BCM One Continues Its Run of Acquisitions with WCS Deal

Communications and managed network services provider BCM One has been busy.  Over the past few years, it has been on quite an acquisition spree to accelerate its growth opportunities, including companies like SkySwitch, LincLogix, nexVortex, Arena One, and SIP.US.  Today, BCM One announced its 6^th recent deal – and 4^th during the pandemic – adding Wholesale Carrier Services (WCS) to its portfolio of companies.

The company’s acquisition strategy has been focused on both geographic expansion and building out its service portfolio.  The WCS deal does both.  It increases BCM One’s presence, particularly in the APAC region, and its product line – including UCaaS, business connectivity and managed services – complements BCM One’s existing service offerings.  Its channel focus also plays into BCM One’s channel strategy.  While it also has a direct sales organization, 75% of BCM One’s sales come through the channel.

“The WCS deal reflects the continued execution of our strategy to own the next gen communications and managed network services market,” says BCM One CEO Geoff Bloss.  “We have a complete offering where we can address any customer needs.”

Bloss notes that WCS’ significant network deployment was a significant factor, particularly for toll-free routing, and allows BCM One to round out the platform of services it can offer its customers and partners.  He also adds that WCS’ track record of exceptional service is a strong complement to BCM One’s corporate culture, and certainly holds true for its SkySwitch acquisition.

“WCS has made significant investments in their services; we will be able to build on those investments and use them at a far larger scale,” says Bloss.  “We see an opportunity to take something that is very successful and turn it into an advantage to our entire organization.”

WCS also gives BCM One an additional NOC (News - Alert) in the Philippines, which will allow it to ensure 24x7 support with local teams more naturally.  While it wasn’t a major consideration, there’s an added byproduct in the it will also be able to easily transition its SkySwitch contractors in the Philippines into its employee base, further unifying its support and operations teams with its overall organization and growing service portfolio.

“We are not a one-trick pony.  Our portfolio of services allows us to solution sell, so a client doesn’t feel we are only going to push a single product,” Bloss adds.  “It gives us far more scale – we are probably three times the size of what we were less than 36 months ago – and that scale gives us a far broader portfolio of services.”

With its slew of acquisitions, BCM One can support the single-provider strategy that seems to be a market trend.  Not long ago, many companies were adopting a multi-vendor approach to support a best-of-breed approach but, as IT needs increased in complexity, IT leaders priorities have evolved with a growing focus on revenue generation.  At the same time, their traditional responsibilities supporting internal infrastructure haven’t changed.  As a result, many have shifted to a single-vendor model that allows them to commit fewer resources to managing internal IT to be able to support other organizational initiatives more effectively.

“Clients are interested in having a single entity capable of giving them all the critical services they need, including communications and network and transport services,” says Bloss.  “We have a very compelling offering to support all those needs.”

One of the keys, of course, with any acquisition, is managing the transition and presenting a brand experience to the market that supports its sales strategy.  Part of that strategy includes integrating the WCS brand and solutions into its BCM One brand by the end of the year.  While it will operate four distinct brands, representing the breadth of its offerings – BCM One, SIP.US, SIP.TRUNK, and SkySwitch – in order to present a unified front to channel partners and customers, BCM One will also consolidate its sales organizations across its entities into a single, holistic go-to-market strategy, both on the direct and channel sides.

The question, though, is whether BCM One is done acquiring?  Maybe not.

Bloss feels the company has followed an effective strategy for expansion, but as for future growth, he acknowledges there are to paths forward.  BCM One can hire into specific markets, or there may be additional acquisition candidates that make sense based on opportunity.

Where do those opportunities lie? 

“The wireless space, or potentially something in the managed information security space would further round out our services,” Bloss suggests.

Only time will tell, but given its recent history, don’t be surprised to see BCM One make additional deals to hit those two markets and really become a one-stop shop for network and communications services.