Last month, Southern Communications Group (SCG) announced it has appointed Daryl Pile as its new group CEO. Paul Bradford, who has been SCG’s chief executive officer since a management buyout in 2002, will move to the position of executive chairman.
Pile will join SCG following a 21-year stint at Gamma, most recently as managing director of channel. He is a well-known leader in the Channel with experience leading wholesale, dealer and public sector business units.
Bradford talked to Comms Business about what this means for the business going forward. He emphasised he is “not going anywhere”, but the time was right to appoint a new CEO who can lead the business for the long-term.
He explained, “As a board, we always have a 10-year horizon in our mind. I’ve been here for 29 years and, while I’ve still got absolutely loads of fire in my belly and I’m as enthusiastic about the business as I’ve always been, I also have to have a level of realism that in 10 years’ time I will be 66. Therefore, there needs to be a strategic plan to handover and do it in the right way.”
Bradford added SCG’s rapid growth in the last two years also contributed to the decision. The group is now approaching £160 million in revenue with 775 employees.
Hiring Pile as incoming CEO brings someone into the business with experience leading a large organisation. Bradford will also be able to focus on strategic acquisitions, with an eye on the “shape of the business” as it develops new products and services.
SCG is a customer of Gamma, so Bradford has seen first-hand how Pile engages with stakeholders from across the industry. Bradford said, “I’ve known Daryl for 20-odd years, and I’ve been in the industry all my life, so I’ve seen his rise, I’ve seen how he handles himself and he commands an awful lot of respect.
“There’s not a single person in the industry that will have a bad word to say about Daryl. Now that’s not to say that he’s not tough in negotiations, but he does it in the right way. And he has the same ethos that we have.”
A home for entrepreneurs
Bradford explained that SCG looks to be a “home for entrepreneurs and talent”, with a number of its leadership team having been with the business for long periods of time. Looking ahead, the company will continue to differentiate itself from its competitors by owning its own IP and developing products and services around that.
“We own a hosted telephony platform called MyPhones, which is focused on the SME market. In March 2022, we bought a company called X-on and they have a product called Surgery Connect, which is in my opinion the strongest hosted cloud telephony product for GP surgeries in the market. We have also bought a company called Fuse 2, which gave us our own SIP platform.
“Way back in 2014, we acquired a company called Efar, so we’re a Tier 2 ISP with our own network. Our ISP also means we can offer full cloud hosted capabilities. The differentiation is that we don’t just resell. We own our own IP.”
Bradford added this foundation gives SCG control over its own destiny as owning its own IP means it has more flexibility in terms of gross profit and its go to market approach.
The march to IT
The company is also looking to continue to grow rapidly through both acquisitive and organic growth. Bradford said, “Our market has evolved. Twenty years ago, we were selling calls and lines, then we moved to Ethernet circuits, then we had broadband, and then cloud hosted telephony and SIP. Clearly, we are all now on the march to IT as a service.
“Very quietly, we have built our own IT and cyber capability, and I think that will grow. We tend to catch the trend at the right time, and I expect our business to evolve in the same shape as the rest of the market.”
Bradford also highlighted the company’s approach to customer service. He said, “Most importantly, the customer is the absolute centre of our universe. We must provide a fantastic customer service and then we will be that customer’s trusted provider. And, once you are a trusted provider, each customer will change with us when they’re ready for a technology change.”
Pile is expected to join SCG in September and Bradford is looking forward to plotting SCG’s path together. He concluded, “Daryl’s capability and knowledge in the market is second to none. He’ll be our new CEO and part of our senior leadership team and we will form and drive our strategy together.
“The business will benefit hugely from his experience. He’ll add another dimension. We’re looking forward to him joining the team and the energy that he’ll bring will be fantastic.”
This interview appeared in our July 2024 print issue. You can read the magazine in full here.