Ideal heads for outsourcing

Ideal Hardware has indicated that it will diversify into the outsourcing service provider market as it looks to partner with specialist players.

Ideal Hardware has indicated that it will diversify into the outsourcing service provider market as it looks to partner with specialist players.

The distributor refused to give specific details, but vowed that its range of value-added support services will include financial services, software licensing, technical services and support, specialised training, marketing services and greater logistics support. Ideal will continue to focus on the enterprise storage and volume markets.

Ian French, chief executive of Ideal, said: "If you want to sell these value-added services to customers, you have to be able to provide them with the basics at low cost as well. We want the reseller to be able to get everything it needs from Ideal without having to go to other distributors."

The change of focus follows the major shake-out of the past few months which resulted in the reduction of the workforce by 96 people, including Ronan Macdonald, then chief executive of Ideal Hardware.

The company had also planned a large cull of vendors, although the final numbers were much smaller than expected. Simon Miesegaes, finance director of parent company InterX, said: "We undertook a review with more than 60 vendors, creating a profit and loss account for each. When we approached the least profitable vendors about the situation, most of them wanted to explore alternative ways of working with Ideal. In the end, from a target list of 60 we ended up losing only a handful."

InterX will release its end-of-year results on 11 October and is expected to reveal details of the first of its additional services within two months.