Mergers and acquisitions between solutions providers continue to reshape the channel landscape. Following the November acquisition of Colligio by Blue Mantis, Colligio founder and President Sean Kelley spoke with Channel Insider about the M&A process and the shared commitment to customers between both organizations.
Colligio brings Cisco competencies and communications expertise to Blue Mantis offerings
Prior to being acquired, Colligio was a provider of unified communications, networking, and security solutions, specializing in Cisco-based technologies. The solutions provider served hundreds of customers throughout the United States.
Through the acquisition, Blue Mantis has formally added a collaboration and unified communications practice to their long list of strategic offerings and technology services. Kelley will now serve Blue Mantis as the vice president of collaboration and unified communications. The role marks a return of sorts, as Kelley was once the director of infrastructure and collaboration at Blue Mantis under its previous branding GreenPages.
“In acquiring Colligio, Blue Mantis is not only enhancing its existing Networking and Security service offerings, but we are also unlocking exciting new opportunities in Collaboration, a key growth pillar for the company,” said Josh Dinneen, CEO of Blue Mantis. “The experience and expertise gained through the Colligio team augments our current capabilities and aligns with our vision to stay ahead of emerging trends and provide clients with a broader suite of solutions.”
“We had a very small sliver of the IT pie, but we were offering white-glove and high-touch support for our clients,” Kelley said. “I’m so excited to be able to offer our clients even more now because Blue Mantis has so much more to offer than we ever could have alone.”
This is the latest of several moves from Blue Mantis. In September, the company announced that private equity group Recognize had acquired a majority stake in the company’s investment ownership, joining another firm, Abry Partners, in the funding structure behind the services provider.
The new communications practice draws on Kelley’s expertise across unified communications services, including working with clients to provide the next generation of video conferencing and office space solutions to equip hybrid and remote workforces.
Lessons learned from the acquisition journey
Now that the deal is official and the Colligio team is actively working to transition all workflows and clients into Blue Mantis, Kelley reflected on why and how he took the journey to acquisition.
After several years of building the business and proving client value, Kelley felt the company was at a crossroads.
“We grew the company to a tipping point, and we knew we would either need to pursue funding to build out addiitonal resources, or we would pursue a larer change,” Kelley said, noting that he wanted to do right by his clients and for his team as he considered the inflection point of his business.
Kelley decided the best course of action would be to pursue an acquisition partner, and after several months, Blue Mantis emerged as the best candidate. While the end result was exactly what Kelley had hoped for, there are still things he’d advise his past self to handle differently.
“I definitely learned a lot through this journey,” Kelley said. “I would tell anyone to make sure they have a solid investment baker to work with, especially one that has experience with solution providers specifically, not just IT broadly. We struggled until we found the right banker who understood our business. Once we did that, we were in a great position.”
Kelley also noted that business leaders who want to pursue acquisition should work to get their financial reporting and other documentation in the proper format so there are less headaches and delays through the process.
Channel Insider regularly recaps the latest in M&A activity throughout the channel. Learn more about recent acquisitions and mergers from the fall of 2024.