Bechtle is “definitely open” to more UK acquisitions, its local leader stressed as he revealed a £1bn revenue goal and an ambition to become “the UK’s most trusted partner”.
Germany-headquartered Bechtle is mainland Europe’s largest reseller, with a 2024 top line of €8bn.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Regional Director UK&I James Napp said the business he helms has “tripled” in size in the last three years on the back of organic growth and its acquisitions of ACS, Tangible Benefit and Qolcom.
“We’re now roughly 400 people and closing in on £300m,” Napp said.
“We want to get to £500m, and £1bn is the ultimate medium-term goal. Everything we do is focused around getting us towards that.”
“We feel like we’ve arrived”
Despite its e-commerce roots, Bechtle’s UK business has over the last decade developed a strong services and solutions bent, Napp said.
This has helped Bechtle UK&I drive organic revenue growth in the “high teens” in 2025, he claimed.
Napp’s remit has since January expanded to encompass Ireland, where Bechtle is also looking to boost its services and solutions sales.
“We really feel like we’ve arrived in that managed services, professional services and solutions-driven space,” Napp said.
“When we talk about our software growth, we’re not just talking about licenses, but about the service wrap: the workshops, the audits, the proof of concepts, the testing.
“We’re bringing a lot more of that in house and helping customers on the journey. It’s bordering on thought leadership, where we want people to come to us with their problems and challenges and let our pre-sales and post-sales folk help them along their journey.
“We definitely want to be seen as the strategic IT partner of choice for customers, and the UK’s most trusted partner.”
“It was a surprise to some people”
Napp pinpointed “maximising the potential” of its acquisitions as his top priority for 2026.
“What is the measure of success of acquisitions and integrations?,” he asked.
“I’d say it’s winning business which previously you wouldn’t have won, whether that’s in the existing company or in the acquired company – and we’ve done that really well.”
Bechtle’s 2023 acquisition of £60m-revenue Tangible Benefit “was a surprise to some people in the market”, Napp acknowledged.
“I think people looked at it and said, ‘the boys and girls from east London… and Bechtle – is that a good fit?’,” he said.
“You know what? It’s been an incredible fit.
“They had some great premium-tier customers who they were primarily selling client business, client wrap and warehouses services to.
“We’ve been able to open up our services and solutions organisation to all those customers.”
Aruba house Qolcom has under Bechtle broadened its focus to include Juniper and bagged some network managed services wins among Tangible’s customer base, Napp added.
The managed services clout 2022 acquisition ACS added was also crucial, Napp claimed.
“I’m a big fan of partner networks, but I think with managed services at some point you have to have that capability and you have to own it,” he said.
Napp branded ACS’ interiors business as “really interesting”.
“We can fit out a complete office if that’s what customers want, and embed all the technology at the same time – and you also get that early visibility of projects so you’re seen as a real value-add partner,” he said.
Having taken a “little pause” to digest its quarry, Bechtle is ready to go again on M&A, Napp indicated.
“We’re definitely open to either volume or skills set-enhancing acquisitions,” Napp said.
“It has to be the right fit, culturally and from a leadership perspective.
“We’ve looked at some we haven’t gone ahead with, so it’s very important for us to get it right.”
“We’re now getting people seeking us out”
Despite Bechtle’s recent investments in AI (including its acquisition of German AI company Planet AI), Napp was quick to rule out the need for the kind of AI-fuelled headcount reductions announced last week by HP.
“We’re definitely not looking to replace existing roles – I’ll be very clear on that.
“But we do want to make the tasks for the people in the business more interesting and valuable, so we’re challenging people to use AI.
“One thing we are doing is saying, ‘hey, before we hire that next person, is there something where we can employ AI or create an agent to help?’, so that we are embracing the AI piece as much as possible.
“But that’s certainly not going to impact the existing people in the business.”
Thanks to its summer parties and quarterly team meals, Bechtle is becoming known for its “work-hard, play-hard culture”, Napp claimed.
“That’s helped with recruitment as well. We’re now getting people seeking us out, which maybe wasn’t the case a few years back,” he said.
Asked where Bechtle UK&I has an edge over its peers, Napp stressed the Chippenham-based outfit is relatively agnostic when it comes to customer size.
“Of course, we do feel like we’ve got a real advantage in that international customer space,” Napp added.
“It’s almost less about the type of customer, and more about being that strategic IT partner of choice,” he concluded.
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
