This month’s Oxygen IT Solutions Provider of the Month has gone from zero to $100m revenue in just eight years, making sizeable acquisitions in the US and mainland Europe in 2023.
Leeds-based Xalient is one of the UK’s most internationally focused channel partners, and has been since day one, CEO Sherry Vaswani tells IT Channel Oxygen…
You built up and sold your previous venture to Jersey Telecom in 2012. What is your long-term ambition for Xalient?
My previous venture was just the warm-up! For Xalient, breaking through the $100m revenue milestone this year was just the beginning: we’re not stopping there. We aim to become a market leader for services in the specialised fields of identity, cybersecurity, and networking and see more opportunity ahead.
How would you describe Xalient to someone who doesn’t work in the industry?
Xalient is the cool, new kid on the IT block, growing quickly, shaking up the game with incredibly bright people and lots of innovation, and making organisations agile and secure using the latest cloud-based technologies.
What’s your customer sweet spot?
Large, complex organisations with a global presence and a large, distributed workforce, often dealing with the intricacies of mergers and acquisitions. And customers with visionary leaders, CIOs and CISOs who are eager to challenge the status quo.
You have much more of an international focus than most of your peers. Why not just stick to the UK?
From the start, I envisioned Xalient as a brand that would compete with larger traditional players globally. Our early successes with large US corporations like Kellogg’s and Keurig Dr Pepper laid the groundwork for those international ambitions. We now have a solid presence from west to east coast that complements our UK and Benelux bases in Europe, with additional centres of excellence in India and Romania. We’ve got ambitious growth plans and with our track record so far, and 24/7 managed service capabilities, it just makes sound commercial sense for us to seize global opportunities rather than limit ourselves.
You made two sizable acquisitions in the US and the Benelux last year. How likely is it you will make more in 2024?
“Acquisitions are like adding superpowers to our arsenal — especially our most recent ones in the identity space,” Sherry Vaswani, Xalient
Acquisitions are like adding superpowers to our arsenal — especially our most recent ones in the identity space. They’ve broadened our service portfolio and brought complementary expertise. While organic growth is still vital, we’re very much in the market for smart growth through acquisition where it raises our game, not just where it gives us size. So, yes, no deals on the table right now but we’ll stay open to opportunities in 2024.
How large is Xalient now?
We’ve got almost 400 employees spread across three continents. We’re recognised as one of the fastest-growing companies in Europe and the UK by the FT, and we’re proud to count some of the world’s best-known brands, across all market sectors, as customers.
What’s the biggest business lesson you’ve learnt?
Invest in top-notch advice from the get-go and stay laser-focused on your vision. Hard work, persistence, and believing in your dream are the secret sauces to success. This philosophy has been a guiding principle for me in steering Xalient to where it is today.
Has the straitened economic backdrop led you to reposition what you offer or change what you lead on?
I see a definite shift towards value-driven solutions and services, focusing on business benefits and RoI rather than cost savings, and from long-term contracts to more flexible as-a-service models, but that plays to our strengths, and it’s something we’re well used to.
While our concentration on SD-WAN solutions and services contributed to our early success eight years ago, we now lead with a complete zero-trust approach. Identity, cybersecurity, and networks are all specialist and interrelated areas on the path to zero-trust, and we’ve built extensive experience in each. So, the value proposition we present today spans the whole zero-trust journey, including a comprehensive design, build, and manage service.
You have your own IP. What’s your approach to innovation?
It’s our rocket fuel. Early investments in AI, such as our collaboration with the University of Bradford, led to the creation of our ground-breaking AiOps platform, Martina. Her exceptional ability to observe, predict, and resolve issues throughout the network, from users and devices to apps and data, is transforming the way organisations deal with complex landscapes and the ongoing threat of cyber-attacks. Addressing challenges like these through our own innovation is exactly what Xalient does best.
Name a big trend most people are missing?
I think one often underestimated trend is the vital role of identity management within zero-trust security models, particularly for organisations going through M&A and divestments. Modern identity systems play a crucial role in successful integrations and can simplify secure access across the most complex of IT environments. As you may have noticed from our recent acquisitions, it’s a trend that we are fully aware of and actively pursuing!
2024 will have been a successful year if…
“For me personally, success will also include prioritising family time, fresh air, and exercise – that’s kickboxing and yoga for me,” Sherry Vaswani, Xalient
…we achieve our ambitious growth targets, attract new clients, and strengthen our relationships with global customers and partners.
For me personally, success will also include prioritising family time, fresh air, and exercise – that’s kickboxing and yoga for me, though always open to new ideas – and taking regular breaks to recharge so I can keep the creative ideas flowing.
