How acquisitions help us to meet the growing needs of UK businesses

Technology and communication is always developing and evolving.

It is more important than ever to stay ahead of the curve through growth and development.

We know the importance of acquisitions to fulfil the growing needs of UK businesses. Elite Group was founded by Matt Newing in 2000 and, as technology advanced, we made the decision to accelerate development through strategic acquisitions to build upon the organic growth we had achieved with our telephony solutions. Our first acquisition, GP Telecoms, allowed us to expand our product set and knowledge, providing the foothold that enabled us to reposition ourselves into the emerging cloud and UC markets. Over the last decade we have successfully completed 17 acquisitions, which has helped us to become who we are today – experts in our field and a leading provider of IT and Communication solutions.

The rise in remote working will cause an increase in demand for technology and communication systems, causing the market to become even more competitive than it currently is. The growing demand for technology and the value of acquisitions in our sector has been reflected in recent M&A statistics. According to Experian, there were 5867 M&A deals and transactions in 2020, with IT and Communications being one of the most high-volume sectors with 1659 deals. Despite the pandemic, IT and Communications deals saw an increase of 5.07% and the value of these deals increased by nearly 150% compared with 2019.

Let’s explore why acquisitions are so important and how they can help your company to meet the growing needs of UK businesses.

What are the benefits of acquisitions?

Acquisitions have provided many advantages for us as a company and allowed Elite to offer a variety of benefits for our customers.

“We acquire to gain volume but also to benefit from the technology, essential skills and people that make us a leading provider of IT and unified communications.” Matt Newing | Founder | Elite Group

Acquisitions present the opportunity for organic growth through the expansion of product-set, staff and customer-base. Obtaining new assets has provided the opportunity to enter new markets, that previously were closed to our business. Acquiring businesses in other sectors allows diversification of our product set, creating more product and service options for our customers and providing the ability to cross-sell. Another really important benefit of acquisitions is access to a wider customer-base to increase sales and generate more profit. There is no business without people, so gaining quality staff through acquisitions is always an advantage. Talented employees can help to increase expertise and knowledge, as well as bring fresh, new ideas to improve our strategy and enhance our customer’s experience.

Through acquisitions, Elite Group wasn’t restrained to the telecommunications sector, which is where we started. We were able to diversify and have access to markets that were in growing demand, such as IT solutions and Cloud services. We invest in fantastic staff we have acquired, whose hard work is reflected in our 96.5% customer satisfaction rate. We have a first-class and varied suite of products and services all under one roof and the ability to deliver these solutions in a unified package for our customers. Without our acquisitions strategy none of this would have been possible, we would have fallen behind demand and we wouldn’t be the industry leaders we are today.

 

How are the needs of UK businesses changing?

Across the sectors more and more businesses are transforming digitally. With the rise of the internet and online purchases, turning digital has become vital for businesses. From investing in cloud services for more efficient business operations to branching out into e-commerce to secure more sales – the demand for technology and communication solutions is continuously growing.

Technological advances have created a level playing field for SMEs compared with previous years, when smaller businesses were constantly left in the shadows of large corporations. Traditional marketing can be expensive and therefore executed less effectively or is even unattainable to some smaller businesses. With the rise of digital, SMEs now have access to marketing through mediums such as social media and search engines. The world becoming digital has created businesses who don’t sell physical products, removing the need for a business to have an official base such as an office building or hub. Entrepreneurs have had the capability to set up successful businesses from their home office or living room. For businesses looking to scale-down their physical assets, the introduction of online HR portals, cloud-based accounting software and digital communication programmes means if you and your staff have access to the internet and a device, you can essentially run a business. What are these businesses going to need? IT and Communication solutions, such as device security, cloud services, collaborative software, remote working solutions and business mobile, so we can predict that there will be a growing demand for these services.

The vital nature of technology became apparent when the pandemic hit in 2020. Those who hadn’t put time and money into communication and technology solutions either learned to adapt quickly and invested in digital solutions or they struggled. From here on out, the demand for technology for digital adaptation is only going to increase. Remote working was on the rise pre-pandemic, but now businesses have been working remotely for over a year, there will be an expectation placed upon employers to allow flexible working to continue in the future. Again, there will be a growing need for cloud-based solutions, hosted desktops and VPNs in order to facilitate this.

How we conduct business operations in the future is going to change. Using communication programmes, such as Microsoft Teams to host meetings will become a permanent fixture, as it will save time and money on travelling long-distance for business meetings. Investments in assets such as online chat facilities and AI will also increase as the technology becomes more accessible to businesses. Cloud-based services and the introduction of 5G, which is going to increase the expansion of the Internet of Things, will mean insights on customer trends and statistics is going to be at our fingertips. From product development to targeted marketing, this data is going to form the basis for many decision-making processes within business. In order to provide an excellent customer experience and be competitive in today’s fast-paced corporate world, businesses will need to stay ahead of the curve by riding the wave of technological progression.

How can acquisitions help us to stay ahead of the game?

According to business advisors Grant Thornton, technology is going to be ‘a shining light in M&A post-lockdown’ and, after the exploration we have embarked on in this article, we can see why. The pandemic has created a ‘new normal’ and the need for technology among business is only going to grow, so the IT, Technology and Communications sectors is going to be incredibly competitive going forward. Acquisitions can offer adaptation and collaboration to present more product and service options, to keep our current customer-base satisfied and to attract new clients.

New technology is emerging all the time, especially technology that is going to benefit business, as this will be an even more lucrative market, both during and after the pandemic. To stay ahead, it would be beneficial to start your research into acquisitions to discover if you are in a position to acquire and what the process would entail.  Your next step would be to research businesses who can add products to your set that are going to be in demand and would fit in well with your business. Acquisitions allow you to invest in the future of your business, so it can accommodate the digital demand that we are going to see.

At Elite Group, acquisitions were initially focussed on growing the business and expanding our customer-base. This is still important to us, but now our focus is far more strategic.  We have become leading providers of IT and Communication solutions by strengthening our product-set and expertise, in order to provide plenty of options to our clients.  Ultimately, the talent, products and expertise we have gained through acquisitions has been instrumental to our success.

If you’re looking to sell your business in 2021, we are looking to buy. Get in touch with us today to find out about our acquisition process, our expert acquisition team and how an acquisition could benefit you and your business.

 

Elite Group is one of the UK’s leading unified communication providers, supplying reliable and professional IT and unified communication services to organisations seeking Business Mobile, Cloud, Networking, Connectivity, and Telephony solutions.

For more information on how Elite Group can power your unified communication solutions,  call us or request a quote today.