12 01732 759725 really good at already. Northamber owns their own operations, their own logistics and warehouse, whereas we outsource that today. They can provide the right model and then layer the value-add on top. TR: What impact has the sale had on your headcount? JC: Twenty-five people have gone to Northamber as part of that purchase, and Alex and I have an agreement, and there’s a contractual one as well, to ensure a smooth transition of the business for customers. It isn’t a case of handing over the keys and moving on. We have a responsibility in the coming months to make sure we help Northamber achieve a smooth transition. It sounds like a cliché, but our motto is zero customer disruption. Customers can still place business with us today, in the same way they could previously, on account or anything like that, and we will act as an agent for Northamber to make sure that business is processed in the right way. So, zero customer disruption. TR: How many people are now employed by Konekt across the UK and Europe? JC: About 60. To be absolutely clear, the Northamber deal is a UK-only deal. Our plan is to exit hardware in Europe in a controlled fashion over the next three to four months, so we can then focus on the Konekt strategy, which we’re really excited about. TR: And what’s happened to the Nisha AI virtual assistant in this transition and rebrand? JC: It’s a great question. Konekt isn’t simply a rebrand of Nuvias UC; we’re adopting a whole new philosophy inside the business. We sat down and asked what would a startup look like in this environment? What would a startup look like in cloud communications, software and services for the channel? We came up with a strategy around that. The reality is Services is a £40 million GII business, serving 400 customers, so by definition it can’t be a true startup. However, our philosophy around how we work, around how we act, around our systems is like that of a startup. We’re rebuilding our systems and putting AI and automation at the heart of what we do. Also, our business is now much simpler structure in place is that we had different go‑to‑markets, different strategies and different P&L shapes across hardware, software and services. Previously, everything was lumped together, which made it difficult to apply different strategies and go-to-markets and financial reporting for each of those segments. The divisional structure helped give us clarity on how our software and services businesses were performing, with growth of 20-25%, versus the hardware business, which was definitely underperforming. TR: And it is that devices and infrastructure division that you’ve sold to Northamber? JC: Yes. We separated out our hardware business – devices and infrastructure – and have sold that to Northamber, which is a fantastic home for it, by the way. Over the last year, I’ve got to know Northamber and its Chairman Alex Phillips. They are a fantastic specialist distribution business and really fit into this layer around the intelligent workplace with the portfolio they already have around UC and VC, plus security and some networking and infrastructure as well. So it’s a great home for the business. That’s from a strategy perspective. The other thing that’s been great for us as we’ve got to know Alex and his team is that Northamber is also a great fit culturally and ethically. Alex has the same passion as I do for specialist distribution, so it felt like exactly the right deal for the business and for its people as well. TR: Why have you chosen to sell the hardware business? JC: The reality is that business in the hardware collaboration market that we existed in, which did experience some fantastic growth during Covid, has been really tough in the last couple of years. Despite us still having really good market shares, we were getting to the point where we weren’t making any money out of that hardware business. Our processes were good, but the overall costs in that business, and I don’t mean people costs, but operating costs, were too high. We needed a partner who could take that business and build into what they’re At the start of December Nuvias UC announced that it was selling its hardware business to Northamber for £7.1 million and rebranding as Konekt. With £28.8 million in annual revenue and 700 customers, Nuvias UC’s hardware and infrastructure division specialises in Microsoft Teams Rooms, Zoom Rooms and hybrid-working ecosystems. Its acquisition will enable Northamber to expand its existing UC and AV portfolio and enhance its offering with specialist support, provisioning and configuration services, building on capabilities gained through its acquisition of UC and AV distributor Tempura Communications in 2024. As part of the acquisition, Northamber gains use of the Nuvias UC name, with the remaining part of the original business rebranding as Konekt and focusing on its two higher growth divisions – cloud solutions and services – that together generate annual revenues of £40 million from 400 customers across the UK and Europe. Here, we ask Konekt CEO Joel Chimoindes for his perspective on the sale of Nuvias UC and his plans for Konekt. Technology Reseller (TR): In April, you introduced a new divisional structure based around hardware, software and services. Was that done with an eye on the sale of the hardware business? Joel Chimoindes (JC): Yes and no. The reason we put the divisional INTERVIEW Q&A With Joel Chimoindes, CEO of Konekt Joel Chimoindes
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDUxNDM=