“There’s always space for a new player in the industry”

Run by a band of industry big hitters, this month’s Oxygen IT Solutions Provider of the Month is one of the UK reseller market’s newest entrants.

Originally a mobile device trader, RVT relaunched as a B2B VAR in the summer of 2023 after welcoming in former Academia CEO Mike Bacon as an investor.

Leading the B2B charge is newly recruited Commercial Director Ricky Cook, who joins Founder Tom Owens [pictured above, centre, with Bacon to the left (as we look at it) and Cook to Bacon’s left] in RVT’s top management team.

Hi Ricky. How did you get involved with RVT and its relaunch as a B2B reseller?

When Mike [Bacon] came on board, he had an aspiration to turn it into a B2B business.

From Mike’s perspective, he wanted to build that B2B unit. Because he started Academia 20 years ago the marketplace has changed significantly, and he wanted someone to lead the charge with relevant experience. I did it with PCM. I’ve built business units at Misco, CCS Media and Vohkus. So when I talked him and Tom through what I’d done, it just seemed like a natural fit.

Is there really space for another reseller?

There is always space for a new player in the industry.

It feels like a lot of these bigger [reseller] juggernauts have almost got to the point where the customer is made to feel they should be grateful for transacting with them, not the other way around. We had a client who showed us an email recently which said they had gone from a primary to a secondary customer, which to me is just ridiculous.

We’re trying to build a business with a family feel that has a very hands-on approach.

One thing that’s really opened some doors is the amount of handsets, mobile phones and tablets RVT was already selling. That means we’ve got the highest level of accreditation status and resource with Google and Samsung. We have done some significant deals with B2B customers already because of the price support and extra resources we enjoy from these manufacturers.

Where will the business focus from a vendor perspective?

The key vendors at this particular time are definitely Samsung and Google but with many others in the frame, some that may surprise you.

Considering my background and what I’ve done over the last 25 years, it’s been interesting how many vendors have completely ignored our applications and resource requests because they think we’re too small. Mike’s investment in RVT has really helped us move to the next level. That’s helped accelerate Tom’s original plan and we’re just about to take on more salespeople. I don’t doubt that the vendors that have been slow to take us up on our applications for business will be knocking on our door soon.

Some other brands have been really supportive, including Ricoh. They bought Fujitsu [PFU], who I’ve done a lot with over the years.

And one thing we’ve done very quickly is formed a very strong partnership with Microsoft and Louisa [Speller] at Arrow, and we have already started doing some significant Microsoft business.

How else will RVT mark itself out from the competition?

I believe there is a real platform for a player in the market that has a lot of integrity and understanding of what the customers’ needs actually are. For example we have started winning deals in the security and construction space as Aman [Taylor] has first-hand experience in those types of businesses, he understands that marketplace and the challenges those types of companies face daily.

One real specialism we have for example is transport and logistics. Tom has done a lot of international import-export and is very good at sourcing product and moving it around the world when needed. We’ve got a warehouse space that we use over in Heathrow that is contracted to us and multiple couriers who are on hand – people you could ring up and they would be on your doorstep within half an hour. That’s has already won us business against our competitors as not many offer that type of service and can deliver it.

What are your ambitions for 2024?

Vendor wise, a logical step for us is joining the Apple Consultants Network, which is the first step before going through the full Apple accreditation. And there’ll be a major focus in education based on Mike’s background and knowledge – we’re going to start pushing into education from this quarter with some real support from the vendors.

I want to grow the team. I would love to get to a team of eight by the end of the year, but I guess our performance will be key to that.

We’ve really hit the ground running in B2B and have a significant pipeline. If we can close a significant portion of this I see us being able to recruit five staff in B2B this year minimum. I would see that as a good year. Me plus eight would be an exceptional one from a growth perspective – it’s always good to have extensive but achievable goals.

We did around £14m-£15m last year and obviously B2B was a very small number of that as we only started trading in Q4 last year. If B2B can contribute £5m-£10m this year, that would be amazing.

Which peer do you most respect?

I have a lot of admiration for Stu [Stuart Marginson] over at Highgate. I worked with him back in my Misco days. It’s nice to see your old colleagues doing well.