technologyreseller.co.uk 25 education that our ability to grow there is quite limited. “In public sector in certain territories, particularly those where there are aggregated purchasing schemes rather than centralised purchasing schemes, we do well. In the UK, there are not many aggregated purchasing schemes for public sector, so it’s harder to work that game. Likewise, in the private sector, in SMB and mid-market, while we have some good partnerships and routes to market and good relationships with end users, by no means is it anywhere near a good proportion of the available market. “We value what we’ve got, but we recognise that if we want to grow, we need to have something to say about more than education, more than public sector, and everything we’re doing now, the things we talked about in Milan, our 100% loyalty to channel, bringing programmatics to the market, proof of concepts, the Synergy Partner Portal that we’ve now developed are all assets and tools designed to enable our partners to promote us better in SMB and mid-market.” Relationship management Booth expects growth in the commercial sector to be achieved without a corresponding decline in Acer’s retail business, which he points out ‘has been in growth and continues to grow’. In this context, he adds that while some businesses do buy from retail Computing (servers, AI infrastructure and interactive flat panel solutions), AOPEN (digital signage and edge computing), Posiflex (point-of-sale, AIoT, kiosk and industrial PCs) and Opticon (scanning solutions and electronic shelf-labelling). Craig Booth, Acer’s new General Manager of UK, South Africa and the Nordics, believes that the combination of these growth engines, continued innovation in Acer’s core PC offering and the development of its channel will enable Acer to increase commercial sales from around 30% of total revenue to 50% within the next three years. Potential for growth Commercial includes areas where Acer is already very strong, especially education, but also segments where it has the potential to do better, like public sector, SMB, mid-market and enterprise. “Of our commercial revenues, a reasonably high percentage has always been education,” explains Booth. “That’s an incredibly important sector for us. It’s something we’re proud to participate in and we want to continue to work hard with schools to bring technology into the classroom. But we’re in such a good position with In March, Acer celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special event at the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan, where the PC vendor highlighted its key achievements since 1976 and outlined a growth strategy for the new era of AI. This strategy doubles down on its ongoing evolution from a device manufacturer into a technology solutions provider and builds on year-on-year revenue growth of 4.1% in 2025 (and 39.8% in January), which has taken Acer’s revenue back to pre-pandemic levels. The company’s growth is being powered by rising B2B sales, which accounted for 30% of revenue in EMEA, and ‘multiple growth engines’ outside computers and displays that together made up almost one third (32.2%) of global revenues in 2025. Growth engines include energy storage solutions, electric mobility, EV charging infrastructure and hydrogen stations, smart cities, gaming, apparel, home appliances, AI-based medical solutions, cybersecurity, cloud solutions, industrial PCs, connectivity devices, system integration, computer repair and maintenance services. Businesses within Acer’s diversified ecosystem that have most potential from an integration perspective include Altos Technology Reseller talks to Craig Booth, Acer’s new General Manager of UK, South Africa and the Nordics, about the PC brand’s evolving product offering and its plans to boost commercial sales with a diversified technology offering and enhanced channel support Acer marks 50th anniversary with B2B sales push PCs continued... Craig Booth
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