ConvergeOne, an IT services provider based in Eagan, Minn., became a publicly traded company today and plans to use the additional funding to bolster its cloud consulting services.
The move follows a series of acquisitions that have seen the company grow to a $924 million enterprise in 2017. ConvergeOne has acquired 16 companies since July 2005, including four last year. Earlier this month, the company disclosed an agreement to acquire the systems integration business of distributor Arrow Electronics. That deal is expected to close within 30 days.
John McKenna Jr.
John McKenna Jr., chairman and CEO at ConvergeOne, called the listing "a great way to continue our strategy to be a leading provider of collaboration and digital infrastructure."
ConvergeOne focuses on five core practice areas: unified communications, contact center, data center, enterprise networking and security. The company, which targets midsize and large enterprises, offers a range of professional services and managed services.
McKenna said future acquisitions will aim to give the company more capacity in some U.S. markets "where we are not as strong as we want to be." Additional skills to reinforce the services the company offers today are also on the wish list. In particular, McKenna said he would like to see the company grow its skills in cloud consulting services.
"The thing that is driving a lot of change in our market and, therefore, opportunity for us is the cloud," he said.
The thing that is driving a lot of change in our market and, therefore, opportunity for us is the cloud.
John McKenna Jr.chairman and CEO at ConvergeOne
McKenna said discussions with customers around business outcomes and technology solutions inevitably lead to the cloud. Those conversations open an opportunity to discuss what pieces of a customer's IT infrastructure could move to a private cloud at the customer's location, an external data center ConvergeOne manages as a private cloud or a public cloud, he noted.
ConvergeOne, McKenna said, can advise customers on the best cloud option and then design and implement the cloud environment, regardless of the model.
Many IT service providers are pursuing business in digital transformation, and ConvergeOne is pursing that direction, as well. McKenna said his company's take on digitalization focuses on collaboration, which generates 63% of its revenue. He said the digitalization of unified communications and the customer experience is a big part of customers' overall digitalization initiatives.
He cited one multinational customer that sees unified communications adoption -- the ability to have voice, text, click-to-call, chat rooms and team rooms -- as perhaps the biggest single move that could affect the organization's effectiveness and productivity.
"Collaboration solutions ... will be a big part of how we help our customers through the digitalization journey," McKenna said.
John McKenna Jr.
