Despite the huge impact that COVID-19 has had on our economy and society as a whole, Simac has done fairly well. We kept investing, and never stopped believing in the core values that underlie the way we work for our customers. This is shown quite clearly in Simac’s annual report, published recently.
It goes without saying that our activities were impacted by the Corona crisis, just like our customers’ activities were impacted. Companies deferred projects, reviewed technology investments and access to customer sites was not always possible. Every company suffered from Corona one way or another. So it’s only logical that Simac, as a group, did not achieve the growth that we’d predicted for 2020, before the crisis broke out.
Simac invested in technology and in companies
On the other hand, there were several positive highlights in the past financial year:
- As an organization, we proved to be stable and strong, and able to weather the tough times.
- We invested in developing capabilities inside the Simac group in the fields of security, multi-cloud services and specific applications. These are all essential parts in the evolution of IT.
- Simac also invested by either participating in companies, or by increasing our equity stake in companies such as Simac ICT Czech Republic and eQuestora.
- The biggest investment in Belgium was made by acquiring a majority stake in Phi Data at the end of the year. Throughout this year, you will see more joint activities with our sister company specializing in the Smart Edge.
At Simac, we don’t aim for growth for growth’s sake, but for guaranteeing continuity. To remain relevant to our customers, we built Simac on six pillars, that have again proven to be valid in 2020:
- Financially solid basis
- Diversification of activities
- Long-term contracts with customers
- Focus on employees and corporate culture
- Room for innovation
- Treating the environment responsibly
In all these pillars, we have taken major steps in 2020, as the annual report testifies.
With all these positive evolutions, we have a positive outlook for 2021. We closed new multiyear partnerships with new and existing customers who provide us with a good basis for the years to come. And we see concrete interest for our different divisions: Integration, Cabling & Infrastructure, Business Management Solutions and Professional Services.
50 years of Simac
2021 is very special to Simac, as it marks our 50th anniversary, something we are celebrating with our customers and our staff. As you know, Teamnology is our motto: we like to work in a true technological and human partnership with both our customers and our employees. With regard to our 50th anniversary, do check out our special anniversary website, where we are collecting 50 anecdotes from the past 50 years.
With 50 years of history and experience behind us, we have great confidence in the years to come. Thanks to our staff, our business partners and, above all, you, our customers.
You can read an online version of the annual report here, or download it from the right-hand side of this web page.
Patrick Bontinckx is the CEO of Simac ICT Belgium. Patrick joined Simac over 20 years ago and has been running the company ever since. Before Simac, he worked in a variety of sales and management functions at Digital Equipment.
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