Northamber's Phillips: AV acquisition 'accelerates' our presence in the space
Distie’s move for AVM will bolster its presence in audio visual market, says commercial director
Northamber's acquisition of Audio Visual Material (AVM) "accelerates" the latter's development in the AV space, according to the distie's commercial director Alex Phillips.
Phillips (pictured) told CRN that the acquisition of AVM further strengthens Northamber's hand in a market where few VADs can provide the same level of support to vendors.
"The AV market is a really strong opportunity; we've been working on it organically ourselves for the last few years. This acquisition is a chance to accelerate that," he explained.
"There's a very large number of vendors in the AV space, and there are not that many active value-add distributors. There are even fewer with the infrastructure behind them to be able to really help bring brands to market - we can do that all the way across the end to end."
AVM will be "kept at arm's length" and will continue to operate under the same management team as before the acquisition. Its portfolio of projectors complements Northamber's own strengths in displays and interactive screens, Phillips added.
"They are very strong in projection and our AV business is strong in displays and interactive flat panels, so the two work quite well together, which is why we were very excited about the opportunity," he stated.
"We've got some strong marketing capabilities and some strong relationships with our customers - this move is marrying two like-minded organisations.
"AVM will continue to operate with its own management team and everything will remain unchanged. But we're able to work together within the group to try to cross-fertilise and bring ideas."
Northamber has been moving into the VAD space over the last few years, focusing specifically on AV, infrastructure solutions and document management - areas in which it can "capture value".
What is behind VAD pivot?
"Historically we've been doing value distribution in categories where you can't capture the extra margin because there have been elements of commodity in there," Phillips explained.
"We've been focusing on trying to make sure we're adding values in categories where we can capture the value - audio visual, infrastructure solutions and document management.
"By having expertise and helping our customers win more business by having stronger knowledge levels, service levels and relationships, we help our customers win and we can capture more value for us and for them.
"This acquisition is a reinforcement of that, rather than a step change, but it's definitely a clear sign to the market that we're committed to the UK and we see it as a big opportunity."