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ALSO launches in the UK
Sizeable distributor opens an office and looks to make an impact with its cloud marketplace offering
Swiss channel player ALSO has decided that now is the time to cut the ribbon on a UK operation and take a slice of the cloud market on this side of the channel.
The distributor is not a complete stranger to the distribution landscape in the UK, and in the past was a member of the European Wholesale group, working alongside Westcoast, which was disbanded back in 2008.
It has also been represented indirectly in the UK by platform-as-a-service partners that have been selling services from its cloud marketplace without the need to have the business based locally.
But from today that approach changes, with an office in London and the launch of ALSO Cloud UK, which aims to tap into the 20m enterprise users that could be buyers of cloud-driven managed services.
Gustavo Möller-Hergt, CEO of ALSO Holding, said the decision to enter the UK had been something the channel had been asking for.
“An increasing number of customers have been asking us to have access to the full ALSO service and vendor portfolio,” he said. “This is why we have decided to enter the market with a local presence.
“It will enable UK resellers to provide their customers with access to workplace, business and cyber security applications, as well as cloud infrastructure of global vendors,” said Möller-Hergt. “Value-add resellers and ISVs can also offer and charge for their own services and applications through the platform.”
Strong alternative
The ALSO Cloud Markletplace is already an established option across Europe, and the distributor is processing around 2.8m monthly transactions, which support more than six million unique users via the channel. The platform hosts technology from more than 200 vendors and will present a strong alternative for those MSPs looking to work with more disties.
ALSO is also a sizeable competitor entering a crowded market, working with more than 120,000 resellers globally – and the firm has relationships with 700 plus vendors, covering computing, storage, networking, components, consumables and software.
The business has been growing its geographical coverage, following a strategy for the past decade to maintain, optimise, reinvent and enhance, and is established as a major player on the continent, with revenues in 2021 of €12.4bn.
The UK is just the latest in a number of countries the business has expanded into over the past 18 months, including using acquisition to bolster its position in Portugal with a move for the IT operations of JP Sá Couto, as well as Italy via a deal for Next. The firm most recently strengthened its Hungarian operation through the acquisition of the IT division of Ramiris.
It is due to share its 2023 half-year report towards the end of July, which might give a glimpse into the progress and expectations around the UK move.
