C2000 looks to lose broadliner reputation

Distributor giant Computer 2000 is looking to shed its broadliner image with a greater focus on specialisation, according to the firm’s UK and Ireland managing director Andy Gass.
“[Specialisation] is a part of our strategy and a big, big part of the business we have grown over the past four years,” Gass said yesterday at the firm’s UK Vendor Partner Summit.
In his keynote speech, Gass said the firm expects total revenue coming from specialist areas will be 49 percent by 2012. “Thinking of us as a generalist or broadline distributor is old-style thinking,” he stated. “We have evolved past that.”
When asked about on the reasons behind the move, Gass said there is a perception that as a broadliner “you do an awful lot of things very shallow. The best results from us come from doing fewer things deeper and better.”
He said the firm didn’t want to be a “me too company with me too results.”
Added C2000 country manager for UK & Ireland, Lee Perkins: “I don’t believe there are very many people that have the credibility and capability in the specialist arena, and at the same time, have [the] financial strength and capability to deliver from a volume transaction perspective.”
Consumer Electronics
One of the most significant announcements at the Summit was the firm’s plans to grow its Consumer Electronics business. The organisation’s “renewed focus on retail” began around 18 months ago and was accelerated last February with a strategic partnership with Philips.
“The business we have today and the existing relationships we have under this umbrella, we’ll do at least £70m this year. It’s a huge focus... and we believe massively important as the marketplace converges around consumer electronics, IT and mobility,” said Gass.
“If you look at the traditional demarcation between consumer electronics, mobility and IT, those barriers are coming down,” he states, adding that the firm is already working with “every significant retailer”.
Gass argued it was more than just a logistical role: “[It’s] forecasting, demand planning, assessment products, running the right programmes with the retailers and the manufacturers.”

Azlan
Elsewhere, Gass also spoke about “revitalisation” of its enterprise arm Azlan. He said the firm had invested in Azlan’s UK management team, and added 30 technical, sales and marketing personnel to the business over the last 18 months. He also said its customer engagement model was “a huge area of investment” for the Azlan brand.
He went to comment that the firm had also widened its technology focus: “We were primarily network-centric, not there’s an awful lot of focus on the datacentre, enterprise software as well as unified communications,” he said.