UK IT Channel News | IT Channel Oxygen
  • News
  • Topics
    • Vendor
    • Distributor
    • Partner
    • Indepth
    • Sustainability
    • M&A
    • People Moves
    • AI
    • Tech trends
  • About Us
  • Partner with us
  • KOcycle Zone
Members
Must-Know Distributors
Oxygen 250
No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Topics
    • Vendor
    • Distributor
    • Partner
    • Indepth
    • Sustainability
    • M&A
    • People Moves
    • AI
    • Tech trends
  • About Us
  • Partner with us
  • KOcycle Zone
No Result
View All Result
UK IT Channel News | IT Channel Oxygen
No Result
View All Result
Home Big Interview

Bunch to build ‘AWS partner of scale’ at D55

"I’m not looking for a nice, relaxing, go-and-play-golf-on-a-Friday job"

Doug Woodburn by Doug Woodburn
17 May 2024
in Partner, Big Interview, Indepth
Chris Bunch, CEO, NoBlue2

Chris Bunch, CEO, NoBlue2

Share on LinkedinShare on Twitter

Chris Bunch is looking to build an AWS partner with “several hundred” staff after joining D55 as its CEO.

The Cloudreach and CTS alumni took up his post at the 30-employee, Manchester-based outfit in March, five months after leaving CTS following its merger with Appsbroker.

Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, Bunch said his mission is to build an application modernisation-focused AWS consultancy “of scale” via both organic and inorganic growth.

“It’s AWS only, and will be several hundred people minimum,” he said.

“The way I think about it is similar to the other businesses I’ve worked in – we’d look for some strong organic growth and then evaluate the inorganic opportunities as we find them.”

Who is D55?

Founded in 2018, D55 specialises in complex application modernisation and data modernisation services for UK businesses, with a focus on the energy and software development sectors, Bunch said.

It was named after the structured data bundle sent between suppliers when consumers switch energy providers (founders Jonathan Rothwell and Rhys Jacob initially met while working in the energy sector).

Bunch claimed no one currently does what D55 does at scale in the UK.

Chris Bunch, CEO, D55
Chris Bunch

“I’ve got no interest in building an AWS migration partner,” Bunch said.

“There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s still tonnes of opportunity in that space with people with old datacentres and all the nonsense going on with VMware and Broadcom. But there are lots of people doing that, and doing it at scale and, in many cases, from offshore locations.

“The play here is much more about the UK, onshore, high-quality, complex end of modernisation, rather than just mass-scale migrations.”

Pressing refresh on AWS

Having spent four years building Google partner CTS, Bunch has rejoined an AWS partner ecosystem he called home at his previous company Cloudreach. His arrival at D55 coincides with AWS becoming a $100bn-revenue runrate business.

News this week of Matt Garman’s appointment as AWS CEO was “taken as a positive” by the D55 team, Bunch said.

“He was the one everyone thought would get the job [when Adam Selipsky was appointed in 2021],” Bunch noted.

“That sales passion to drive the growth is something Amazon is going to need both this year and beyond if they want to keep growing what is now a very, very large business.”

“Best opportunity for growth”

D55 is privately owned, profitable and cash generative, meaning it can grow off its own steam, Bunch said.

“But there may well come a time in the future when we choose to do that a bit more aggressively with help from someone else,” he said.

“When I left CTS, there were a lot of conversations to be had with lots of businesses in this space across all the hyperscalers, most of which were private-equity owned. But this is the one that provided the best opportunity for growth.

“That’s what interests me in life. I’m not looking for a nice, relaxing, go-and-play-golf-on-a-Friday job. I’m looking for a fun, fast, friendly, big growth opportunity, which is what I’ve been doing in the cloud space since 2011.”

Doug Woodburn
Website |  + postsBio

Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen

  • Doug Woodburn
    https://itchanneloxygen.com/author/itchanneloxygen-com/
    ‘We needed to make a clear distinction’ – e92plus CEO on ‘e92spark’ launch
  • Doug Woodburn
    https://itchanneloxygen.com/author/itchanneloxygen-com/
    ‘How’s this not been done before?’ – channel talent pros unite to tackle common challenges
  • Doug Woodburn
    https://itchanneloxygen.com/author/itchanneloxygen-com/
    ‘The excitement is palpable’ – HP reveals dual channel ploy for refurbished PCs
  • Doug Woodburn
    https://itchanneloxygen.com/author/itchanneloxygen-com/
    ‘We redesigned the whole business’ – LIMA CEO on services reinvention
Tags: CloudreachCTSD55featured
Previous Post

Cisco CEO: 5,000 customers are a slam dunk for Splunk

Next Post

‘We’ll be looking for more’ – Celerity COO on maiden acquisition

Related Posts

‘Vendors without a channel focus were quite lonely’ – 6 leaders give their Infosec 2025 verdict
Cybersecurity

‘Vendors without a channel focus were quite lonely’ – 6 leaders give their Infosec 2025 verdict

5 June 2025
Hege Store, Advania
Sustainability

‘Refurbished IT the primary choice, not a compromise’ – Advania CEO on Dreamhouse opening

5 June 2025
‘An important moment’ – Microsoft partners hail government Copilot experiment showing 26-minute daily saving
AI

‘An important moment’ – Microsoft partners hail government Copilot experiment showing 26-minute daily saving

4 June 2025
‘By far the most important factor’ – analyst on Softcat’s share surge
News

‘By far the most important factor’ – analyst on Softcat’s share surge

28 May 2025
Neil Sawyer, HP
Sustainability

‘The excitement is palpable’ – HP reveals dual channel ploy for refurbished PCs

28 May 2025
v
Big Interview

‘We redesigned the whole business’ – LIMA CEO on services reinvention

27 May 2025
Rene Klein, Westcon-Comstor
Big Interview

Westcon-Comstor’s Klein on AWS Marketplace share, ‘Z-Strike’ success, and future of distribution

23 May 2025
Matt Jones, Cisilion
People Moves

Cisilion keeps up with the Jones in quest for £100m

22 May 2025
Next Post
Craig Aston, COO, Celerity

‘We’ll be looking for more’ - Celerity COO on maiden acquisition

Follow Us

IT Channel Oxygen keeps you informed on the UK IT channel and its sustainable transformation. Learn more

  • About
  • Our Team
  • Partner with us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • News
  • Cookie Policy (UK)

© 2025 IT Channel Oxygen

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}
No Result
View All Result
  • Oxygen 250
  • Must-Know Distributors
  • Member area
  • KOcycle Zone
  • Big Interview
  • News
  • Indepth
  • About
  • Partner with us

© 2025 IT Channel Oxygen