Regional resellers: Cairns

KT Computer Solutions: Kevin Dillon, owner

I originally started back in 2000 with my old man, and went out and learnt from there. We’ve got a single shop at Bentley Park, with myself, my wife and another head tech. 

The activities that keep us busy are repairs and a bit of retail. Our main clients are home users and home businesses, and small business. I get a buzz out of seeing my customers smile, and we’ve got good customer loyalty. In terms of distributors we mainly work with LDS, and with Ingram Micro and Blue Chip.

The retail side of things is a bit quiet but repairs are still OK. We’re an official repairer now for Canon. There’s room for growth, certainly with servicing. It’s all about getting out there and building up a reputation. We’re not trying to beat the big guys though, we just want to exist alongside them. I’m in the middle of taking over Cairns Campus Computers at the moment. This acquisition sees us double, even triple, in size.

Retail in Cairns is not the best – it’s down a bit. But I love Cairns as a place to do business: very laid back people and easy to get along with. 

Brilliant Technologies: Collin McKinnon, managing director

I studied computer systems engineering at Queensland University. Wanting a great environment to raise my family, I moved to Cairns. I got started in 1984 and took on the name ‘Brilliant’ in 1988. 

It was mainly accounting systems in the early days. Being regional, we tend to be all things to all men. We look after the larger end of SMBs in the region, and we have a 2,400m² campus with 30 staff and 22 vehicles. Apart from a couple of acquisitions, it’s been organic growth.

We do managed network, managed print, software design, accounting systems, and business improvement – basically putting technology into business for productivity gains.  We also do security, network video surveillance, document management and digital signage.

We’re direct with many vendors, and then use the main distributors. We’re also a founding member of the Leading Edge Group.

We’re looking at 20 percent growth this year, but achieving it will depend on local business confidence continuing to improve. 

Future Computers: Andrew Bischof, director

The business began in 1996. It started off as part of a larger company, Future Group, down in Maroochydore, which expanded up the Queensland coast. We purchased the business in 2003. I was previously a motor mechanic and auto-electrician; a friend was managing it and when they wanted to sell the branch, it sounded like a good idea.

Our core service is managed service agreements – everything from cloud, on-premise, hybrid, etc. We are more heavily into the Microsoft space. 

We mainly service small businesses; from five to 100 users is pretty standard. We do a lot of the local councils up the Cape and across Arakun and Weipa. It does have its challenges. 

We’ve got 15 employees: eight technical, two sales and a mix of helpdesk and admin staff. We are looking at full managed services agreements and fixed price agreements, and once we put that in place the ratio of technicians to desktop will reduce so we can grow the business without growing the headcount.