Managed services on the rise for ECSC in H1

Cyber security player ECSC has indicated that its focus on managed services is delivering as it saw significant growth in that part of the business in its first half.

There was a drop off in its consulting business by 23% to £1.19m, which offset the 63% climb in managed services, producing flat year on year revenues of £2.63m in the firm's interim first half numbers.

The firm also trimmed its losses to £0.19m, down from £0.49m at the same point last year, and indicated that the consulting business was looking better in the second half. The firm enjoyed a record July, with revenues up by 42% y-o-y to £0.62m.

“We are pleased that from the start of H2 the previously reported reduced level of consulting services demand has now been reversed, with consulting growth recovering strongly to match the continued growth in managed services recurring revenue and cyber incident response service," said Ian Mann, CEO of ECSC.

"Despite the UK economic uncertainty, and its short-term impact on consulting projects, we have focused on continued improvement across all areas of the business. These have all contributed to the strong growth of the managed services division and, post-period end, record trading in consulting," he added.

The firm has also been growing its VAR relationships, with 66 partners signing up to resell ECSC services by the end of July, which generated more than 50 sales opportunities.

"The Board sees the continued expansion of the partner programme to have the potential to significantly increase growth in the future. Sales and marketing resources are being directed to support the growing partner programme," said Mann.

He added that the strategy to keep investing in the managed services approach would continue and there was plenty of action in the security world.

"The UK cyber security market remains an attractive segment of the wider IT sector. Against this backdrop, we are confident that the organic growth strategy of ECSC remains appropriate. Managed services remains the strategic focus of the Board, to build our recurring revenue streams and target the fastest growing segment of the market," he said.