The latest destination for the UC Today News team was Centile’s Customer Summit which is taking place this week in Cannes, France. It’s Centile’s first customer summit since it was acquired by Swyx and Voiceworks, becoming part of the Within Reach Group. With funding support provided by Waterland Private Equity Investments the group has been expanding rapidly through a series of strategic acquisitions throughout the European region. On stage the group’s executive team were clear that the aim is to become Europe’s leading UCaaS provider. With that goal in mind, this year’s summit provided the perfect opportunity for the Within Reach Group to make two big news announcements.
Acquisition of UK based Network Telecom
With a strong presence throughout the various European markets the group has now set its sights on the UK market with its latest acquisition. Network Telecom, based in England, is the latest business to be added to the group’s portfolio. For over 20 years – after being established in 1993 – Network Telecom have been providing customers in the UK with business communication solutions. The company has a diverse portfolio offering solutions across various areas such as: business telephony, hosted voice services, connectivity and ICT services.
After establishing an aggressive M & A strategy in Europe this new acquisition in the UK signals an intent to further expand the group’s reach into Europe’s most competitive communication market. CEO of the holdings company, Stijn Nijhuis – who originally founded Voiceworks – was clear about the strategic statement the Network Telecom addition represents.
“We see the opportunity to become the European UCaaS champion and we cannot be the European UCaaS champion without a significant presence in the UK market”
The current Managing Director and founder of Network Telecom, Paul Maxfield, will continue as a leader within the business to further propel its growth in the UK marketplace. Maxfield is confident that becoming part of the group will be a positive for the business.
“The acquisition of Network Telecom by Enreach is a strategic and well-considered decision that will not only help facilitate our customers growth, but also the growth of the entire group.”
Serving over 2,000 customers – mostly focused in the Midlands in the UK – Network Telecom has been experiencing growth in overall revenue of over 10% year-on-year and now has an annual revenue over £17 million.
This addition to the group adds local expertise within the UK market and should allow the group as a whole to expand its provision of solutions and services with a better understanding of the nuances of the UK channel.
Within Reach Group rebrands to form Enreach
After various acquisitions and mergers the Within Reach Group now encompasses several different organisations – covering much of the European market – with over 2 million users operating across the group’s technology platforms. Network Telecom now joins, Crystal Networks, ipnordic, Centile, Voiceworks and Swyx.
As the group has continued to grow combined branding and consolidated marketing strategies have become more of a focus. To enable uniform group messaging the business leaders have decided to rebrand the Within Reach Group, transforming it into ‘Enreach’.
Keen to maintain the existing group ethos and ideologies the management team have retained the ‘reach’ element of the former group within the new brand. Nijhuis told us that the new brand has various nuances, all of which reflect the philosophies of the combined companies.
“We are here to change the market for all of our customers and therefore our solutions need to be ‘in reach’ for everyone. As Enreach we can create magic solutions for our customers and partners”
Rebranding can be a tricky. Maintaining the recognisable traits of – often well established – brands is a key consideration. As a composite of various different businesses, acquired in a relatively short time, Enreach manages to retain some of the previous brand’s appearance whilst providing a new, fresh look to reflect the group’s aggressive growth targets. Couple the bright new branding with the group’s aggressive growth strategy and you have recipe for success. Enreach is certainly one to watch in the future.
