Comms provider DRC is looking at potential acquisitions as it embarks on an aggressive growth strategy, according to its new Chair, Roger Flynn.
Flynn recently joined Newbury-based DRC alongside its new Managing Director, Sue Elliott, and the pair opened up to UC Today about their plans to accelerate the company’s growth.
The firm was founded by Dene and Karen Roberts in 1989, who will remain on the board of management but are handing the day-to-day running of the business over to Flynn and Elliott. It has historically been a large Vodafone partner, and in recent years has expanded into new areas, including Internet of Things, SD-WAN and data connectivity.
Flynn and Elliott are adamant that they will not be “diluting” DRC’s focus as a comms provider as they want to retain that reputation as the go-to specialists among their customer base.
“We're pretty clear we want to remain a comms provider; we don't want to start adding offerings to the mix that – from our customer's point of view – dilutes the fact that we are experts in comms,” Flynn stated.
“The core of it is an acceleration of organic growth by broadening existing products, adding new products, staying within the comms space and really piling in the engine of growth of sales and marketing. Customer service is really strong, so we want to make sure that remains so and, while the historic growth rate has actually been good, we want it to grow at a much faster level.”
He added that while their growth ambitions aren’t predicated on M&A, the company is on the lookout for acquisitions that can add some key fundamentals, such as skills, geography.
“We’re interested in companies where a partner wants to retire and they've got a decent size mobile connection base, or a UC provider has some interesting product add ons and customer base,” Flynn elaborated.
“The thing that can hold you back a lot when you want to scale is lack of talent in order to get to the next level, so acquisitions that bring a skill set that we desperately need are also on the cards.
“Geographically speaking, a lot of the business is referral based, so a lot of the clients are in and around DRC’s location. An acquisition that gives us more places to be in and talk to clients in would be good.”
