ComputaCenter goes after SMEs

IT reseller Computacenter has launched a new e-commerce site aimed at SMEs.

The site, known as Computacenter Express, aims to bring some of the buying power enjoyed by large businesses to their smaller competitors, Computacenter claims.

The reseller is using volume purchasing to drive down costs. But the service plans to go further, by making recommendations for equipment in popular categories such as laptops, desktop PCs, printers and consumables.

The service aims to be easy enough to use so that non-IT professionals can make purchases and still buy good quality, good value kit, according to James Pelham-Burn, director of e-business at Computacenter.

A combination of recommendations and detailed, plain language product descriptions should ensure that a company owner, finance director or office manager can make the type of informed choices usually reserved for companies with dedicated IT teams, suggested Pelham-Burn.

"The SMB market [for IT] is not well served by existing providers, which you can see from the fact that it is quite fragmented," he said. "Most of the existing companies in this space come out of the consumer world and take a consumer approach to the way they do things. They bombard business customers with offers, in the way they bombard consumers on the high street. We can bring our expertise to bare to offer a greater range and to offer business value with the products we recommend."

Computacenter is also looking at ways to "package" IT services for SMEs, and possibly sell them online. Customers can already order installation to the desk, maintenance and equipment disposal online. Pelham-Burn is examining the services Computacenter currently offers to enterprises to see which might fit into the Computacenter Express model.

Pelham-Burn declined to comment in detail on the company's plans for SME services such as security, application customisation or mobility. He did say, however, that software licence management would be an early priority for Computacenter.

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