Distie Profile: Synnex shares its growth secrets

Ong joined MiTAC in his home town of Taipei in 1989 as a graduate software programmer working in the research and development division of the group's head quarters. It wasn't long until Ong moved up the ranks.

"I got the opportunity to move to a different role, a marketing role, and I was stationed in Europe for over four years. I did product planning in Europe before I moved to Australia.

"They needed to set up teams of product marketing [in Australia]. I was invited to join the team at that time to head up product marketing," says Ong.

Ong has worked for the Synnex-MiTAC Group for more than 20 years and in that time says he  "done it all" --  from software programming to product marketing to dealing with logistics, services, production, and sales.

He joined Synnex in Australia in 1998 as product marketing manager and  since 2006 has  been in charge of  operations in Australia and New Zealand.

In 1997 the Australian arm of PC builder MiTAC changed its business model, and the  company was renamed MiTAC Australasia. It was in that year that Synnex opened for business in Australia in its current form, beginning as a components distributor -- familiar territory for the former manufacturer.

"We knew the component business inside and out, and of course it was our strength. So we started with component distribution," says Ong, who came across to Australia from a stint in Europe to help the company during its transition.

At the time Synnex had an office in Melbourne, a "tiny" office in Sydney and it had just set up the operation  in Brisbane. A couple of years later it set up in  Perth.

Ong  says by accepting the role and relocating he was broadening his experience from a one-product manufacturer in the MiTAC days to a different type of business - distribution - which involves dealing with multiple brands.

From humble beginnings 10 years ago Synnex has grown to be one of the top two distributors in Australia today, Ong says. The company is "financially strong" and the economic downturn has not thwarted his plans for expansion, he says.

In fact, despite the current downturn Synnex is still hiring -- 10 more staff this year to join the additional 30 to 40 last year. "Of course the company has to grow," says Ong. "At this point we have more than 330 staff. It's a very exciting time for Synnex."

In terms of product it is growing its range and has moved from solely IT to the consumer electronics space, which so far has proven positive. Last year the distributor became the Microsoft Xbox fulfilment distie in Australia and Ong says there are several more partnerships on the horizon. 

Last year Synnex outgrew its warehouses and began to look for larger premises. "Last year we didn't add more locations but we actually doubled the size of three locations in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.  We relocated three warehouses in one year.

It was one of the most remarkable achievements we have done. Imagine relocating a big warehouse -- it's a big challenge," says Ong.

Synnex is continuing to look for key resellers to work, with regardless of size.  To combat the downturn, Ong says Synnex offers resellers support via flexible credit services. 

"We can approve credit requests from our customers within 24 hours as we don't rely on any support from insurance companies. All of these things have helped us to improve our customer service and efficiency," he says.

"Each case is different but we're able to review them in a very short time."