PowerBuy offers cash back to SMBs

During his time at the hardware vendor, Montgomery oversaw its negotiations with OfficeWorks.

His key responsibilities in the retail sector of Dell, gave him access to the channel and an understanding of how vendors work.

"There was a common challenge for IT vendors acquiring small business, usually ones with up to 50 employees," said Montgomery,

"The marking price of products for these guys was disparate and tricky because they didn't fit in the consumer sector nor do they fall in the medium-enterprise sector."

In an interview with CRN, Montgomery said after spending time talking with these types of businesses he found that usually SMBs with less than 50 employees spent around $1,000 on IT products per employee, per year.

"The bigger end of town usually spends around $500 per employee, per year," he said.

"One of the biggest reasons SMBs spend more is because they don't have the negotiating power as bigger companies."

In order to close the gap between this sector of the market and vendors, Montgomery set up a Website, powerbuy.com.au, where these businesses can get cash back on their IT products.

"They don't buy any products from our site. They still need to go to their retailer or IT service provider for the products," he said.

"Once they have their receipt, they come to our site and upload their information, then they get cash back on their IT products.

"We've got deals with NetGear, NetComm, Dell, Lenovo and Cisco. We also have coupon discounts with IT service provider, Computer Troubleshooters Australia."

Montgomery said by the end of the year he wants to have at least one VAR from each state on board with PowerBuy.

"It really surprised me how many SMBs using the site want information like who their preferred supplier should be," he said.

"They really need advice on IT products and services."