Econocom

Inception and early years

Jean-Louis Bouchard founded the group in France in 1974 as Europe Computer Systèmes (ECS).^[7] In 1986, he sold his stake in ECS France to Société Générale but reacquired all foreign subordinate companies to merge them with Econocom, an American company he had recently acquired. The subsidiaries and the group were renamed Econocom. That same year, Econocom Belgium was listed on the secondary market of the Brussels Stock Exchange. Econocom Distribution acquired Asystel Belgium in 1993, adding IT distribution operations in the Benelux region.^[8]

International expansion

Econocom was listed on the primary market of the Brussels Stock Exchange in 1996.^[9] Four years later, it was listed on the secondary market of the Paris Stock Exchange.^[10] The group established Econocom Telecom^[11] and made an offer for InfoPoint.^[12] By 2001, the group employed 2,000 people.^[13]

In 2002, Econocom acquired Comdisco-Promo data^[14] in France, which focused on administrative and financial IT asset management. This was followed two years later by the acquisition of Signal Service France.^[15] By 2005, the group operated in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy.^[16] Econocom later sold its Swiss subsidiary and closed its financing operations in the United States.

The company entered the telecommunications sector in 2006 by acquiring Avenir Telecom's business division.^[17] The following year, Econocom expanded this division by acquiring the business division of Carphone Warehouse France.^[18] It also acquired Tecnolease,^[19] an Italian IT leasing company. In 2008, it acquired Data bail,^[20] a French IT infrastructure funding company. The next year, it opened a nearshore remote service facility in Rabat, Morocco, employing 300 people.^[21]

In October 2010, Société Générale sold ECS.^[22] Jean-Louis Bouchard, who had founded ECS in 1974, purchased the company and merged it with Econocom. That same year, the group launched "7 Remote Services,"^[23] a service for migrating IT infrastructure to Microsoft operating systems.

In 2011, Véronique di Benedetto, former Deputy Managing Director of ECS, was appointed Deputy Managing Director of the new group and Managing Director of Econocom France.^[24] Di Benedetto, an ESCP Business School graduate who began her career at IBM, joined the management board alongside Jean-Louis Bouchard, Jean-Philippe Roesch,^[25] and Bruno Lemaistre.^[26]

Econocom expanded its virtualisation and cloud computing operations in 2012 by acquiring Ermestel in Spain,^[27] as well as a stake in the Belgian company Centix.^[28] That same year, the group acquired Tactem,^[29] a telecom expense management provider, and France Systèmes,^[30] an Apple reseller for the education and research sectors. It also acquired Cap Synergy,^[31] a French systems integrator focused on network and IT security.

In 2013, Econocom acquired the French systems integrator Exaprobe^[32] and announced its "MUTATION 2013 – 2017" strategic plan.^[33] In September, the group finalised the acquisition of a majority stake in Osiatis, an infrastructure service provider. This transaction created a digital services entity with about 8,000 employees and €2 billion in revenue.^[34] Following the acquisition, Jean-Maurice Fritsch and Bruno Grossi joined the Econocom Executive Board.^[35] By November, Econocom had finalised the purchase of the entire share capital of Osiatis.^[36]

On 6 January 2014, Georges Croix and Econocom founded Digital Dimension, a cloud and digital services provider.^[37] In 2017, the group invested in the venture capital firm Educapital.^[38] That same year, they partnered with Microsoft to distribute HoloLens in the European market.^[39]

Robert Bouchard became CEO of the Econocom Group in 2018,^[40] and Louise Beveridge was appointed Head of Brand.^[41] In 2018 Econocom also acquired a majority stake in Altabox, a Spanish omnichannel marketing firm,^[42] and introduced "e-vigilante," a robot allegedly used for monitoring industrial sites.^{[43][better source needed]}

History of the brand and logo

• 
  Econocom logo (1999)
• 
  Econocom logo (2003)
• 
  Econocom logo (2007)
• 
  Econocom logo (2011)
• 
  Econocom logo (2013-present)

Business sectors

The group's three areas of business are:

• Technology Management & Financing
• IT & Telecom Services
• Products and Solutions

International operations

Econocom operates in 16 countries. In 2013,^[48] the group's main markets were:

• Northern and Eastern Europe: 10% of total revenue
• France: 51% of total revenue
• Benelux: 19% of total revenue
• Southern Europe: 20% of total revenue