Datatec is an international ICT solutions and services group with revenues of over US$6 billion. It has a presence in over 70 countries and employs around 8,000 staff.

The group operates in three principal areas of the ICT industry:

  • Technology via Westcon Comstor, the global distributor focused on technology practices in security, unified communications and collaboration as well as worldwide capabilities in Cloud, Services and Global Deployment;
  • Integration via Logicalis, the ICT infrastructure solutions and services company; and
  • Consulting Services, which comprises strategic and technical consulting services.

Heading the financial services companies is Christian Roelofs (pictured above), who was appointed managing director of Datatec FS in November 2015.

Roelofs told Asset Finance International: “Datatec FS has recently invested in senior appointments for its Australia and New Zealand as well as its North American operations. At the same time we have appointed Paul Tweehuysen as commercial director based in the UK.”

He added: “after a period of transition in the last six to nine months, the expansion of the team is a sign of the commitment of the Datatec Group to the financial services business.

“We now have a foundation across our core geographies to develop our strategic objective of providing Westcon Comstor and Logicalis financial solutions and services that enable a genuine competitive advantage.

“Our aim is to bring the financial offering from the end of a sales process and integrate it into the offering at the outset of the customer engagement.”

Wide range of experience

Roelofs comes with over 13-years’ experience in the financial services industry. The last nine years being spent with a direct focus on the leasing, asset and consumer finance sectors.

Initially qualifying as a chartered accountant with PwC, he moved to Corporate and Asset Finance with Macquarie Bank before joining specialist Financial Services Advisory at Grant Thornton.

He has worked with a selection of businesses in financing a wide range of assets across the world – the majority being in the US, UK and mainland Europe.

In his current role he will lead the overall Datatec FS business. He reports directly to Ivan Dittrich, Datatec Group CFO.

Since Roelofs’ appointment team building has proceeded apace.

Paul Christensen has recently joined Datatec FS as director – North America, bringing with him some 25-years’ experience in the financial services industry working at CIT as chief sales officer of Avaya Financial Services and regional finance manager of EMC Global Financial Services. Christensen will be based in Tarrytown, NY.

At the same time Mark Hegarty has joined as director – Australia and New Zealand. He also has more than 25 years in the financial services industry working recently for CNH Industrial Capital as national sales manager and prior as managing director Future Finance Corporation. Hegarty will be based in Sydney.

Roelofs stressed that both will be responsible for providing financial solutions and products to end-user customers, partners and manufacturers of Datatec’s operating divisions – Logicalis and Westcon Comstor – with the aim of driving incremental business and profitability.

A wider global strategy

“They bring a great deal of experience and creativity,” he said, “and they will be charged with expanding both the team and the product offering in the coming months – to provide better service to customers in line with the rapidly changing marketplace and the wider Datatec FS global strategy.”

He added: “We are in a unique position as a finance company within the channel, and are seeking to leverage this position along with the structuring experience of the team and the flexibility that being vendor- and funder-agnostic provides, to create innovative financial solutions.”

“With the shift towards Everything as a Service (EaaS), investment decisions are no longer simply a choice between leasing or buying. Enabling a new alternative to better address Westcon Comstor and Logicalis customers’ needs is our top priority.”

Roelofs’ previous experience and inherent “feel” for the industry means that he is determined to bring a fresh approach to providing financial solutions for Westcon Comstor and Logicalis’ customers.

“We are not merely a leasing company,” he said. “Our aim is to provide a more bespoke financial service, starting at the customer level and finding out exactly what the customer is looking for. We are quite flexible in our approach to the product set in that we can offer a very wide range including traditional lease finance to funding managed services.  Looking forward our goal is to be seen as an integral part of the sales process on the basis that we are able to provide financial solutions that support the channel and its customers at all stages through the transition to a more service based product offering.”