Dicker Data gears up to take Kiwi fight to Ingram Micro
Dicker Data is gearing up to ‘take the fight to Ingram Micro New Zealand’ with the distributor aiming to close the gap between its Kiwi operations and local number one distributor Ingram Micro.
Dicker Data acquired Express Data, including the New Zealand operations, from Dimension Data earlier this year in an AU$65.5 million deal.
David Dicker, Dicker Data chief executive and chairman, says while the local operations – currently still known as Express Data New Zealand – will be allowed to run as they are for this financial year at least, the company is ‘more aggressive and committed to moving forward’ in the New Zealand market than previous owners Dimension Data might have been.
Dicker, who is currently in New Zealand, says Express Data New Zealand had revenue last year of between $130-$140 million.
“Our projected revenue this year for the entire group is one billion and I think there is a fair bit of room for improved revenue [from New Zealand].
“My impression is that under Dimension Data, Express Data didn’t have a focus on moving forward here. We are a bit more aggressive and committed in that regard.
“We’ll be driving harder and trying to get the best outcomes.
“In Australia, the acquisition means we’re within striking distance of Ingram Micro and Synnex and there’s a different dynamic now.
“Here in New Zealand, Ingram Micro is far and away ahead of Express Data, but we’re looking to close that gap.
“The guys in New Zealand are keen to take the fight up to the other guys and we are happy with them and think they can do it.”
Business as usual
Dicker says for this financial year at least, the local operations will run ‘how they always have done’ with the distributor focusing its energy on integrating Express Data’s Australian operations into the business, expected to be completed around August-September.
“They’ve been given a target revenue and profit, and we are just going to let them get on with it.
“It’s a good business here and it’s working well. We’re not going to muck around with it.
“In many ways, things haven’t changed for them. Where they reported to Dimension Data in the past, they now report to us, but otherwise it’s pretty much the same.
“If anything, they probably have more freedom now with us than they had with Dimension Data.”
He says the New Zealand business will be moving ‘into some areas we do in Australia, that they haven’t had experience with’.
“In Australia, we do more of the volume stuff and we’ll have guys from Australia helping [the local team] as they move in any volume type vendors we have.”
Among those ‘volume’ vendors Dicker is keen to see introduced to Express Data New Zealand’s portfolio, are HP and Toshiba. The distributor is ‘still talking’ to the two vendors, whom Dicker says would be the ‘main’ new volume vendors locally, if deals can be struck.
“But we have to get them on terms that make commercial sense for us,” he adds.
Dicker says he believes the local operations have maintained their previous portfolio of vendors. He says no staffing changes have been made as a result of the acquisition – and none are expected.
One area that will be undergoing change is the back end systems used by Express Data.
Dicker Data is currently working on moving the Australian Express Data operations to the same systems currently in use at Dicker Data. The New Zealand operations will also be moved to the MasterPack system.
