'Quiet' Equanet on path to growth

Firm's chief says approach is paying dividends as Equanet becomes trusted adviser for growing number of businesses

Equanet is banking on the quiet approach to success as it emerges out of a period of restructuring and forges ahead with organic growth.

The VAR, which was bought by Dixons Stores Group in 2005 for an undisclosed sum, has been the regular subject of sell-off speculation since the acquisition, but has in fact been quietly getting on with business and snaring new customers.

Managing director Phil Birbeck, who took over the reins last year, told CRN the firm was in a unique position because of its close tie-in with PC World Business (PCWB).

“PCWB is a fantastic proposition as a low-cost [customer] acquisition model because people just walk into our stores. It is then easy to identify them as potential business customers for Equanet,” he said. “Around 85 per cent of our business customers have been acquired through a store visit. Basically every business person is a consumer at weekends.”

Birbeck said Dixons’ focus has been on transformation under the leadership of chief executive John Browett, and for its part Equanet has been concentrating on getting costs under control and the structure right.

“It was pretty clear that we had to be something else than just a provider of IT equipment, and that is where our services play came in,” he said. “Our heritage is volume, but our future is developing a services business and also aligning with bigger providers such as SIs – where we have the capability of handing logistics for them,” he said.

Equanet Managed Services (EMS)has more than 600 contracts with organisations of all sizes, from SMBs up to 2,000-seat businesses, he said. Overall the firm has over 16,000 active accounts.

“One of the biggest frustrations that we learned from our customers is the need for IT partners to understand their organisation and their business,” Birbeck added. “It may seem basic, but this is where Equanet differs. We take the time to understand a customer and their business model before we even talk about IT.”

And despite the speculation about the future of Equanet, Birbeck said the firm was in a strong position.

“We are not saddled with the bad debt that is prevalent in the industry. We have been very cautious about making credit available to new customers, but also flexible about our credit limits to help customers enable their IT projects,” he said.

“We feel that we are on the front foot now,” he added. “We are not going to be making predictions for the future, we are quite happy concentrating on what we are doing now. We are getting it right for customers and are retaining customers. There is nothing wrong with being the most reliable provider of IT solutions.”

The full interview is to come in a later issue of CRN.