Maverick’s installation department shifts focus as number of staff released reaches 50

ProInstall, the installation arm of distributor Maverick, has downsized again and will now concentrate on the corporate and high-end residential markets only.

In March, CRN reported that ProInstall had made a number of redundancies (CRN, 13 March).

Kevin Morrison, managing director of ProInstall, said last week: “Following the redundancies in March, we let go of some more people and downsized. We have about a dozen staff now, so we have probably let go of about 50 people altogether.”

Set up in September 2004 with an investment of £3m from Maverick, ProInstall’s aim was to assist VARs that were unable to install complicated audiovisual offerings, mainly in the education space.

“We created what the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency wanted and became ISO-accredited, but there is a premium to pay for that level of service,” Morrison said. “We tried to make a go of it in the education space, but it has become very price competitive. People weren’t prepared to pay the price for the service. In the end we decided to downsize to break even.”

Colin Messenger, senior consultant at analyst firm Decision Tree Consulting, told CRN: “ProInstall appointed more than 50 engineers very quickly. That’s a lot of engineers to find work for. The education market has definitely slowed down, but there is still work in this space.”

Steve Dracup, managing director of rival distributor Promethean, which unveiled its own installation service earlier this year, said: “ProInstall had a lot of staff. If it has downsized to 12 it is a completely different operation. We’re still doing well in education. Our installation business is probably the biggest that focuses on education.”