Advania integrates Servium and CCS Media

Advania UK has completed the integration of CCS Media and Servium and has seen a cross-sell pipeline start to filter through from those efforts.

The channel player picked up Servium back in June last year and CCS Media last October as it looked to support its ambition of becoming a primary source of managed services across Norther Europe.

Since those deals were concluded, the last months of 2024 and this year so far have been dedicated to integrating those businesses and strengthening the UK operation.

Geoff Kneen, CEO of Advania UK, said that the integration had stayed on time and as planned, and it was now presenting a unified face to the market.

“Everything’s gone as we’d expected it to. We’re really excited to bring it all together,” he added. “These things take time, but it’s been a really interesting integration, in the sense that we’ve been doing Servium with CCS at the same time.”

He added that the firm had integrated back-office platforms and provided staff across all the businesses with access to its AI tools, and had managed to meet its August deadline.

“We’re really proud that we’ve managed to achieve it and stick to the original timetable as well. Because integrations aren’t easy, as I’m sure you can appreciate,” he said.

Kneen said that it was important to make the integrations of acquired businesses a smooth and positive experience for everyone involved to unlock the benefits.

“I’m kind of fortunate, in the sense that through my career, I’ve sold my business three times, so I’ve integrated myself, if you like, and my team into other organisations,” he said. “We take a people-first approach on things and [we’re] fundamental believers that what you’re really trying to achieve with an integration is getting people who are new to each other working effectively together.”

One of the main benefits from the acquisitions and subsequent integration has been the ability to deepen relationships with existing customers, as well as going after fresh opportunities.

“We’ve invested heavily, from day one across Servium and CCS, and the Advania client base is making sure that we can cross-sell each other’s services into those existing clients,” said Kneen. “Because the two things it’s always about for us is our people and our clients. Acquisitions are always about bringing additional services that add more value and complement what we’re already doing for our clients, and that’s what we’ve been able to prove over the past nine months since the acquisitions.

“We’re ahead on our own cross-sell targets. But the most important thing for us is that our clients are valuing the expanded portfolio of services that we can now offer them, and that is the key point. And then what you need [to figure out] is, how do you get the people working together effectively to deliver that expanded portfolio into those clients? We always start with those two things,” he added.

The natural question now the integration of CCS and Servium has been completed is to look ahead and ponder on what might be next for Advania. Kneen is not ruling out further acquisitions, but wants the rest of fiscal ’25 to enjoy the fruits of the efforts put into completing the most recent one.

“We’ve done nine acquisitions in the past eight years, and the UK is the largest market that we’ve currently got in the group,” he said, adding that the potential market opportunity was significant and still had plenty of room for growth.

“There’s a great opportunity for us to consolidate the market further. We won’t do further acquisitions, 2025 will be about embedding the success that we we’ve just achieved with CCS and Servium, and making sure that we’re delivering for our people, and importantly, delivering that expanded portfolio for our clients. But 2026 onwards, we will continue to acquire in the UK and across the group,” he said.