Purchase of asset base by managed IT services provider saves 100 jobs
Managed IT services provider GCI has acquired cloud provider Outsourcery for an undisclosed sum.
The purchase saves some 100 jobs at the company, which was co-founded by former Dragons Den star Piers Linney (pictured) in 2007 and is headquartered in Manchester, with a further office in London.
GCI chief strategy officer Scott Riley assumes the day-to-day management of the Outsourcery operation and its full integration within GCI with immediate effect.
The company has eight offices located across the UK in Derby, Glasgow, Lincoln, London, Manchester, Shrewsbury, Southend-on-Sea and Wakefield.
It has a number of strategic partnerships and accreditation with the likes of Cisco, HP, Microsoft, TalkTalk Business and Virgin Media Business, as well as Vodafone Platinum Partner status through its B2B dealer operation Commsxchange.
Strong foundation
GCI CEO Adrian Thirkill said: “Outsourcery has some great underlying characteristics: it has some very talented people, a strong Skype for Business capability, an impressive customer base, some well-engineered platforms and lots of potential. We see this as a really nice fit for GCI and are pleased that we managed to secure the deal.
“To be clear, this acquisition is not a capability purchase: we already have considerable expertise in the Cloud and UC space including tens of thousands of Skype for Business seats deployed across the UK and Europe via our direct and indirect sales channels.
“What it does do is build upon an already strong foundation and raise our profile in the market – a market reported to be growing at five times the rate of traditional voice services. Most importantly, this acquisition also provides assured continuity of service for all of Outsourcery’s customers, resellers and partners.”
Last week Outsourcery’s future was in doubt after its shares were suspended and informed shareholders they were at risk of getting “no, or limited value” from their investment.
Last July, the company’s principal secured lender Vodafone loaned Outsourcery £4 million over a 48 month period ending Junen 2019. In April Outsourcery reached an agreement with the mobile operator on new terms for a funding facility.
