mcr boosts services, seeks partners

IT infrastructure reseller mcr Computer Resources has outlined plans to boost its services portfolio, adding skills, staff and partnerships to take advantage of the growth in infrastructure outsourcing.

Geoff Bowker, services manager at Sydney-based mcr, said the plan was to expand the VAR's services portfolio beyond infrastructure provision into infrastructure management.

"mcr has traditionally been an IT infrastructure provider, so our services have typically been around starting up the piece of hardware we've been selling," he said. "Rack and stack, relocations, operating system installs -- those sorts of things."

The VAR was starting to offer services around running and optimising the performance of IT infrastructure. That could include administering LANs, desktops or delivering service levels, Bowker said.

He said mcr had watched hardware margins shrink across the industry, while companies -- particularly SMBs -- increasingly outsourced the management of their IT infrastructure. That seemed a good opportunity for mcr, he said.

"They're starting to realise it's difficult to get and retain the people and often don't have the cultural mix to do things in-house," Bowker said. "There are a lot of SMBs that are quite sophisticated in their IT infrastructure but don't have the resources to manage it."

mcr had already started delivering some managed services but would seek to ramp up its offering with skills, staff and industry partnerships, he said.

He said mcr had relationships it would seek to continue, with service providers such as Sift and SMP, and networking and communications partners such as Macquarie Telecom and Cisco. But the VAR wanted new partners to help it address particular niches, he added.

"We will be looking for more partners to do that. Mainly to fill different gaps in niche services and consulting services, but also partners who can expand our range of solutions," Bowker said.

SMBs would be a focus. "We'll be using the fact that we're an SMB in our own right and that we understand SMB pain points to talk to people about their infrastructure needs," Bowker said.

One new hire in aid of boosting services was former Singtel Optus chief information officer Eng Chew. Professor Eng Chew had been advising mcr for six months but this month agreed to join mcr's board of directors.

Bowker said other hires were being considered. The company had already added engineering and system administration staff.