Glasgow-based Exsel Group's Managing Director Tom McDonald has the Midas touch. He joined the fledgling company two years ago and quickly mapped out its growth journey towards a glittering SME of the Year nomination at this year's Scottish business awards.
McDonald is a man with growth on his mind. Exsel Group, he says, is perfectly positioned to expand in a market that is not yet crowded. Nevertheless, with elbows out he aims to jostle to top spot north (and south) of the border. "Scotland has a huge business community," he said. "There are a few fantastic ICT companies operating in the country but also room for us to rise and become the leader in the field. Our biggest challenge is learning from our rapid growth and managing the transformation from a small business mindset to that of a medium sized organisation. In three to five years Exsel will be one of the leading ICT brands in the UK. Hard work, determination and an indomitable spirit will get us there."
McDonald joined Exsel two years ago, moving from the Scottish sales office of Belfast-based Rainbow Communications which he headed up. His new remit is to create a strong sales arm and explore new product opportunities and expand the Exsel business. Remarkably, in the span of 24 months the company was nominated for the SME of the Year award at the Scottish business awards. "We have been nominated for a few awards and our growth statistics have been unbelievable, but I never thought that within two years we would be shortlisted as one of the best SMEs in Scotland," commented McDonald.
When he joined Exsel the firm generated just over £100,000 in revenue from 15 IT support contracts. In 2013, McDonald and IT Director Mike Wilson (who founded the company) decided to up the headcount to three, taking on Sales Director Craig Armstrong. The firm now has 36 staff and is poised to open a second office. Last year, revenues of £1 million were achieved and the target this year is over £2.5 million. With the new office up and running Exsel plans to employ around 50 staff with annual revenues approaching £5 million.
"We threw caution to the wind and decided to grow aggressively and reinvest all profits back into growth," said McDonald. "We quickly realised there was a massive gap in the market for an all-encompassing ICT provider so we decided to build strong relationships with mobile and hosted providers to offer our customers a modernised and future proofed ICT solution. The sky is the limit and we have the belief and confidence in ourselves to achieve. We operate an open and fun culture. Everyone knows they have a job to do but they need to enjoy themselves along the way. We give our staff a lot of responsibility and in return everyone at Exsel cares like they own the business. It's an amazing environment to work in."
Exsel Group split off from the old Exsel Digital Company 18 months ago to refocus and concentrate on new products and services. The company currently provides mobile, calls and lines, hosted IP telephony, connectivity, IT services and support. "The products are great but it's all about our sales style," added McDonald. "We never try to win a price war but consult with our customers towards a better way to run their solutions. The area I am working on at the moment is our cloud IT portfolio. I don't want to give away too much but I want something brilliant to take to market in Scotland from the start of next year."
His ethos on all products, no matter how brilliant, is to make it easy for customers to buy them. "We try and simplify everything for the customer, from installation to order process and even the pricing," explained McDonald. "The main strands of our growth strategy have been in business mobile and hosted IP. I see our cloud IT portfolio coming very close in terms of revenue over the next 24 months. Everyone has to be prepared for cloud services. Anyone who hasn't begun the adoption process may be joining a little late."
Another key trend that is driving market demand for Exsel's solutions is the big improvement in connectivity. "We are finally seeing the UK have a level of connectivity that enables new products, and existing products that have been shelved, available to SMEs as well as corporates," added McDonald. "Traditional IT and telephony is by no means gone but there are fantastic solutions that are more cost-effective, more productive, but most importantly available and functional due to the better connection speeds and reliability. This is our focus."