Baby steps: ComputerCORP’s new acquisition strategy

Peter Cappendell, Central and West regional director at ComputerCORP told CRN the company has adopted a new approach, choosing to acquire small-scale companies that will build on the reseller’s existing offerings.

“Acquiring Leading Solutions would have helped us grow quickly in one hop, but we’re now growing incrementally with smaller acquisitions,” he said. “From an integration point of view, it’s much easier to integrate smaller businesses, however there are pros and cons on both sides.”

ComputerCORP is involved in the unified communications; enterprise and virtualisation; information lifecycle management; and personal systems and imaging sectors. Cappendell claimed the reseller is pursuing acquisition opportunities in all four areas, recently acquiring Queensland-based solutions provider CoreTech, which falls under the latter category.

“Our acquisition targets will fit into the four categories we specialise in and we’re trying to grow all four at once,” he said.

The recent appointment of ex-Leading Solutions sales manager Roy Pater as National Services Sales Director is indicative of ComputerCORP’s focus on developing its sales strategy in managed services, claimed Cappendell.

“We needed the right people to drive managed services and we’ve known Roy for some time,” he said. “Our managed services delivery model is mature and we needed a mature mechanism in selling it. This is why we hired staff with a sales focus to drive our products.”

According to Pater, ComputerCORP is concentrating on full managed service offerings for the SMB market, specifically sub-400 seat companies. However, there are opportunities to present selective managed services to larger enterprise, he said.

“ComputerCORP has a small but solid managed services business, it’s one of the key parts of its growth strategy,” he stated. “It has a good mixed bag of clients, we’ve got the basics in place and are looking to scale and expand that business.”

Pater added that ComputerCORP is equipped to target larger customers if it continues to grow through acquisitions.

“ComputerCORP has several accounts and the sales team is set up to target those accounts, although we’re also set up to target the smaller end of the market,” he stated.

While its acquisition strategy aims to boost the presence and growth of ComputerCORP in Australia, Cappendell noted that sustainability in the local market also requires organic growth.