How Craig Somerville's computer reselling business has moved with the times

We speak with Somerville Group managing director Craig Somerville

What laptop and hybrid brands do you specialise in?

Somerville ISNet partners with and sells HP, Toshiba, Microsoft, Apple and Lenovo. We provide lifecycle management, deployment services, warranty and break-fix across certain brands.

When did your company first get involved in this area?

Somerville first started selling PCs in the Compaq days back in the early ’90s. They've been a constant product suite in our IT procurement portfolio since.

What are your credentials in this area?

We have the following accreditations in this area of the market: HP service partner, gold partner, workstation specialist; Toshiba education partner; Apple CAN partner; Microsoft Surface partner.

Which distributors do you use?

We purchase devices from a mixture of distributors, including Dicker Data, Ingram Micro and Synnex.

Heard about any cool developments in this space recently?

I would say the innovation and development in form factor and the blending of the traditional laptop and the tablet into a hybrid device with a touch screen and stylus is interesting, but that in itself is not earth shattering. The applications being developed to leverage off these improvements in the device are cool though.

Can you tell us about a recent deployment you’ve done?

We do many deployments each year in a range of sizes, from small corporate organisations with numbers in the tens, to 1000-plus unit deployments in both enterprises and schools.

What is driving sales in laptops and hybrids?

The customers' need for reliable and secure devices that allow their users to be productive in whatever format that may be. It may be in the classroom or as a road warrior, where mobility is the key, or as a typical corporate user whose expectation is to work in any environment, be it their office, the coffee shop or at home.

Laptops and hybrids are…?

Just like they were in the ’90s. A good one is still $2000, they are out of date the moment you image them, they last between two and three years, still need cables (even the wireless ones), but they look smarter and do some funky things.