others in different offices. But the I think once people have got over that initial, you know, these these people are different than me, actually it's it's enriching and it's enhanced who we are. Um, and and I think it's surprised a lot of people how you know maybe there's been changes made in in in all the offices to adapt and and to to understand that actually everybody has a a place and it's and it's good to have some different characters in the business and maybe different ways of doing things. Um and so the culture is is bottom up. I think if you have the right people on the bus, Jim Collins, good to great, you would know that book. Great book. And and do you know where I got that book? John Thorpe. Well, it's inter it's interesting because John Thorpe and I were at the same HP conference 20 odd years ago, and we got given that book at the same conference. And so John's always had the same uh approach to business as as I have, and that if you have the right people within the organization, the culture will look after itself. So it's a bottom-up culture and it's a culture which lives. It's not, we don't tell people how to act, but we have by having the right people on the bus and and you know, investing in people, looking after them. Uh, you know, we have some great offices. We're just about to invest in a new London office, we've got a new Manchester office recently, we upgraded the Northampton office as soon as we took over. Um, uh and you know, Qualcomm, we kept the offices down there, it's a smart office, and and obviously Chippenham is as well. So, you know, we have I think we we look after people. And I was once told by somebody I won't mention on this uh on this podcast that if you look after your people, they will look after your customers. And that's very much my mantra. We will always try, you know, it's always a balance, um, you know, we're part of a bigger organization, but we really try and run an organization which feels good. That's so important. And we get a lot of feedback from vendors that come in about how I don't want to say too much, but we often get oh, you know, you're our favorite partner. We love working with Beckler, and and it's you know it's a great thing. And and I aspire, you know, I've always aspired to that. We've always said we want to be uh one of the biggest, but we also want to be one of the nicest uh companies to work with, and and we've kept that, and and that's hugely important to to me and to the company as we grow. And I I do and I know you probably want to ask me about that, but I've I've uh you know, I've always always said, and and as we've grown bigger, you know, it's it's a it's dangerous in some ways. You have to be very, very careful about what that uh looks and feels like, because one of the impacts which people don't necessarily think about is that the impact on the people in the in the acquiring business, not the businesses being acquired necessarily. And you've got to think back, you know, four years ago we were a company with 120 people, we're now a company with 350 people and all of these uh you know new faces which have come in. And I think that's that can be scary for the people in that existing business, and they've had to adapt. And and if you were if you were to ask me, Stephen, if you were to ask me what's one of the most surprising things about uh you know what's happened as we've scaled, yeah, it's how people have adapted to that new scenario and the new situation. But I also think it's important not to go too fast because if you go too fast, then you know what you don't want is it, you know, it's faceless business and that. So our our summer parties are important, our kickoffs, we like to have a lot of fun. You've seen that uh firsthand last week. Absolutely. And it's really important, really important.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

No, I mean they're really good points, and and and I I I particularly like as you were saying there, James, you're talking about how um people share motivations and values, and that can be the touchstone upon which people can then build that culture. That makes a lot of sense to me. And you see that, right? So so when you speak to the to to colleagues in in similar roles um from different business units, you you you know, people aren't as different as they might might want to think at sometimes uh drives them. Um I'm gonna take you a little bit off piece because you brought up J James Collins. Um, one of the great things in Good to Great um is that he um puts forth the view that technology can't build your sustainable competitive advantage, which I always think is a bit of a tension from us in a technology company. Um, and and I suppose the way I got my head round it was to start to think about that being well, how we adopt and use that technology is how we build that that uh advantage. How but how do you see that? You know, did do you see that as as a challenge with that that that worldview? Do you share that that view of Jim?

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Can technology bring you a competitive advantage? I I I absolutely I absolutely think if you don't invest in technology, you're probably at a competitive disadvantage. And I think perhaps thinking about it that way is is equally as helpful. Um, and and I think you've always got to think, and I asked this to to a bunch of uh our new starters yesterday. I did a little bit of kind of welcome training, and and and I said, you know, why do we sell it? Why why do we do why why do people buy IT and why do we sell it? It's not like it used to be. They don't buy a laptop because they need to have a laptop, and they don't buy a printer because they need to have a printer. They're buying it because they're trying to improve their business and in turn improve the uh outputs that they offer to their customers, and they're trying to improve their customers' businesses, and that's the that's the aim. So, you know, and without technology, I think you struggle to do that because you're gonna you will get left behind. Um and with the right technology and the right implementation of technology, whilst not having technology for technology's sake, I think keeping in mind that you're trying to improve the businesses of your customers is is hugely important.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Uh really good answer. And and yeah, I had to throw you a curve ball too. No, that's good, yeah. I love it. Get those opportunities very often. Um as we move forward, what's going to evolve about Beckler and what's not going to evolve? You know, how how how do you see the um uh the coming year or two?

SPEAKER_00 17:48

Um well, I I think we we're on a path, and that path is to be the uh IT, uh strategic IT partner of choice for our customers. So our goal is to get ever closer to our customers, to deliver them uh more technology across more of the technology areas again to help their business, to help their customers. So that's definitely uh you know what's uh what's on our minds. Uh and to do that, I think we will continue to look at what we can bring in-house that isn't today in-house, where can we strengthen our partnerships because partnerships are a huge part of this business, um, both in the in the services arena um but also in the uh you know serving our customers outside of the UK, in Europe. Uh, we're very, very strong, so we're very unique actually, and it's one of our biggest USPs uh across Europe that you know we have the 14 countries and we have that uh strength where we have the same systems, same part coding uh structure. It's it's a really unique proposition against any of our uh bigger competitors. Uh and we also have our our global business where we've just brought together our uh international divisions into one, uh so Beckler International Division, which will really uh help proliferate that uh the strength across the globe uh with our partners across the globe. So I think yeah, it's multi, multifaceted. Um, but there's certainly uh there's certainly areas where we'll continue to to strengthen in-house, we deliver more managed, especially on the managed service side. Anything which is managed, I don't think you can on a long-term basis, I don't think you can partner. I think you have to bring that in. Actually, you have to own that and because customers want that that you are looking after it and that you are controlling it. And I think um, you know, that accountability is is really important. No, it makes makes total sense.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Um so just to close off then, James, thank you very much. Um uh final word from you. If there's one thing that you'd want our customers, our partners, um, and potentially new members uh of the team, if you're looking at joining Beckler, to understand about us in the UK and Ireland, what what would that be? Yeah, uh it's a great question.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

And I th I think uh if if I was to think from all of those different angles and perspectives, I I would say firstly, we're a dynamic organization. So I still feel like it's a startup feeling. I know some that's kind of overused a little bit, but I I do, I think, you know, we've got a huge amount of energy, we've got some incredible people. And and what's happening now is that we're starting to, you know, with visibility in in the in the industry and in the channel with the with the growth that uh that we've had over the last few years, I I think we're starting to get a lot of really good people coming to us and saying, I want to have a part of this, I want to be part of it, I want to to join. And and so I think the quality of the of the people is just going up and up and up within the business, and that's only going to help our customers uh and uh of course our partners as well. So we will continue in that vein, and uh we absolutely want to activate uh through IT activate the potential within uh all of the organizations which we work with.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Fantastic, fantastic sentiment. Well, look, James, thank you very much for your time. It's been a real pleasure. Hope you've it's not been too painful and you've enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Oh, I love it, I loved it actually. I think I enjoy enjoyed talking about you know the businesses, it's great, and and uh yeah, thank you.