DEALER PROFILE - Esteeming ahead into the public sector
Company founded 1985
Company headcount 38
Board members Richard Doyle, managing director; David Ogden and Alistair Kitching, directors
Company year end 30 June
Last year's turnover #9.1 million
Reseller base Wetherby
Other offices Manchester, Swindon
Main lines sold Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Citrix, Excalibur, Wyse
Main accreditation held We are mostly a Sun reseller and our accreditation includes corporate partner, academic business centre and internet associate partner.
We are also a Microsoft certified solution provider, Citrix gold certified solutions seller, Compaq systems reseller and Wyse Winterm premier partner.
Key accounts BT, NatWest, Interflora, North Tyneside Council, Kirklees Council, University of Leeds, University of Manchester, University of Sheffield,
You do a lot of work with councils and universities. Is this a good area for resellers? It's actually quite a tricky one. You tend to find that many public-funded initiatives include quite a complicated tendering process.
They need a lot of publicity and have to go through a lot of specific procedures.
Main distributors Metrologie and Tplc, but we do not generally use distributors.
We tend to buy directly from the manufacturers, as in our arrangement with Sun.
Main competitors Morse Computers, Computacenter, Acuma, MDIS
Biggest challenge Esteem is going to face over the next year Similar to many other resellers - maintaining profit margins.
How do you intend to do this? We are trying to get our business to move more into the services area. We are investing in training and increasing the size of our support department.
How can you compete with established services companies? I admit we're too small to compete with most of them, so we're offering this service to existing customers.
The role of distributors Many resellers, especially the smaller ones, are generally prevented from buying directly from the manufacturer by the vendor itself.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using distributors? The drawbacks can be seen in some distributors that have difficulty gaining technical knowledge because of their large product ranges.
Also, resellers can experience delays in receiving public releases, as they're not dealing directly with vendors. The advantages include faster delivery and the ability to obtain product from different manufacturers.
Thing to watch for the next 12 months My prediction would be to watch Java. The more mainstream applications are being written at the moment and will start being deployed in much greater numbers next year. Java is only two years old as a programming language and it has taken time to write the software. I think next year will really see it taking off.
Issue that would make life easier from a business point of view The relaxation of the tight credit controls put in place by distributors. At the moment, resellers often find it hard to pay distributors for kit on time. And, even if the user doesn't pay on time, the reseller has no excuse to delay payment.
Why are there such tight controls? I suspect distributors are nervous.
If they sell machines to a reseller and that reseller goes under in the meantime, they have virtually no chance of getting the money back.
What are your views on Sun reseller Morse pulling out of floating on the stock market? The situation on the stock market is bound to be making it nervous. With the financial markets in turmoil, it is probably wise to hold back.
How is the uncertainty affecting resellers? With the strong pound, firms that are high on exports have been suffering. If they are reseller customers, resellers could suffer.
Give your opinion on CHS selling non-branded PCs (PC Dealer, 23 September) The problem for many in the industry is that margins are so tight at the moment. Direct manufacturers such as Dell are squeezing margins. CHS is probably trying to raise some extra finance.