Ascertus and DataSolutions tap into growth areas

There are continuing signs that channel players that have in-demand solutions have been able to ride out the worst of the Covid storm.

All eyes are on the publicly listed players, but occasionally others across the channel lift the lid on their performance and share details of recent trading performance.

Document and lifecycle specialist Ascertus, which specialises in serving the legal market, has seen a 10% growth in revenue for 2020/21, compared with the previous year.

The firm saw an almost 100% increase in demand for its iManage Work document and email management solution deployments in the cloud. Ascertus saw strong demand from the legal sector, but also had to meet demand from the pharmaceutical industry, education and the financial verticals.

“Despite the operational difficulties experienced by many in 2020, we ensured that our customer service didn’t suffer,” said Roy Russell, CEO of Ascertus. “We continued to look after all our clients and employees while achieving business growth without impacting delivery costs and timescales, making staff redundancies or demanding salary sacrifices.”

The business has also been investing, with a 30% increase in headcount, and has gone through a reorganisation as it looks to bolster its project management and consultancy teams.

“Last year provided a good opportunity to take stock, identify areas of improvement across all areas of the business and make investments to poise ourselves well for this year and beyond,” said Russell. “We are very optimistic about business in 2021 and have good reasons to be upbeat about the future.”

The channel player also jointly formed an alliance, the Global Efficiency Group, which brought together six specialists in information and document lifecycle management. Being part of the group gave the firm the chance to pitch solutions to some of the largest global professional services firms.

“We’ve proved that we are a resilient business that can not only withstand the unforeseen vagaries of the world that we live in today, but also thrive despite the difficulties,” said Russell. “We are energised for the coming year and ready to welcome on board customers looking for a friendly, positive partner who can provide a mutually beneficial business relationship.”

Meanwhile, there were also encouraging noises coming out of security distributor DataSolutions.

The firm saw its security division improve during 2020, with revenues increasing by €7.5m year on year, with customer demand for greater protection a major factor in that growth.

At the same time, the firm was also signing up a series of vendors to add to its portfolio, including Neustar, D3 Security, ColorTokens, Ordr and Orca Security.

“Security was one area that exploded as businesses looked to enable widespread remote working, maintain productivity and continue operations,” said DataSolutions managing director Michael O’Hara. “With the increase in sophisticated cyber attacks targeted at dispersed workforce, security teams are under serious pressure to protect vulnerable organisations and critical data. And that is not to mention the fact that they are potentially dealing with unprotected networks, personal devices and unofficial app downloads.”

O’Hara indicated that the strategy the company followed last year would continue to be the way ahead. “We will continue to expand our offering and deliver technologies and services which, now more than ever, are the difference between organisations surviving and thriving,” he said.