5. Breaking America
11 March 2016
We’re not saying Computacenter didn’t do anything for 13 years, but it wasn’t until March 2016 that it signalled its desire to take the next big step in its international expansion.
As Robbie Williams will attest, breaking the US is no easy task.
But in its 2015 annual results statement, Computacenter Chairman Greg Lock revealed that Computacenter was planning to give it a go by launching direct, rather than partner-based, operations across the Atlantic (it previously served the US needs of customers via CompuCom Systems).
Within no time at all, Computacenter had amassed hundreds of US employees, before super-charging its presence there via the acquisitions of FusionStorm (2018), Pivot (2020) and Business IT Source (2022).
Although Computacenter now has a £3.6bn-sales business across the Atlantic, Norris said he still isn’t content with the product vs services split there.
“In North America, we don’t have the services content anywhere near where we have it in Europe, and we would like it,” he told IT Channel Oxygen last April.
“We can’t force it. If the opportunities aren’t there to buy, at the price we’re prepared to pay, organically growing it is an option, but it takes a long time. I don’t need to make more acquisitions in North America, but I’d like to.”
In September, Norris also acknowledged that he “gets a kick out of” being the largest VAR in California.
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