Trolle eyes expansion at Exclusive Networks

The incoming CEO of Exclusive Networks has shared his initial thoughts about the distributor’s business, indicating that expansion is on the cards.

Jesper Trolle was unveiled as the latest CEO of the company last month after Olivier Breittmayer decided the time was right to move from the chief executive position to become a non-executive board member.

Trolle joined the firm from ECS Arrow Electronics, where he was president of the Americas. The plan was for him to work alongside Breittmayer over the next three months in a transition period.

Less than a month into the role, Trolle shared his impressions of the business at a moment when the firm took its latest step, rolling out its XOD cloud-based on-demand service for resellers.

“When I look at Exclusive, I would say it is a very strong performing and resilient business and the fundamentals are good, both financially, operationally and the way we go to market,” he said. “We have a focus on trusted digital infrastructure which, coupled with deep experience and subject matter expertise, is clearly paying off, as our financials reveal.”

Trolle said the business was in good shape and not too much needed to be changed, but there were some opportunities he had identified in his first couple of weeks with the business.

“Right now I’m working with the management team to execute on the vision we’ve put in place and, frankly, there’s not a lot that needs to be changed,” he said. “But there are some elements that can be accelerated. We will continue to focus on geographical expansion and our presence in all of the three large operating theatres. There are a couple of countries, or a couple of markets, where we want to expand because we feel we are under-represented.

“I feel that my background from a larger company, where I have run a double-digit billion-dollar business, and my strong skillset around driving growth and scale would be a big benefit for Exclusive Networks, as we continue to reach for increasingly more aggressive milestones.”

Trolle added: “I’ve seen what works, and more importantly what doesn’t, and this will allow us to grow faster while avoiding some of the pitfalls.”

Exclusive has used acquisition to expand its geographical position and only last month struck two deals – to purchase Veracomp to strengthen its position in Central and Eastern Europe and Hong Kong-based JJNEt to expand its operations in Asia.

Trolle said the firm was having discussions about geographies where it was currently not physically based but was working through partnerships with local players.