ick Murphy, CEO of Cogent Growth Partners, joins host John Ray to discuss his firm’s work with IT services companies seeking to expand through acquisition, why acquisitions are vital for acquiring talent, not just customers and revenue, why he calls his work “transaction therapy,” and much more. “Alpharetta Tech Talk” is produced virtually by the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® in Alpharetta.

Latest transaction is the fourth deal WorkSmart has closed with Cogent providing M&A advisory services

ATLANTA – February 25, 2021 – Cogent Growth Partners, a buy-side advisor and intermediary for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the IT services sector, today announced the successful closing of a fourth acquisition for WorkSmart, the company that simplifies IT for small business.

Ntiva, a Cogent client backed by Southfield Capital, is a managed services, cloud and cybersecurity provider headquartered in McLean, VA. On November 30, 2020 Ntiva acquired Netlink Systems, a Queens, NY managed service provider (MSP) and white glove IT services support firm.

DAS Health Ventures (DAS) acquires another IT services company with heavy healthcare industry experience and reach. On December 1, 2020 DAS closed its acquisition of Amarillo, TX-based Randall Technology Services, LLC. The transaction, sourced and advised by Cogent Growth Partners as the buy-side intermediary for DAS, will have Randall Technology’s clients gain an increased depth of support, and a substantially improved value proposition adding DAS Health’s award-winning offerings.

Executech acquires another full-service IT support provider. In August 2020 Executech closed its acquisition of Phoenix-based USPCNET. The transaction, sourced and advised by Cogent Growth Partners as the buy-side intermediary for parent Evergreen, further expands Executech out of its Utah headquarters, gaining increased managed service capabilities.

DAS Health Ventures (DAS) acquires another IT services company with heavy healthcare industry experience and reach. On August 1, 2020 DAS closed its acquisition of New Hampshire-based Technology Seed, ending a year-long journey. The transaction, sourced and advised by Cogent Growth Partners as the buy-side intermediary for DAS, expands DAS’s reach into New England, gaining increased managed service and cybersecurity capabilities.

This is the 4th acquisition Cogent has performed its intermediary work to get closed during the pandemic in the months of May through July 2020.

ProArch, a provider of cloud consulting, data platform, data science and product engineering services to more than 200 customers worldwide and headquartered in Atlanta. In late May 2020 ProArch has acquired fellow global cloud consulting and engineering firm and Microsoft Gold Partner iV4 . The transaction, sourced and advised by Cogent Growth Partners as the buy-side intermediary for ProArch, brings stronger Microsoft capabilities to ProArch and adds to their global market share of services offered

The IT service provider market remains fragmented and there also exists a robust M&A market. In the last few years, and still currently in 2020, there are many more buyers than sellers in the IT space and the imbalance is growing. However, most who perceive themselves as buyers will never get a transaction done, or one that bears any fruit.