Print.IT Reseller - issue 47

01732 759725 DEALER PROFILE 32 Burgess’ roots are firmly steeped in print – he joined an independent dealership as a trainee salesmen straight out of college, working his way up the ladder to Regional Director responsible for Manchester and the Midlands. The company he worked for was acquired by a larger organisation and inevitably, a couple of years down the line in 2001, came consolidation. It was at this point that he spotted an opportunity to set up his own company. “ABC was borne out of a desire to continue doing what we’d always done – to look after our customers,” he explained. Burgess set up the firm with 12 of his colleagues, each of whom became shareholders. “I retained 50 per cent of the business and the remaining half was spilt amongst the team,” he added. Across its two divisions ABC Technology and ABC Digital, the company turned over £1.89 million in its first year, a success Burgess attributes to the fact that its blue- chip client base received unparalleled levels of customer service which encouraged them to remain with the start-up. Rapid expansion From a standing start the company expanded rapidly. “We had offices in Manchester and Stoke from day one and in 2005 we purchased a 5,000 sq. ft. building in Crewe, which became our new head office. Two years later we expanded into the Midlands, opening a branch office in Cannock,” Burgess said. Today the company is headquartered in Congleton, Cheshire. It moved into new 10,000 sq. ft. premises in the village in 2011. The company, which serves customers nationwide also has a base in Stoke Prior, Redditch and has just opened a new office in Castle Donnington which will be headed up by Director, Edward Hopkinson. “Up until very recently we had a serviced office in London where many of our engineers are based,” Burgess explained, adding that the company is actively looking for a new base in the capital, in the right location. Headcount across all three divisions IT, print and AV now totals 58, 18 of whom are engineers. Burgess said that he had modified the company’s approach over the past few years. “As a managed service provider we see our job as finding client sweet points across all their technology needs and providing them with a one-stop service,” he explained. Managed services The business caters for clients nationwide and is structured so that ABC can address customer needs in three key areas: n Workflow: ABC works in partnership with clients to provide a wholly independent managed print service that encompasses a full suite of software solutions to streamline, improve and secure document workflows. A multi-vendor dealership, something Burgess sees as essential to offer a truly independent service, the firm’s main partners on the hardware side include Develop, Utax and Lexmark. “On the IT side, we also work closely with all of the leading software vendors such as Papercut, Docuware and PCounter,” Burgess added. n Workplace: Strategic partnerships with multiple major manufacturers, enables ABC to help customers maximise efficiencies within the workplace. Its offer is extensive from conducting energy audits and PAT testing to the supply, delivery and installation of a whole suite of AV and digital signage solutions. Room management systems allow PrintIT Reseller spoke to Steve Burgess, Managing Director of ABC Managed Business Solutions about the firm’s plans for growth It’s as easy as ABC the client to book rooms, presentation equipment or catering, as well as manage to suit participants’ needs via a simple user interface. The company also provides interactive touch panels enabling users to make bookings directly from outside the room with systems that can also be extended to manage a range of other bookable assets in the business, for example parking spaces and hot-desks, alongside Access Control Systems and IP based CCTV solutions. n Workforce: Under this umbrella, ABC delivers a comprehensive suite of end to end tailored IT services spanning hardware from mail servers to file and print servers, to cloud storage and Software-as-a- Service, through to network infrastructure provision, VOIP telephony, video conferencing and communication systems. Strategic acquisition plans “Across all three areas, we achieved a turnover of £9 million last year,” Burgess said, adding that the firm is targeting £15 million with its three-year plan. This growth will come in part from acquisitions. “We’ve completed a number of deals in the past, we did an acquisition of another print dealer in Wakefield a few years back and another Stafford-based business in 2007 as well as a number of smaller ones where we inherited customer base and MIF. But now, we’re not looking to go down the traditional path As a managed service provider we see our job as finding client sweet points across all their technology needs