Specialism: Disruptive tech and tailspend management
Vendors include: Azul, Nitro, Vimeo, Flashpoint, Kollective, Corellium, Recorded Future
Revenue: £98.6m (+21%)
Headcount: 92
Cheshire-based ASM Technologies styles itself as an expert in tail spend management and emerging tech distribution for the world’s largest resellers and SIs.
Revenue for its year to 31 March 2023 leapt by more than a fifth to £98.6m, with £73.7m of the total drawn from the UK.
It also operates in France and Germany.
“I view the first half of 2024 not as a setback, but more as a reset period for the industry”
Quickfire Q&A with Sales Director Iain Tomkinson
Which product, service, or vendor has stood out for you in 2024?
The true standout innovation in 2024 hasn’t been the headline-grabbing AI models, but rather the critical data preparation, security and management tools that make AI implementation possible. While AI continues to generate significant buzz, its enterprise adoption has been constrained by two key challenges: the need for high-quality structured data and a lack of comprehensive regulation that has made many organizations hesitant to fully commit.
What’s really made a difference this year are the solutions that help organizations manage their data properly. These tools do everything from structuring and cleaning data to surfacing relevant information, ensuring datasets are properly balanced, creating accurate labels, and identifying potential bias. They’ve been the unsung heroes of AI progress in 2024, enabling organisations to build the strong data foundations necessary for successful AI implementation.
Looking ahead, I expect these tools to become even more crucial in 2025, especially as the EU AI Act comes into effect and provides a clearer regulatory framework alongside existing standards like DORA and NIS2. Rather than pointing to a single vendor, it’s this entire category of data preparation and governance tools that has truly distinguished itself this year, laying the groundwork for AI’s transition from hype to real business value.
If you could change one thing about your business at the stroke of a wand, what would it be?“
If I had a magic wand, I’d solve the talent pipeline challenge that our industry faces.
The channel offers incredible career opportunities and is home to such a vibrant, supportive community – we just need to get better at communicating this to the next generation of professionals. It’s about making the channel visible and appealing to students leaving school, college, and university who are mapping out their career paths. I’m particularly excited about the Tech Channel Ambassadors initiative, spearheaded by Hayley Roberts, where many of my fellow distribution leaders are involved. This programme is exactly what we need to start bridging this gap and showcasing the dynamic careers available in our industry.
When will the UK distribution market return to growth?
From what we’re seeing, the market has started showing encouraging signs of recovery since the summer, and I expect this positive momentum to carry us through into 2025.
I actually view the first half of 2024 not as a setback, but more as a reset period for the industry. Looking at our own position, I remain confident – we’re still on track for ASM to deliver growth in FY24, building on the solid foundations we established early in the year.
Name one area of your business where you are expecting to add staff in 2025.
We will undoubtedly increase head count in sales and marketing and business systems Teams. Business systems will help us to do more with less, and the data will help guide our sales and marketing teams to be more laser focused on growth.
At its Channel Forums EMEA in October, Canalys characterised AWS Marketplace as one of the world’s largest distributors, owing to its growing third-party software business. On balance, do you agree?
I don’t view AWS Marketplace as a direct competitor to traditional distribution, despite its impressive growth in third-party software sales.
From my perspective, it’s more an evolution of the market rather than a disruptive force, particularly for specialised distributors like ourselves. While AWS has certainly achieved phenomenal growth, software distribution is incredibly nuanced and complex – it’s not something that can be effectively channelled through a single platform or approach. Not every solution or vendor fits neatly into their model, and many customers need more specialized support and services than a marketplace can provide.
So while they’re certainly a significant player, I see them as part of the market’s natural evolution rather than a replacement for the value that specialised distribution brings to the table.
If you could undertake a secret, two-week apprenticeship at another distributor to see how they roll, which would you choose?
I’d be really interested in spending time with Exclusive Networks. What they’ve achieved under Jesper Trolle’s leadership, along with Paul Ecclestone and most recently Rob Tomlin in the UK business, has been remarkable to watch from the outside. They’ve managed to scale globally while maintaining a really distinctive approach in the market.
I’m particularly intrigued by how they’ve balanced their rapid growth with maintaining strong vendor relationships and their ability to be disruptive in what can be a saturated market. Getting a behind-the-scenes look at how they operate and understanding their formula for success would be invaluable – there’s definitely some lessons there that could benefit our own organisation.
See who made the wider Oxygen 50 Must-Know IT Distributors 2024 here.
