Magirus looks towards special relationships

Magirus looks towards special relationships


After selling its hardware business, the distributor wants to help smaller specialist vendors develop in the market

Magirus is set to reap the benefits from the sale of its hardware business in 2008, by turning its focus to fast-growing specialist vendors.

The distributor sold its IBM and HP hardware business ­ the Enterprise Infrastructure Division (EID) ­ to rival Avnet earlier this year which it claimed would give it more flexibility to concentrate on its storage, security, virtualisation and training competencies.

Andrew Binding, UK managing director of Magirus, said: “As time went on we started to develop more of a technology focus and ended up with almost two companies internally, so it made sense to sell the EID.

“We now plan to work with smaller vendors to help them develop a channel as well as our existing partners. It will give us a very different relationship with our customers.”

Binding said that despite the EID sale, which made up between 65 and 70 per cent of Magirus’ overall turnover, the distributor has grown its reseller base.

“We have more partners as a result because there are a lot of smaller resellers that now want the technology we are carrying,” he said.

He added that Magirus is also looking more towards an incubator-style relationship with its partners.

“This works on two angles,” Binding said. “First, we identify resellers that are keen to develop their business models or new technology areas and we work with them to help them achieve their aims. Second, on the vendor side, we find a number of smaller technology vendors to work with that do not have a set up in the UK and we help them develop a European market as well as a channel network.”

Binding added that the distributor would also not rule out future acquisitions as well as organic growth in 2008.

Nick Broadbent, European director of Datacore Software, praised Magirus as a partner. “We have a strong relationship with Magirus, and in 2008 it will be delivering more services and training for us than before,” he said. “Magirus has opened up a number of new reseller relationships for us which is exactly what we would expect from a good, value-added distribution partner.”