Connector Systems flies local flag for 2014

Connector Systems will be putting renewed focus on its own locally developed offerings this year, as the distributor seeks 'a very strong, good year', where anything less than 10-15% growth in revenues will be 'pretty disappointing'.

Dale Smith, Connector Systems managing director, says he sees 'tremendous' opportunity for the company's software development arm, Javelin, AO Cloud and Delve.

“There are some tremendous opportunities to do really, really well with them.

“Delve is already gaining some really good traction, particularly in education, where it's a cost effective way to manage any devices in school networks and make sure students are well and truly managed when on the network.”

Connector Systems developed Delve last year to plug what it saw as a gap in the market: the issue of identifying individual BYOD users and applying correct security policies on a wireless network.

Delve, which went into test sites in November and was a collaboration between Connector Systems distribution business and the Javelin team which wrote the code, can currently be used with Dell SonicWall. Smith says work is underway to integrate it with other next generation firewalls and an offering for Sophos UTM is expected before June, with others expected to roll out afterwards.

Smith says the other product offerings haven't had the traction Delve has – yet – with the company now ramping up that focus and he's hoping to capitalise on recent success selling the Pulse work order management offering into customers, where a number of implementations have recently been finalised.

Smith says he's keen to see local resellers get onboard with the AO Cloud offering. Connector Systems purchased a 50% stake in the local cloud provider late last year in a deal which enables it to offer cloud computing, internet access and related services at a wholesale level.

The renewed focus on Connector Systems own solutions doesn't meant the company is abandoning its vendor partners, however.

Says Smith: “We're actively looking to increase our brand offerings here and in Australia, with a focus around our three core IT pillars of networking and wireless; security and telecommunications; and storage and virtualisation or cloud.

“We are a value added distributor and that is an area of the market we want to continue to focus on. We don't see ourselves becoming a large commodity-based distributor. We have a number of fantastic brands which we will continue to do well with and focus on, but we need to make sure we focus on adding value and taking great solutions to resellers.

“To be a strong, long-term business you need to develop your own IP. The IP we have developed doesn't conflict with our vendors, in fact it complements their offerings so they can become stronger. That's the rational behind AO and Delve.

They're complementary and help drive sell through for the vendors.”

Smith says Connector Systems is confident of a 'good, strong performance' this year.

“Anything under 10-15% growth would be pretty disappointing,” he says. “We've got some pretty strong opportunities in front of us and plan to capitalise on the economy and the work we've already done to have a good strong year.

“While the big players just continue to do a poor job we'll continue to keep developing strong relationships with our vendors and resellers,” he adds.