Colin Bain

Chief Operations Officer ANS Group

Last Reviewed: September 26, 2026

Executive Summary

Colin Bain is Chief Operations Officer of ANS Group, the Manchester-based cloud, data and digital transformation services company backed by the private equity firm Inflexion, and sits on its Executive Board. He joined in March 2023 to take responsibility for the largest division in the business, covering Professional Services, Managed Services and Transformation. A CIMA chartered accountant, he spent most of his career in the Microsoft Dynamics partner market, most notably at QuantiQ, which he helped grow into the largest independent Microsoft Dynamics 365 partner in the UK before its sale to Avanade in 2021.

Career Highlights

• Chief Operations Officer of ANS Group and a member of its Executive Board, with a brief covering Professional Services, Managed Services and Transformation.
• Appointed a director of ANS Group Holdings Limited on 21 March 2023, according to Companies House.
• As COO and then Managing Director of QuantiQ, played a key role in making it the UK’s largest independent Microsoft Dynamics 365 partner ahead of its 2021 sale to Avanade.
• Executive for Business Applications in the UK and Ireland at Avanade before joining ANS.
• Held Managing Director and COO roles at K3 Business Solutions.

Professional Journey

Bain trained as a management accountant and qualified with CIMA, then built his career on the delivery side of business software, working with Microsoft Dynamics, in ANS’s words, “since its inception”. He held Managing Director and COO roles at K3 Business Solutions, a UK supplier of Microsoft Dynamics-based systems.

At QuantiQ he was Chief Operating Officer and then Managing Director, and helped grow the company into the largest independent Microsoft Dynamics 365 partner in the UK. QuantiQ was sold to Avanade, the Accenture and Microsoft joint venture, in 2021, and Bain moved with it, becoming Avanade’s Executive for Business Applications in the UK and Ireland.

ANS announced his appointment as COO on 28 March 2023, calling it the completion of its group board lineup, and Companies House records his appointment as a director of ANS Group Holdings on 21 March 2023. He took charge of the company’s largest division, spanning Professional Services, Managed Services and Transformation. ANS itself has continued to grow by acquisition under Inflexion’s ownership, buying the Dynamics 365 partner Preact, the data consultancy Makutu, and Oxford-based Sci-Net in 2025. On joining, Bain said he saw “a business with a brilliant focus on its people and the opportunity to make decisions that make a difference.”

Outside work he travels and plays sport, particularly golf.

Education

No university education record was found. He is a CIMA chartered management accountant.