Regional resellers: NSW South Coast

Julie Porter, Compuport

My husband Guy basically started off from our second bedroom. I then stopped working in the job I was in and came to help him on the admin side. Then we opened a retail outlet. Ten years ago we joined the Leading Edge Group and this year we were voted store of the year.

We also became an Apple authorised reseller and service provider about six years ago. We are the only Apple authorised reseller and service provider on the South Coast, so we look after quite a big area.

We do a lot of contract work on site for companies like Fujitsu and we have a few business clients and look after pubs and retail outlets. We’ve always maintained a high level of quality work, no shortcuts or things like that. We have a good reputation and look after our customers. When they walk out the door that is not the end of the relationship. We keep rejuvenating and coming in each day looking for new opportunities, ready to change the direction we are heading in, because our market changes all the time.

FACT FILE
Founded: 1995
Suppliers: Apple, Lenovo, HP, Toshiba
Directors Julie Porter, Guy Porter
Staff 5

Dean Thompson, Ulladulla Computing Assistance

I started with computers when I was six. I did work experience at Ulladulla Computing Assistance in Year 10, then in Years 11 and 12 I did a traineeship with the owner. When he fell sick in 2000 I left Year 12 and bought the business from him. He could see I knew about networking, which was rare.

I do domestic work in terms of solving problems for people at home. My biggest clients are the two local clubs in town and a large accounting firm. When they need a new server I supply it and configure it. 

I might be climbing on a roof one day, or solving a server problem another day. I’ve done lots of other technical things like flying and ham radio. In the last couple of years I’ve been involved in 12 full installs of cameras on different fishing vessels. All the fishing longlines must have e-monitoring now. Most vessels have four cameras and an uplink to satellite and 3G, so they can be monitored wherever they go, and all the footage of when they are fishing is recorded to disk.

FACT FILE
Founded 2000
Suppliers Lenovo, Microsoft
Directors Dean Thompson
Staff 1

Vicki Harmer, Alpha Computing

I started fixing computers for family and friends. Then I thought I could do it for a living, so I went and studied at TAFE. I was working from home and then started teaching at Eurobodalla Adult Education. Then a friend and I opened a shop in town where we mostly did service. We had that running for ten years. 

Six years ago we shut that down and I moved into my own new shop, where I provide personal computer support. I do have some subcontractors that do the business side of things, but I stay in the shop and people bring their computers to me. It is all general end-user support: upgrades, virus clearing, installing peripherals, troubleshooting and sales.

Being in Bateman’s Bay, many of my clients are older people, and they’ve come to rely on me. That’s what gets me up in the morning. It’s a good living, but I do enjoy the service side of it.

FACT FILE
Founded 2010
Suppliers Canon, Lenovo
Director Vicki Harmer
Staff 3